The Lean Forum exists to encourage the sharing of ideas on Best Practice, Continuous Improvement and lean through networking, visits and workshops. We have groups in the Solent, Humber, West Midlands and South Wales but in this virtual world we are extending invites to companies across the UK & Ireland.
Guest Speaker: TBC
Topic: Reflection & Celebration
The meeting will be delivered via Zoom.
The Lean Forum exists to encourage the sharing of ideas on Best Practice, Continuous Improvement and lean through networking, visits and workshops. We have groups in the Solent, Humber, West Midlands and South Wales but in this virtual world we are extending invites to companies across the UK & Ireland.
Guest Speaker: TBC
Topic: Reflection & Celebration
The meeting will be delivered via Zoom.
With a global supply network and a portfolio of branded and customer own brand products, Princes is one of Europe’s largest food and drink groups.
We specialise in sourcing and manufacturing quality products and, as a leading international grocery supplier, millions of consumers across Europe buy our brands and products every day.
Owned by Newlat Foods since 2024 the company continues to grow both organically and through acquisition.
Princes Food brands include: Napolina, C&D, Flora, Batchelors, Branston, Crosse & Blackwell, Jucee and Trex. Its own branded products are well established household names across the world.
The company’s vision is Delighting more people with more sustainable choices. They are proudly offering great tasting choices for everyone without costing the earth.
Six Sigma…Lean Manufacturing…Visual Management…Quality…Employee Engagement…Just in Time…People & Engagement…Kanban…Process Improvement
9.30 Arrival & Welcome
09.45 Overview of Princes & Edible Oils
10.15 Operational Excellence through Lean Deployment
10.40 Refreshment Break
10.50 Site Tour/Taste Panel
13.00 Lunch & Networking
13.40 Engaging People
14.00 Review & Feedback
14.30 Close
NHS Blood & Transplant employs over 5,000 people in over 200 locations across the UK. This remarkable organisation provides a blood and transplantation service to the NHS, looking after blood donation services in England and transplant services across the UK. This includes managing the donation, storage and transplantation of blood, organs, tissues, bone marrow and stem cells, and researching new treatments and processes.
Manufacturing operations have been transformed in recent years and manufacturing and testing sites have been consolidated. A new, integrated supply chain approach has helped balance supply and demand.
This visit is being hosted at the manufacturing and processing centre in Filton, Bristol and it will provide an insight into how this incredible organisation has developed and applied a programme of continuous improvement within a diverse and highly complex organisation. NHS Blood & Transplant has a unique role within the wider NHS of saving and improving lives through relationships and services delivered to both volunteer donors and hospitals.
During the visit you will:
Lean Principles … Continuous Improvement … Cultural challenges … External partnerships
10.00 Arrival and Signing In
10.15 Welcome & Introductions
10.40 NHSBT Filton – our Lean Journey
11.10 Virtual Reality – Vein to Vein
11:40 Tour of Manufacturing
12.30 Networking Lunch
13.15 Tour of Hospital Services
14:00 CI Academy
14.45 Q & A
15:15 Feedback session
NHS Blood & Transplant employs over 5,000 people in over 200 locations across the UK. This remarkable organisation provides a blood and transplantation service to the NHS, looking after blood donation services in England and transplant services across the UK. This includes managing the donation, storage and transplantation of blood, organs, tissues, bone marrow and stem cells, and researching new treatments and processes.
Manufacturing operations have been transformed in recent years and manufacturing and testing sites have been consolidated. A new, integrated supply chain approach has helped balance supply and demand.
This visit is being hosted at the manufacturing and processing centre in Plymouth Grove, Manchester and it will provide an insight into how this incredible organisation has developed and applied a programme of continuous improvement within a diverse and highly complex organisation. NHS Blood & Transplant has a unique role within the wider NHS of saving and improving lives through relationships and services delivered to both volunteer donors and hospitals.
During the visit you will:
Lean Principles … Continuous Improvement … Cultural challenges … External partnerships
10.00 Arrival and Signing In
10.15 Welcome & Introductions
10.40 NHSBT Manchester – our Lean Journey
11.10 CI Academy
11:40 Tour of Donor Centre
12.30 Networking Lunch
13.15 Tour of Manufacturing
14:00 Tour of Hospital Services
14.45 Q & A
15:15 Feedback session
NHS Blood & Transplant employs over 5,000 people in over 200 locations across the UK. This remarkable organisation provides a blood and transplantation service to the NHS, looking after blood donation services in England and transplant services across the UK. This includes managing the donation, storage and transplantation of blood, organs, tissues, bone marrow and stem cells, and researching new treatments and processes.
Manufacturing operations have been transformed in recent years and manufacturing and testing sites have been consolidated. A new, integrated supply chain approach has helped balance supply and demand. This has led to an increase in productivity since 2008/09 of 75% in manufacturing and 98% in testing.
This visit is being hosted at the manufacturing and processing centre in Colindale, London and it will provide an insight into how this incredible organisation has developed and applied a programme of continuous improvement within a diverse and highly complex organisation. NHS Blood & Transplant has a unique role within the wider NHS of saving and improving lives through relationships and services delivered to both volunteer donors and hospitals.
During the visit you will:
Lean Principles … Continuous Improvement … Cultural challenges … External partnerships
10.00 Arrival and Signing In
10.15 Welcome & Introductions
10.40 NHSBT Colindale – our Lean Journey
11.10 Virtual Reality – Vein to Vein
11:40 Tour of Manufacturing
12.30 Networking Lunch
13.15 Tour of Hospital Services
14:00 Overview of Cord Blood Bank
14.45 Q & A
15:15 Feedback session
With a global supply network and a portfolio of branded and customer own brand products, Princes is one of Europe’s largest food and drink groups.
We specialise in sourcing and manufacturing quality products and, as a leading international grocery supplier, millions of consumers across Europe buy our brands and products every day.
Owned by Newlat Foods since 2024 the company continues to grow both organically and through acquisition.
Princes Food brands include: Napolina, C&D, Flora, Batchelors, Branston, Crosse & Blackwell, Jucee and Trex. Its own branded products are well established household names across the world.
The company’s vision is Delighting more people with more sustainable choices. They are proudly offering great tasting choices for everyone without costing the earth.
Six Sigma…Lean Manufacturing…Visual Management…Quality…Employee Engagement…Just in Time…People & Engagement…Kanban…Process Improvement
9.30 Arrival & Welcome
09.45 Overview of Princes & Edible Oils
10.15 Operational Excellence through Lean Deployment
10.40 Refreshment Break
10.50 Site Tour/Taste Panel
13.00 Lunch & Networking
13.40 Engaging People
14.00 Review & Feedback
14.30 Close
Cummins is the only manufacturer focused solely on medium-to heavy-duty diesel engine turbo technologies. For more than 60 years, they have delivered innovative, reliable turbocharger solutions for their customers.
Commercial diesel engines require advanced technologies that deliver efficiency and meet strict emissions requirements. Our fixed, wastegate, variable, two-stage, turbo-compounding and waste heat expander technologies were specifically developed to deliver higher efficiency and lower cost.
Today, Cummins Turbo Technologies engineers are actively developing state of the art solutions for the next generation, including assisted turbocharging, new bearing systems and enhanced compressor stage performance.
The Huddersfield site is currently undergoing a major refurbishment to improve flow and support their operational excellence initiatives, as well as future-proofing the facility to ensure they can meet emerging demands of the wider group.
Plant Refurb Project … Journey to Automation … Digital Team Boards … HSE Culture … New Technology Introduction
09.30: Arrival & Introductions
10:00: CMI Business Overview
10:20: Operational Excellence Exercise 1
11:00: Operational Excellence/6 Sigma
11:15: Plant Tour 1
12:15: Lunch
13:00: Plant Tour 2
14:00: Operational Excellence Exercise 2
14:45: Q&A & Close out
15:00: Depart
Cummins is the only manufacturer focused solely on medium-to heavy-duty diesel engine turbo technologies. For more than 60 years, they have delivered innovative, reliable turbocharger solutions for their customers.
Commercial diesel engines require advanced technologies that deliver efficiency and meet strict emissions requirements. Our fixed, wastegate, variable, two-stage, turbo-compounding and waste heat expander technologies were specifically developed to deliver higher efficiency and lower cost.
Today, Cummins Turbo Technologies engineers are actively developing state of the art solutions for the next generation, including assisted turbocharging, new bearing systems and enhanced compressor stage performance.
The Huddersfield site is currently undergoing a major refurbishment to improve flow and support their operational excellence initiatives, as well as future-proofing the facility to ensure they can meet emerging demands of the wider group.
Plant Refurb Project … Journey to Automation … Digital Team Boards … HSE Culture … New Technology Introduction
09.30: Arrival & Introductions
10:00: CMI Business Overview
10:20: Operational Excellence Exercise 1
11:00: Operational Excellence/6 Sigma
11:15: Plant Tour 1
12:15: Lunch
13:00: Plant Tour 2
14:00: Operational Excellence Exercise 2
14:45: Q&A & Close out
15:00: Depart
Morgan Furniture is a wholly British, design orientated, business making seating and tables for the contract market from its dedicated 4500m2 factory in Hampshire. It is a family-owned business.
At Morgan we believe the design and manufacture of truly original, high-quality furniture is the result of passion, care, design integrity, experience, craftsmanship and an unfaltering dedication to quality. This commitment could not be realised without fully integrating the design and manufacturing processes. At our factory and studio in Hampshire we start the process with trees and finish with beautifully crafted chairs.
Lean & Continuous Improvement
Our journey in Lean and Continuous Improvement began over 20 years ago and similar to many organisations the path has not always been straight. We have re-focused the activity in recent years to build capability across the whole organisation; we have begun development of our own Lean Academy and will share with visitors how this has worked and is delivering results. We have embraced all of the key Lean tools and are proud of the team’s improvement initiatives. We will share with visitors on the site tour the visual management that we use to support strategy deployment and improvement projects.
Improvement Projects
Our improvement projects are owned and embraced by each of our team members. On
the visit we will share with you how we support and celebrate these as part of our journey to excellence. You will also see how we have created ownership of Five S and improvement in every area of both the factory and operations.
Design-Led Manufacturing
Our products are bespoke and hand crafted. Our clients include both international hospitality organisations and we are increasingly working with high-end commercial specifiers for office furnishings. We will share with visitors how we embrace our core
value of being ‘Design-Led within our manufacturing process.
Lean…Continuous Improvement…Improvement Projects…Design-Led Manufacturing…Visual Management…Five S…Building CI capability
10.00 Welcome & Introductions
10.30 Our Lean & CI Journey & Engaging our team
11.30 Site Tour (Gemba)
12.30 Lunch
13.00 Improvement Projects
14.00 Close & Depart
Morgan Furniture is a wholly British, design orientated, business making seating and tables for the contract market from its dedicated 4500m2 factory in Hampshire. It is a family-owned business.
At Morgan we believe the design and manufacture of truly original, high-quality furniture is the result of passion, care, design integrity, experience, craftsmanship and an unfaltering dedication to quality. This commitment could not be realised without fully integrating the design and manufacturing processes. At our factory and studio in Hampshire we start the process with trees and finish with beautifully crafted chairs.
Lean & Continuous Improvement
Our journey in Lean and Continuous Improvement began over 20 years ago and similar to many organisations the path has not always been straight. We have re-focused the activity in recent years to build capability across the whole organisation; we have begun development of our own Lean Academy and will share with visitors how this has worked and is delivering results. We have embraced all of the key Lean tools and are proud of the team’s improvement initiatives. We will share with visitors on the site tour the visual management that we use to support strategy deployment and improvement projects.
Improvement Projects
Our improvement projects are owned and embraced by each of our team members. On
the visit we will share with you how we support and celebrate these as part of our journey to excellence. You will also see how we have created ownership of Five S and improvement in every area of both the factory and operations.
Design-Led Manufacturing
Our products are bespoke and hand crafted. Our clients include both international hospitality organisations and we are increasingly working with high-end commercial specifiers for office furnishings. We will share with visitors how we embrace our core
value of being ‘Design-Led within our manufacturing process.
Lean…Continuous Improvement…Improvement Projects…Design-Led Manufacturing…Visual Management…Five S…Building CI capability
10.00 Welcome & Introductions
10.30 Our Lean & CI Journey & Engaging our team
11.30 Site Tour (Gemba)
12.30 Lunch
13.00 Improvement Projects
14.00 Close & Depart
Happy is a multi-award-winning company, In 2022 Happy was voted in the top 2 in the UK and the top 15 in Europe in the Great Place to Work awards, small business section. A training company based in Aldgate, central London, Happy employs just 22 people but has won widespread recognition for its unique approach.
The core principle at Happy is that people work best when they feel good about themselves. The main purpose of the company management is to create a framework where people do indeed feel good about themselves. The result is a people-focused business that has won a plethora of prestigious awards (see below). The business benefits of this approach are clear, and the company has a waiting list of over 2000 people for the next job vacancy!
Creating a great place to work
________________________
What makes a great place to work? Involving visitors, Happy will reveal key principles and specific steps to take to make your workplace one that people will really want to work in. Recognise how to create a blame-free environment and identify the key principle for management focus.
Great customer service
__________________
The first principle of great customer service is: Treat your customers as you would want to be treated. The visit will involve the audience in bringing together great and poor customer service experiences and lead to practical steps you can take. You will recognise what differentiates great service from normal service and identify key steps to help your organisation to improve.
Positive social impact
_________________
Discover ways to develop the social effect of your organisations work on employees and the wider community.
Creating a great place to work … Empowerment methods … Great customer service … Net Promoter Scores … Recruitment and Interviewing techniques … HR & Delegation … 360 appraisals … Inspiring people … Change culture … Work Life Balance … Community Service (CSR)
Unit 1 10:00 – 12:30
Unit 2 13:15 – 15:00
Happy is a multi-award-winning company, In 2022 Happy was voted in the top 2 in the UK and the top 15 in Europe in the Great Place to Work awards, small business section. A training company based in Aldgate, central London, Happy employs just 22 people but has won widespread recognition for its unique approach.
The core principle at Happy is that people work best when they feel good about themselves. The main purpose of the company management is to create a framework where people do indeed feel good about themselves. The result is a people-focused business that has won a plethora of prestigious awards (see below). The business benefits of this approach are clear, and the company has a waiting list of over 2000 people for the next job vacancy!
Creating a great place to work
________________________
What makes a great place to work? Involving visitors, Happy will reveal key principles and specific steps to take to make your workplace one that people will really want to work in. Recognise how to create a blame-free environment and identify the key principle for management focus.
Great customer service
__________________
The first principle of great customer service is: Treat your customers as you would want to be treated. The visit will involve the audience in bringing together great and poor customer service experiences and lead to practical steps you can take. You will recognise what differentiates great service from normal service and identify key steps to help your organisation to improve.
Positive social impact
_________________
Discover ways to develop the social effect of your organisations work on employees and the wider community.
Creating a great place to work … Empowerment methods … Great customer service … Net Promoter Scores … Recruitment and Interviewing techniques … HR & Delegation … 360 appraisals … Inspiring people … Change culture … Work Life Balance … Community Service (CSR)
Unit 1 10:00 – 12:30
Unit 2 13:15 – 15:00
Happy is a multi-award-winning company, In 2022 Happy was voted in the top 2 in the UK and the top 15 in Europe in the Great Place to Work awards, small business section. A training company based in Aldgate, central London, Happy employs just 22 people but has won widespread recognition for its unique approach.
The core principle at Happy is that people work best when they feel good about themselves. The main purpose of the company management is to create a framework where people do indeed feel good about themselves. The result is a people-focused business that has won a plethora of prestigious awards (see below). The business benefits of this approach are clear, and the company has a waiting list of over 2000 people for the next job vacancy!
Creating a great place to work
________________________
What makes a great place to work? Involving visitors, Happy will reveal key principles and specific steps to take to make your workplace one that people will really want to work in. Recognise how to create a blame-free environment and identify the key principle for management focus.
Great customer service
__________________
The first principle of great customer service is: Treat your customers as you would want to be treated. The visit will involve the audience in bringing together great and poor customer service experiences and lead to practical steps you can take. You will recognise what differentiates great service from normal service and identify key steps to help your organisation to improve.
Positive social impact
_________________
Discover ways to develop the social effect of your organisations work on employees and the wider community.
Creating a great place to work … Empowerment methods … Great customer service … Net Promoter Scores … Recruitment and Interviewing techniques … HR & Delegation … 360 appraisals … Inspiring people … Change culture … Work Life Balance … Community Service (CSR)
Unit 1 10:00 – 12:30
Unit 2 13:15 – 15:00
Across the industrial design, manufacturing and maintenance worlds, RS Group are the digital destination for product and service solutions to help their customers with the maintenance, repair and operation of their businesses.
RS provide global access to an unrivalled range of over 750,000 stocked industrial products. Each day their team of experts deliver solutions to resolve our customer’s challenges across design, procurement, inventory and maintenance. They consistently strive to deliver the best possible service to all of their customers and challenge themselves to provide a seamless procurement experience.
RS Group have been on a CI journey for at least 15 years, starting by doing improvement projects (6-sigma) and over the last 3 years starting to move more into the Lean Thinking approach. They are in the process of getting the Executive Committee to sign off a new strategy which introduces the Shingo Approach as the way they want to work across the organisation.
Lean…Continuous Improvement…Employee Engagement …Applying Lean …Global Shared Business Services..Back Office
09:45: Arrival & Welcome
10.00: RS Group – Our First Choice Strategy
10.30: Lean & Continuous Improvement
11.15: Refreshment Break
11.30: Site Tour – Warehouse
11.30: Site Tour – Global Shared Business
12.45: Feedback on Site Tours
13.00: Lunch
13.30: Employee Engagement
14.00: Round Table Discussion
14.45: Feedback
15.00: Close
Across the industrial design, manufacturing and maintenance worlds, RS Group are the digital destination for product and service solutions to help their customers with the maintenance, repair and operation of their businesses.
RS provide global access to an unrivalled range of over 750,000 stocked industrial products. Each day their team of experts deliver solutions to resolve our customer’s challenges across design, procurement, inventory and maintenance. They consistently strive to deliver the best possible service to all of their customers and challenge themselves to provide a seamless procurement experience.
RS Group have been on a CI journey for at least 15 years, starting by doing improvement projects (6-sigma) and over the last 3 years starting to move more into the Lean Thinking approach. They are in the process of getting the Executive Committee to sign off a new strategy which introduces the Shingo Approach as the way they want to work across the organisation.
Lean…Continuous Improvement…Employee Engagement …Applying Lean …Global Shared Business Services..Back Office
09:45: Arrival & Welcome
10.00: RS Group – Our First Choice Strategy
10.30: Lean & Continuous Improvement
11.15: Refreshment Break
11.30: Site Tour – Warehouse
11.30: Site Tour – Global Shared Business
12.45: Feedback on Site Tours
13.00: Lunch
13.30: Employee Engagement
14.00: Round Table Discussion
14.45: Feedback
15.00: Close
Across the industrial design, manufacturing and maintenance worlds, RS Group are the digital destination for product and service solutions to help their customers with the maintenance, repair and operation of their businesses.
RS provide global access to an unrivalled range of over 750,000 stocked industrial products. Each day their team of experts deliver solutions to resolve our customer’s challenges across design, procurement, inventory and maintenance. They consistently strive to deliver the best possible service to all of their customers and challenge themselves to provide a seamless procurement experience.
RS Group have been on a CI journey for at least 15 years, starting by doing improvement projects (6-sigma) and over the last 3 years starting to move more into the Lean Thinking approach. They are in the process of getting the Executive Committee to sign off a new strategy which introduces the Shingo Approach as the way they want to work across the organisation.
Lean…Continuous Improvement…Employee Engagement …Applying Lean …Global Shared Business Services..Back Office
09:45: Arrival & Welcome
10.00: RS Group – Our First Choice Strategy
10.30: Lean & Continuous Improvement
11.15: Refreshment Break
11.30: Site Tour – Warehouse
11.30: Site Tour – Global Shared Business
12.45: Feedback on Site Tours
13.00: Lunch
13.30: Employee Engagement
14.00: Round Table Discussion
14.45: Feedback
15.00: Close
Nissan Sunderland Plant has been the UK’s biggest car manufacturer for the past 14 years, and the biggest car exporter for the last 12. In 2011, during the plant’s 25th anniversary year, the 6 millionth vehicle rolled off the line, and the plant achieved an annual production figure of 480,485 units – a new UK record for a single car plant. One in every three new cars built in the UK comes from Sunderland Plant.
The Sunderland factory has been operational since 1986 and currently employs around 5,800 people. It is part of the European division of the Japanese car manufacturer Nissan Motor Company Ltd. The plant has a current line-up of Qashqai and Qashqai+2 production on Line 1, with Juke and Note on Line 2. Three main production areas – body assembly, paint, and final assembly – are fed by a press shop, castings plant, engine plant, axle plant, and a bumper moulding facility. A lithium-ion battery plant was recently built, to support introduction of electric vehicle production early next year. Many suppliers are also based within the Nissan facility, sharing line-side production areas.
The plant has been recognised globally as one of the most efficient manufacturing plants in Europe and a cornerstone of Nissans manufacturing worldwide. It is currently preparing for introduction of four new models over the next two years: production of electric vehicle LEAF will begin early 2013, then replacement for Note based on the INVITATION concept, a Qashqai replacement, and a new medium hatchback in 2014. Line 1 introduced a third shift in 2009 and Line 2 will follow suit in 2013, meaning the entire plant will be running as a 24-hour operation for the first time in its 26-year history.
During the visit, you will be taken on a comprehensive tour of this award-winning facility by a member of the Nissan team. You will be able to see first hand how the company has applied Lean and other continuous improvement practices.
Culture and Philosphy … Kaizen … Five S … SOPs … TPM … Visual Management … Staff development and communication
09:00 Arrival & Coffee
Welcome & Introductions
Nissan Background & Philosophy
Kaizen
Five S
Production Tour
Tour Review & Lunch
PLM (Nissan version of TPM)
Questions & Answers
16:15 Close