LeanBlog Podcast #84 – Karl Wadensten, VIBCO and The Lean Nation

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Episode 84 is audio from Video Podcast #10 (available onYouTube). This is a conversation with Karl Wadensten, President of VIBCO, a manufacturer in Wyoming, R.I. Here, we talk about his radio show, “The Lean Nation,” which airs on AM 790 in Rhode Island and streams live on the web everyday weekday at 4 PM eastern — www.790business.com (the show is now defunct).

MP3 File

karl

I've been able to get from Boston to VIBCO twice now and I've been impressed with what I've seen on my gemba walks each time. I'll blog about this in more detail in the future, but it's great seeing the pride on their employees faces when they describe and show you the improvements they've made on the shopfloor. I've seen this first hand:

Under Karl's leadership, VIBCO is now a high performing business culture where lead times for over 1,300 SKUs have dropped from 4-6 weeks to “same day, next day”, inventory has been reduced by more than 50%, over 10,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing floor space is now freed up to accept future growth, and sales are well above industry trends.   These impressive improvements are the result of a workforce that is empowered to improve every day and understands the power of Lean Thinking.

Here are links for more about their “True North” and Lean journey.

This is also available as Video Podcast #10.

For earlier episodes, visit the main Podcast page, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple Podcasts.

If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the “Lean Line” at (817) 993-0630 or contact me via Skype id “mgraban”. Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.


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Mark Graban
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. Mark's new book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation. He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, the Shingo Award-winning books Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.

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