May 3, 2019

Lean: Creating a culture of increasing value and reducing waste

Tyler Morency
5 years ago

Lean: Creating a culture of increasing value and reducing waste

Tools for competitive successes the focus of 2019 Canadian Lean Summit

There is no shortage of unique words and phrases related to Lean Six Sigma. Lean practitioners will be familiar with terms like Kaizen, DMAIC, value stream mapping, process improvement, and change management, just to name a few. Regardless of the tools or the names of tools used, increasing value while reducing waste remains at the core of Lean Six Sigma.

However, when the City the Fredericton noticed a lack of conferences and summits devoted to Lean professional development in Canada, they created one.

“Part of what I wanted to do was provide them with a professional development opportunity,” Chris Macpherson, Chief Administrative Officer with the City of Fredericton said. “There weren’t any we could find. So we decided to start our own.”

Four years after the first summit, the 2019 Canadian Lean Summit welcomed over 300 attendees to Fredericton, New Brunswick to share tools, strategies, and success stories about Lean Six Sigma. Measurand was a Gold Sponsor for the event.

“This conference is critically important for our belts, their professional development and for the network,” Macpherson said.

Lean Six Sigma’s practitioners, similar to Karate or Judo students, train and test for belts from the novice’s white belt to the master’s black belt.

“There is no association of lean professionals. So this is another way that people can find out about projects in other places and success stories,” Macpherson added.

Several presentations focused on the theme of culture acting as a cornerstone at the centre of creating sustainable change within organizations working to implement Lean Six Sigma practices. 

Measurand’s Terry Patterson and Billy Carr were in attendance to present “Growing Lean: How a 25-year-old shape-sensing technology company needed to find Lean to deal with sales success” which details the start of the company’s journey to apply Lean principles to facility planning, production, and employee training.

Visit www.cdnleansummit.ca to find more about future summits.

  • 1993

    The Beginning

    Measurand is established in Fredericton, New Brunswick
  • 1994

    Bend sensor development

    Measurand develops and patents fiber optic bend and position sensors for the medical and automotive sectors

    U.S. Patent 5,321,257

  • 1995

    Canadian Space Agency

    Receives funding from the CSA to develop sensor technology that ultimately leads to invention of ShapeTape

    U.S. Patent 5,633,494

  • 1999

    Patent on fiber optic sensor

    Measurand receives patent for "Fiber Optic Bending and Positioning Sensor" issued June 29, 1999

    Canadian Patent 2,073,162

  • 2001

    ShapeTape & ShapeHand debut

    Measurand designs and develops innovative motion capture technology

    U.S. Patent 6,127,672, 6,563,107

  • 2002

    Measurand Attends the ICPMG

    First contact with the geotechnical sector at the International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ICPMG)
  • 2004

    ShapeArray

    Design patent application sent about a new product designed to meet the specific needs of the geotechnical industry

    U.S. Patent 6,127,672, 6,563,107

  • 2005-08

    ShapeWrap

    Measurand debuts ShapeWrap motion capture technology for the film and animation industry

    U.S. Patent 7,296,363

  • 2006

    Malibu installation

    ShapeAccelArray installed for ground monitoring for the first time​ in Malibu, CA

    Canadian Patent 2,472,421

  • 2007

    ShapeMRI

    Suite of instrumentation developed for motion capture within Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines

    U.S. Patent 7,296,363

  • 2011

    SAAScan launched

    Built for rapid deployment and repeated use

    Canadian Patent 2,472,421

  • 2014

    SAAX launched

    Purpose-built for heavy-duty horizontal installation

    Canadian application 2,815,199 & 2,815,195

  • 2017

    SAAV launched

    The only geotechnical instrument with a patented cyclical installation method

    Cyclical Sensor Array, Canadian application 2,815,199 & 2,911,175