Mike Thelen, Lean Facilitator, Hub City, Inc. division of Regal-Beloit Corp.

In 2006, Hub City, Incorporated, a subsidiary of Regal-Beloit Corporation, began a partnership with Lean Consulting Associates (LCA). Through active, hands-on involvement with Mike Murney of LCA, Hub City has successfully started down the Lean path. In our first focus area, we have:

1. Reduced lead time from 4-6 weeks on any area product to less than 3 days on 80% of the product and less than 15 days on 10% of the product, both exceeding customer's expectations for responsiveness.

2. Reduced WIP 35%

3. Reduced Finished Goods by 95%

4. Improved on-time delivery from 74.6% to 96% or higher for ten consecutive months

5. Increased sales by 28.7% (in a mature market)

6. Increased orders shipped by 43.9%

7. Increased units shipped by 17.3%

Our customers have commented: "Just the fact that you now let us know before you're late, rather than when we call 3 days after the missed shipment, that gives us time to work with our customers." - Mike Jacobson, West Central Bearing

More importantly, we have been able to take what we have experienced and apply it to other areas of our organization, with activities led and completed by empowered direct labor employees. While Mr. Murney has been instrumental in our learning and development, his training methods have succeeded in LCA's corporate strategy of planned obsolescence. You will find Mike Murney and Lean Consulting Associates to be invaluable mentors, building a relationship with you beyond consultant and customer.

It has been a pleasure working with Lean Consulting Associates. I have learned more in two years of working with Mike Murney than in the previous five working in Lean and three before that working in TQM/Cellular Manufacturing.

Phil Fletcher, Director, Production Engineering and Program Management Learjet, Inc.

Stephen (Chun) is unlike other consultants in that he is able to quickly and effectively engage our employees in "learning to see" their workplace and process deficiencies and then teach them to lay out an effective improvement plan that meets the need. His approach is unique and clever to get employee buy-in and he gets lasting results.

Keith LaPointe, Gillette-Proctor & Gamble Purchasing Project Manager

Stephen (Chun) is different from most consultants with whom I have engaged in his commitment to the development of me and my teams. Rather than simply pursuing the committed deliverables, Stephen's style allowed him to provide coaching and feedback in all areas of management: including, but not not limited to interspersonal communication and style, summarizing findings for both the operations staff and senior management, engaging across cultures, and the concept of "Learning to see". Working with Stephen not only delivered hard dollar savings via operational improvement, but also provided a personal coach both during and since the project.

Floyd Parks, Partner (retired), PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Bob is one of the few that has personal knowledge of "Lean" coming from the company that revolutionized its industry with it&emdash;Toyota. Additionally, he has personal experience in the application of the concepts of lean in a services environment.

If you are looking for someone who truly knows how its done end-to-end all they way to the front line worker, then Bob is someone that can deliver that knowledge.

Joe Kazadi, former CEO, Ateliers Thome-Genot

I wish to express my gratitude and appreciation for the for the coaching my organization and I received from Bob Bennett and the Lean Consulting Associates team while I was CEO of Ateliers Thome-Genot in France.

The support Bob and the team provided helped us succeed in turning a 150 year old forging company into a Lean based modern and effective organization. In less than a year, we improved on-time delivery by 208%, reduced defects by 49% and increased output of our production assets by 23%. This resulted in an increase in sales of over 10% and brought with it additional business including first ever long-term contracts with major customers. The Toyota and Toyota supplier experience on Bob's team was key in helping us win the new business from demanding Japanese suppliers to Toyota and OEMs.

I do believe, however, that the success we experienced is most attributable to the passion and talent Bob and the team brought to our organization, their ability to work side-by-side with our people as well as their approach because it was done with the utmost integrity and respect for all of our people.

It was certainly a joy working with Bob and his team. I have maintained my relationship with Bob and I continue to use him on occasions as a sounding board for many of my business strategies.

Joe Kazadi
Technical Director
Alcan Primary Metals Europe
Voreppe, France