Your Marketing Machine: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Transforming your Supply Chain to a Lean Fulfillment Stream eBook

This is a transcription of the Businss901 Podcast with Robert Martichenko, CEO and Founder of LeanCor. We discussed applying Lean Principles to the Supply Chain. I found many of his answers very unique and his approaches straight forward and practical. At the upcoming Lean Logistics Summit, June 22nd and 23rd in Cincinnati, OH, Robert leads off the event as the keynote speaker.

Robert Martichenko co-authored the Lean Enterprise Institute’s newest lean workbook, Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream. Building on the concepts of waste, flow, and pull, this pioneering workbook illustrates how to analyze the traditional supply chain as a flowing stream of products and information. Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream provides the steps to a comprehensive, real-life implementation
process for optimizing your entire fulfillment stream from raw materials to customers. This book follows the Lean Workbook format popularized by the publisher, Lean Enterprise Institute.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Kanban discussion with David Anderson, eBook

David Anderson, author of the recent book, Kanban appeared on the Business901 podcast and added 50 minutes of Kanban discussion. This is a transcription of the podcast. David is a thought leader in managing highly effective software teams. He is President of David J. Anderson & Associates, based in Seattle, Washington, a management consulting firm dedicated to improving leadership in the IT and software development sectors.

Kanban -

His first book, Agile Management for Software Engineering: Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results, published in 2003 by Prentice Hall, introduced many ideas from Lean and Theory of Constraints in to software engineering. David can be found at AgileManagement.net

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

From a Small Restaurant to Apple, Learn how they Capture and Analyze Data

Dr. Kai Yang was the guest on the Business901 Podcast. Our conversation addressed the message of his latest book, Voice of the Customer: Capture and Analysis (Six Sigma Operational Methods). I found it interesting that Dr. Yang has worked with Apple and questioned him about it. Black T's and blue jeans didn't seem like a cultural fit with Six Sigma. Listen to find our the how's and why's of Capturing and Analyzing Data, the Blue Ocean Strategy of Apple and Dr. Yang's description of survey's and the practical example of a restaurant may surprise you. I actually listened to that part twice before I really understood what he meant.

Dr. Yang is a Professor in the department of Industrial and Manufacturing, Wayne State University. His areas of expertise include Six Sigma, statistical methods in quality and reliability engineering, lean product development, lean healthcare, and engineering design methodologies. He is a world well known expert in the area of Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma and quality for service and an author of five books in the areas of Design for Six Sigma, Six Sigma and, multivariate statistical methods. Prof. Yang’s book, Design for Six Sigma: A Roadmap for Product Development is an influential book that provides a framework to integrate both innovation methods, and traditional statistical quality assurance methods into the product development process. Dr Yang also published over 70 research papers.

He has been awarded over 40 research contracts from such institutions as US National Science Foundation, US Department of Veteran Affairs, Siemens Corp, General Motors Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation and Siemens Corporation. Dr Yang is also a well-known trainer in the area of Six Sigma, lean, he conducted numerous training for many companies, such as Apple Inc and Siemens. Dr. Yang obtained both his MS and PhD degrees from the University of Michigan.

Related Search on Business901

Books by Dr. Yang - Amazon Book Links: Voice of the Customer: Capture and Analysis (Six Sigma Operational Methods) Design for Six Sigma Design for Six Sigma: A Roadmap for Product Development Multivariate Statistical Methods in Quality Management

Technorati Tags: Six Sigma,Six Sigma Marketing,Lean Sigma Marketing,Voice of Customer

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Theory of Constraints Roundup

The 8th Annual TOCICO International Conference is here!! The conference started today June 19th. The Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization (TOCICO) unites people who share a passion for win-win holistic thinking and share a vision that this will become the main way to manage organizations. The TOCICO is a global not-for-profit certification organization for TOC practitioners, consultants and academics to develop and administer certification standards, and facilitate the exchange of latest developments.

Though I was unable to attend, I look forward to feedback from the event. I am using this event to highlight the participants this year on my podcast, my blogs utilizing the principles of the Theory of Constraints and especially the release of the authoritative volume Theory of Constraints Handbook authored by John G. Schleier, Jr. and James F. Cox III. These 2 individuals were part of my recent podcast Holistic approach to the Theory of Constraints. We covered so much material during the interview that I also split out the discussion on the Thinking Processes of TOC and will feature that in my next podcast release this Tuesday, June 22nd.

I have listed the eBook blog post for each Theory of Constraint Expert that I interviewed as these posts also contain the link to the podcast.

Bob Sproull, author of The Ultimate Improvement Cycle - Ebook on Integrating Theory of Constraints with Lean Six Sigma

Mike Dalton the founder of Guided Innovation Group - Utilizing the Theory of Constraints in Product Innovation Ebook

Dr. Lisa Lang considered the foremost expert in the world in applying Theory of Constraints to Marketing and currently the President of the Science of Business - Utilizing the Theory of Constraints eBook

Mark Woeppel president of Pinnacle Strategie - TLS – Theory of Constraints, Lean, Six Sigma Integration eBook

Also I would recommend my Category Tag: Theory of Constraints

Friday, June 18, 2010

Current State Map – Where are You?

I have to admit, I was always and still am a Scooby Doo fan. Those famous words “Scooby Doo – Where are you” still bring a smile to my face. Where are you…in marketing circles seldom do I win a lot points by asking that question.

Where are You? Defining your current marketing state can be quite a job. Most feedback has been received from current customers or people that will take the time to respond; people that like you. Sure, you have a few real disgruntled people that give you feedback but you rule them out as extremists..right?

Where are You? Do you understand your marketing process? I mean the progression people take moving through your system…you have a system don’t you? Mapping this process and creating an accurate value stream is seldom created without proper customer segmentation.

Where are you? Measurements, we talk about them but do we really follow them. Are we making decisions on metrics or are we spending time justifying why they are what they are? I see a lot of metrics floating around these days but understanding them and what they mean is an entirely different story.

Where are you? Do you understand what triggers your customer/prospect to move through your value chain? Learn what causes a response, both positive and negative and determine if you are providing enough value at each stage? Think, would your customer pay to get it?

Where are you? Are the right people participating at the right time during the sale process? Key staff members may be required at critical times. Don’t think this only happens at the end of the cycle, star power can work practically at any point.

Most organizations want to know where they are going versus where they are at. I can use all the corny phrases that we have all heard but the point is you need to know what you need to change before changing it. Running new ads, publishing new material and just creating new material for the sake of movement is wasteful and non-productive.

Shameless Plug: Jim Luckman was a recent Business901 podcast guest and discussed Applying Value Stream Concepts. Jim will be facilitating Value-Stream Mapping for the Office and Service for the Lean Enterprise Institute workshop June 22-23, 2010, in Indianapolis, IN. This link will take you to the full list of Lean Management Workshops.

This interactive workshop demonstrates how to apply value-stream mapping, a fundamental and critical tool, to address what many companies find difficult to do: making a fundamental change in business processes such as administrative, professional, and transactional activities. You will see how the key elements of lean thinking and value-stream mapping apply to such activities by identifying key processes to tackle, drawing an accurate current-state map of each process, applying lean principles to envision a leaner future-state for each process, and implementing the future-state in a way that can be sustained.

P.S. Learning how to create an accurate Current State Map may prevent you from screaming these words - “Scooby Doo – Where are you?”

5 Steps to Lean Six Sigma Marketing Success

An overview on applying Lean Six Sigma to the marketing process. Many people question whether you can apply Lean and Six Sigma to the marketing process. I think the question may be: Is your marketing team disciplined enough?

LSS Marketing

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

ready for Global Program Management? - eBook

Is your program or even project manager ready for this kind of challenge? How does a classic program and project management change as a result of this global influence? Paula Wagner,co-author of Global Program Management did a great job of answering these questions as they applied to both small and large organizations. With the increase pressure on project managers this eBook will provides insights on handling those resources.

Can you manage a Global Program

Paula Wagner’s Website: http://pwdita.com/

Technorati Tags: Global Programs,Project Managment,Program Management,Project Manager,Program Manager

Monday, June 7, 2010

Lean Rock Stars assembled for Indy Management Workshop

I have first hand knowledge of several of these instructors and the ones that I do not are well renowned in the Lean field. I can hardly think of a better cast that could be put together. I wonder if Lean Enterprise will put together a film clip like this for these Rock Stars? I think they should.

Lean Enterprise Institute recently announced 6 Lean Management Workshops for Indianapolis. The training sessions will help Lean Thinkers launch and sustain lean transformations in manufacturing and nonmanufacturing processes. The nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute will run workshops June 22-24, 2010, in Indianapolis on how to implement and sustain lean management methods in manufacturing, service, and office processes. The sessions, which will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis, address how to apply basic and more advanced lean concepts. The lean management workshops and the instructors are listed below:

Key Concepts of Lean - Understanding the Toyota Production System - Instructor(s): David Meier

Managing to Learn: The Use of the A3 Management Process - Instructor(s): John Y. Shook, David Verble, Marek Piatkowski, Tracey Richardson

Value-Stream Mapping for the Office and Service - Instructor(s): Jim Luckman

Change Agent Skills for Lean Implementation Leaders - Instructor(s): David Verble

Lean Problem Solving Instructor(s): Tracey Richardson

Optimizing Flow in Office and Service Processes - Instructor(s): Drew Locher

Technorati Tags: Lean Workshops,Indianapolis Workshops,LEI,Lean Enterprise,Value Stream Mapping

Innovative Development with Lean

Tim Schipper and Mark Swets were my guests on the Business901 Podcas. They are the co-authors of Innovative Lean Development: How to Create, Implement and Maintain a Learning Culture Using Fast Learning Cycles. I have been quite intrigued by their book and if you listen to the podcast I would encourage you first to download the Single Point Lesson that was initially published by Association of Manufacturing Excellence’s (AME) Target Magazine.

Tim Schipper is a graduate of Calvin College (Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering) and the University of Michigan (Masters of Science). He has been a tool designer, engineering educator, CAD specialist and trainer, senior product engineer, IT manager, and most recently a lean expert and internal consultant for Steelcase, Inc., in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Mark Swets has facilitated more than 30 lean workshops at Steelcase, Inc., in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has led teams who have applied lean development techniques in product development, information technology application development, sales strategy development, and business model development.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Work in Process is Wasteful even in Sales and Marketing

One of the tenants I am convinced of is that Work in Process is wasteful and unproductive. If you look at this from a Sales and Marketing Process it basically says that the more people you have in your sales and marketing funnel the more unproductive you are. A blog recently by Jim Benson of Personal Kanban said this (and more) in a recent post Inventory makes Work:

Inventory lowers organizational effectiveness because the time and money spent taking care of the inventory could have been spent making the company more successful. Therefore, Lean organizations tend to receive the things they need to operate at the last responsible moment, this is called “Just in Time” (JIT). A JIT organization does not take on inventory until the moment they need it and therefore spends as little as possible maintaining inventory, greatly reducing the risk of having overstock.

But inventory isn’t just “stuff.” Inventory for us as individuals includes anything we have that requires maintenance or on-going attention. We have responsibilities, they aren’t going away. We will have a yard, it will need to be mowed. Dishes need to be washed. Children need to be raised.

Inventory for sales and marketing is prospects! As you think about what stops your marketing from being effective it is all about trying to appeal to the masses and as a result losing effectiveness both in time and money. As Jim said above, you should be taking the time making your company more successful and working on ineffective or wasteful leads is not going to do it..

The past several years the buzz word has been Inbound Marketing. Though I am a advocate of the basic approach and an advocate of using Social Media I have found that it really has resulted in a failed marketing strategy for many companies. Though it has increased the number of prospects it has done little to increase qualified buyers. That is why there has been push back from many organizations. It just has not been effective as the principle seems to indicate. Just because we automated the process does not mean we are managing Work in Process better.

So what happens if we limit work in process or the numbers of leads that we receive? Marketing to a targeted audience results in a cost savings and time savings. Would you need to hire more salespeople? Would you be able to use more experienced people at the right time and in the right place more often? Would you nurture and promote to a better qualified prospect? I believe the most important part of limiting Work in Process is that your message would simply be better. Not only would your information packet be much more targeted and information rich, it would also have a better chance to be delivered on time or in other words when a prospect is ready for it. Giving a prospect what he needs, when he needs it and how he wants it is a pretty important factor in today’s market. If you look at what vehicles prospects and your customers use to acquire the information they need, you will notice one important factor: they are just about all different. Multiplying that number by the number of prospects should certainly give you reason to start narrowing your field.

Why is now, the best time to convert to this strategy? The market itself has caused a constriction for most companies. This constriction has narrowed your market that should enable you to readily identify your target market. What are the last minute adjustments or concessions you make (JIT) to capture the sale? These are the present value drivers of your business. Are these the value drivers that you are willing to live with in the long term? How do they help you in identifying your present and future market?

Work in process is wasteful. It is wasteful in your personal life when not managed well, it is bad in manufacturing, it is bad from a sales and marketing perspective. Quit marketing at the top of your funnel. Instead learn how to manage your Work in Process!

P.S. By the way, I don’t even believe in a marketing funnel any more. I will tell you more about that later!

Technorati Tags: Lean,Sales Cycle,Marketing Funnel,Work in Process,JIT,Inventory,Prospects,Kanban,Agile Marketing

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