Despite the worst winter storm in 40 years up in Bruce, Huron and Perth Counties, and the coldest weather I have ever experienced,  SwAC 2014 still went ahead in Ridgetown and was a real success.  It was filled with information on the latest research and lively discussions.

I was invited to do a workshop on Lean Principles and how it could be applicable to the agricultural industry. These principles which originated from the Toyota Production System have been adopted in many industries as low cost and very effective tools to increase value and productivity.

The posted graph shows that the Lean Principles workshop was positively evaluated by the participants. Following are comments reported by the participants:

Key things learned as described by the participants:

  • Importance of visual aids & guides
  • Importance of organization and to organize & plan activities
  • Process development (systems approach)
  • Any improvement is a positive
  • To analyze and evaluate processes
  • Root cause analysis (fish bone)

What they enjoyed most:

  • Rethinking everyday tasks
  • The group discussions
  • Applicability to my operation
  • Practicality of the topic
  • Learning a tool that I can take home and implement
  • Lego activity

You can find the handout summary at this link.

Feel free to contact Huron Solutions for more info.