Shut Up, Get Lean: How to Stop Simply Talking About Lean Manufacturing and Actually Start Building Your Culture of Continuous Improvement - Softcover

Leathers, Ray; Nally, Susan A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1948238098 ISBN 13: 9781948238090

Publisher: Silver Tree Publishing, 2019

Synopsis

From the powerhouse team of Ray Leathers and Susan A. Nally -- the visionary and the strategist who together transformed a manufacturing company’s culture and its balance sheet -- comes a new book that’s as practical as it is purposeful.

EVERYONE TALKS ABOUT LEAN MANUFACTURING. ISN’T IT TIME YOU STOPPED TALKING AND STARTED BUILDING YOUR CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT?

Leathers and Nally offer straight talk about what works, and what can go wrong, then distill and simplify Lean tools and strategies for your rapid application. The book is broken into three engaging sections:

1. Shutting Up: Listening to the Lessons that Can Transform Your Business
2. Getting Lean: Tools, Systems and Strategies You Can Use
3. Staying Inspired: Stories to Encourage and Guide You

“Straight talk and straight from the heart. Written by leaders who have been there and done it!”
--Mike Carroll, President/CEO, Steel Technologies

A Call for All Business Leaders to Stop Talking and Start Doing
Shut Up, Get Lean offers a simple but bold challenge: Ignite a sustainable culture of continuous improvement at your organization using proven methods, repeatable steps and easy-to-implement mindset shifts. Author and renowned business leader Ray Leathers invites readers to follow what he calls the keys to workplace culture, and provides real-world examples of how it’s done and done well. His collaborator Susan A. Nally outlines the practical steps in implementing a sustainable web of Lean tools that improve morale, improve quality, and improve financial results.
This book is more than just a “how to” manual on continuous improvement -- it’s a “been there, done that” insider account into the actions and lean strategies that were used to kindle the highly successful turnaround of a mid-sized US metal parts manufacturing company.

Authors Whose Results Speak for Themselves
Shut Up, Get Lean voices the personal experience realized in the transformative awakening of a business culture. The result? A workplace culture where engaged people worked together to transform their $25 million operation into a $125 million multi-site conglomerate, which is still growing and leading corporate profitability.

The standard explored in this inspiring, no-nonsense book provides a simple and powerful perspective on the importance of cultivating culture and its critical impact on your day-to-day operations. The reader can easily implement these concepts in any business environment.

Learn about ...

·Values
·Culture setting
·Efficiency systems
·Simplification of Lean tools
·Success strategies

“Lean success is sustained only when leaders and managers develop high trust and problem-solving environments and align incentives to foster an educated and trained workforce that is empowered to work horizontally along the path of workflow. The goal is always to yield a quality employee, who then yields a quality product."

Bonus Content! Readers also receive special access to the CI Helix website, where users can download content and readily executable forms, and discover extensive Lean testimonials.

With a foreword by Peter Schwab, Head of the Metal Forming Division and Member of the Board, voestalpine AG.

About this title

About the Author

Ray Leathers is a renowned manufacturing industry leader and continuous improvement expert who built his 40-year civilian leadership career upon 18 years of decorated military service in the U.S. Army.

Ray grew up on tobacco farms in the bluegrass lands of Kentucky before heading off to Eastern Kentucky University on a ROTC scholarship. He later earned a master's degree from the University of Southern California. During nearly 18 years of military service (active, guard and reserves), he became a highly decorated officer in the U.S. Army, where he held two commands and was awarded the Army Achievement Medal, two Army Commendation Medals and the Army Meritorious Service Medal. Ray and his family spent four years in Europe during his active duty tour of service.

Ray is a leader with broad global perspectives. His 40-year career in manufacturing included experience in Canada, Japan, Europe, the Caribbean and the United States, and he has worked for American, British, Japanese and Austrian firms.

In 2000, Ray joined Roll Forming Corporation (RFC), the very same year that it was acquired by voestalpine, a leading technology and capital goods group with 500 companies in 50 countries. Ray contributed significantly to RFC's success as part of the senior management team from the very beginning of the company's journey from a family-owned business to a corporate-owned enterprise. In the Japanese environment, Ray learned first-hand the Kaizen tool set and other Japanese management methods that, together with the technical advances from European sister divisions, helped him implement the highly successful RFC Continuous Improvement program, which led to yearly cost savings and improved productivity.

In 2007, Ray became the President/CEO of Roll Forming Corporation, leading the organization until his retirement in 2017. Following his retirement from the manufacturing industry, Ray was appointed Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Workforce Investment.

Ray has long been recognized by professional associations throughout the United States as an innovative leader for the implementation of a lean culture. He was awarded the 2010 Manufacturing Employee of the Year by the Kentucky Association of Manufacturing, and was presented the Shelby County Distinguished Citizen Award by the Boy Scouts of America.

Ray attributes his passion for community service to his formative days as a Boy Scout in a troop sponsored by his church, where he earned the God and Country Award. Ray is a passionate outdoorsman who enjoys "farming for wildlife" and takes great pride in introducing local youth to what he considers one of our country's greatest freedoms: hunting.

He is a huge promoter of the Shelbyville Community and has held positions on the executive boards for the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, Shelby County Associated industries, the Dorman Preschool Center, the Serenity Center, the Shelby County Industrial Development Foundation, and numerous other committees focused on the economic development and quality of life of his local community.

Shut Up, Get Lean is Ray Leathers's first nonfiction business book.

Review

Ray continues to be an inspiration, and now he is doing it in written form through the completion of this new book! The book effectively illustrates the fundamentals of lean and continuous improvement, plus highlights the critical aspects of culture, all woven together by a proven strong leader with a track record of success. --Derek Ludwig, Global Vice President, Procurement, Steelcase Inc.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Straight talk and straight from the heart. Written by leaders who have been there and done it! Ray and Susan amplify the significance of a strong culture thriving on continuous improvement and inspiring the entire team to drive improvement. Shut Up, Get Lean is peppered with tidbits of wisdom, encouragement, guidance and the humble recognition of life's many blessings. Read it, pass it on and get to it! --Mike Carroll, President/CEO, Steel Technologies

About this edition

• Publisher: Silver Tree Publishing
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1948238098
• ISBN 13: 9781948238090
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 234