I have officially passed six months on the job as president and CEO of AME. Over these past few months, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard people ask if a global pandemic was part of my first-year plan. And, yet, AME members, volunteers and employees have done what lean practitioners always do: adapt to conditions and look for solutions that move us toward a desired future state.
As we’ve overcome adversity, I’ve been encouraged by the resilience of the AME community — a network of operational excellence practitioners that continues to grow.
We have come together in so many ways. I see collaboration among AME Consortia member companies. In the new Lean Sensei user group, there is active idea sharing around how best to assess and improve operations using the Lean Sensei tool. AME and our partners — Reshoring Initiative, Manufacturing Leadership Council/NAM, LeanCor, NGen and Lean Frontiers, to name just a few — have joined forces to help organizations and individuals navigate the pathway forward.
Join us any Tuesday for our virtual lean coffee break, and you’ll be part of a lively idea exchange with folks from all over North America with different experiences and from different industries, but all focused on sharing, learning and growing.
Perhaps most inspiring, we’ve seen our volunteers identify and reach out to non-member companies that might be struggling, in order to connect them to AME programming, events and tools that will empower their continuous improvement journey.
I am just six months into my time as AME president and CEO, but the thing that has been consistently reinforced during my tenure is the wonderful community we have. AME people care about one another. Members of the AME community are willing to go out of their way to nurture understanding and help others reach enterprise excellence.
I want to personally thank our members, volunteers and staff for helping to build and maintain this community.
If you are not a current AME member, we’re ready to welcome you. On our events page, you’ll find ways to dip your toe in with one of our free events or dive in with an engaging virtual workshop, tour or our signature event, the 36th annual AME virtual conference. Jump right in, the water is warm and so are the people.
As always, please stay safe and keep looking out for one another.
P.S. The 2020 virtual AME International Conference early bird discount ends in just one week! Register by July 31 to receive $150 off the already deeply discounted price.
