2 Second Lean

As we started or lean journey, most of the books you read are about all the tools and techniques of lean.  While these are fascinating and can have a very positive impact on your company, they weren’t what we were interested in.  All the books hint at the idea of culture.  In our company, we have some amazing people.  Getting your management and company structure to enable those people to thrive is the real challenge.  Lean has that ability if you can find a way to look past all of the tools and techniques.  That is what got us excited.

So in our search, we came across Paul Akers.  Paul has been practicing lean for years and owns a company in Bellingham Washington called “Fastcap”.  He is a lean zealot and is out promoting lean every chance he gets.  I found him through some podcasts I was listening to and was struck by his energy and enthusiasm.  We started by watching his videos on line and then contacted him to come up and tour his company.  I think he could really see that we were serious about adopting this philosophy and he has been a great friend and mentor to us every since.

If you get a chance, check out his websites.

www.fastcap.com www.theamericaninnovator.com www.2secondlean.com

On The American Innovator site, there is a link to a speech he gave to the lean construction institute.  It’s a good overview of his ideas and it’s called “Lean is Simple”.