Dear Mark,
Although a successful year for Kerr Heating Products, 2003 also made us realize we were becoming the victims of our own success. Our increasing market acceptance was beginning to strain our ability to meet customer timeframes. We were also keenly aware that we had to move prudently because it was likely our labor force would be skeptical of any changes.
Although the management team looked at various options available for some time to meet the challenges described above; the spark was when we read your book, The Kaizen Revolution. Many of the scenarios described in the book were exactly how Kerr operated before ECG taught us how to work smarter, not harder using the lean tools. The impact of 5S, value stram mapping, visual scheduling, etc..., have been dramatic. When we now give plant tours, our staff is proud to descrbe all the changes we have made as a result of implementing lean. The tours are being given with the individual team members taking the lead in explaining what improvements have been made and why. This would not have happened just a few months back.
We were concerned about the labor force's reaction to the changes we were contemplating and whether lean would die a quick death on the floor due to indifference. Once again your book, The Journey To Teams, described our prior situation accurately; we did not have teams, we had a traditional assembly line structure. I knew if we wanted to develop teams and expect different behavior from the individual workers then management had to start acting differently. Your program, The Professional coach Certification Program, gave us the tools and the methods to shed the command and control way of managing and create a new culture where lean could thrive. Morale on the floor has greatly improved and it has spread to all levels of the company.
Overall our experience with Everest Consulting Group has exceeded our expectations. We wouldn't have been able to make the strides in improving the processes, morale and culture without your assistance and direction. I wouldn't hesitiate recommending tham ot any company who may have a similar needs to ours. In a very short time we made significant improvements to the processes, taught our people how to continuously improve the processes and turned the culture 180 degrees. Realizing lean is a journey; I believe Everest Consulting Group gave us a firm foundation to build upon for the future. Needless to say we're anxiously anticipating the upcoming heating season.
Sincerely,
Steven Wilson, President
Kerr Heating Products
