Thursday, Feb 9, 2012
8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
A-dec AEC, Newberg, OR

A-dec: Our Journey to Operational Excellence
Jennifer Ayers and Kelly DePaolo, A-dec

 Lean is not a destination, it is a journey.  If you attempt to implement lean without that mindset, your chances of success are limited.  A-dec has been on its lean journey for over 12 years.   We’ve had some great successes, but we’ve had many opportunities to learn.  Of those lessons, we learned that Lean is more than a set of tools it’s a way of thinking and you need top down and bottom up support.  Without the vision and unwavering support from the executives, the belief in lean thinking from middle management, and the empowerment of our employees we would not be at this stage of our journey.

Over the course of the day you’ll be exposed to:

  • Lean overview
  • Lean concepts and tools
  • A-dec’s Lean Journey
  • Core elements of a Lean culture
  • Examples of Lean in action at A-dec (including a tour)

Jennifer Ayers came to A-dec eight years ago with a background in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. She’s had the opportunity to work on the Corporate Continuous Improvement team and in the Dental Furniture Design Engineering group. She returned to her true passion three years ago when she was asked to lead A-dec’s Operational Excellence journey. As a leader of the Continuous Improvement and Sustainability teams, she helps motivate the organization toward a common vision by creating the right culture, influencing mindset, and creating capacity in people. In this role, she loves being able to learn about more processes throughout the company, help set a vision for the future, and develop training to help educate the organization and promote the topic of Lean, Quality, and Sustainability.

Kelly DePaolo has spent five of her six years at A-dec as a member of their Corporate Continuous Improvement team. She works hands on with departments throughout the company, both in manufacturing and administrative areas, to identify waste and create new processes that are designed to create consistent, dependable outputs every time that conform to customer requirements. Over the past three years, Kelly has been facilitating the corporate continuous improvement training, which starts on the first day someone is hired. As an A-dec trainer, she designs and facilitates training programs that focus on Lean tools and concepts that range from informational to application based.