The BlueScope Western Port Plant in Hastings, Victoria has been on a lean journey for two and a half years. We recently joined BPN to take up opportunities to learn from other companies as we progresses with our own lean journey.
The company focus for 2016 will be to develop its leaders with the goal to change the culture of the work force towards a lean mindset. It is acknowledged that after having made the investment in training our entire workforce – the success of the lean program will depend on the capabilities of its leaders. BlueScope recently visited Fonterra and Laminex to delve deeper into four areas of lean leadership. Victor advised that these two organisations had well established leadership practices and would be willing to share their insights into:
1) Daily Kaizen
2) Daily Problem Solving
3) Gemba walks and coaching and
4) Recognition of value adding behaviour.
Dirk Crouse (Regional Operations Excellence Manager – Fonterra) and Martin Phillips (Manufacturing Manager – Laminex) hosted a small group of manager/supervisor representatives from BlueScope to observe and understand these four areas of focus. The details gained will enable us to better plan for a series of upcoming leadership workshops to be held in February 2016.
The ability to talk with and visit Fonterra and Laminex to see how they have integrated the above-mentioned lean practices into their business operating system and to make it a habit of leadership through standard work will greatly assist BlueScope.
BlueScope would like to take the opportunity to thank Dirk and Martin for their time and for sharing their insights and experiences.
Tony Eramo, Project Leader –Continuous Improvement
Bluescope Hastings