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If there was ever a time to break through to the leading edge that defines your organization, it is now! The AME Toronto 2013 International Conference will offer unique, innovative opportunities to equip you for the future.
To succeed in today’s competitive marketplace, we must break with thinking restricted by our existing paradigms. The recession provided shock, the reset introduced our new world and the recovery is still under way. We must radically change, driving out waste and collaborating as never before. We also need to accelerate and strengthen our transformation through effective, people-centric customer and employee relationships. Together, we must break down the barriers before us, shedding traditional thinking that holds us back.
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Joe Fisher |
We can learn about the impact of dramatic breakthroughs from Dr. Gerry Price, the chairman and CEO of E.H. Price and one of our eight keynote speakers. Facing nearly a two-thirds decline in the company’s market opportunity during the past five years, E.H. Price grew by more than 15 percent. It now leads its sector while its competitors faded. How did the company achieve this true breakthrough? “What has fueled our growth is our relentless pursuit of innovation in so many areas,” Price said. “Not just in product and process innovation, but as well in operation and management practices innovation.” He will share this amazing success with you — and his passion for building mutually rewarding relationships with customers, community and family.
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Toronto provides a scenic backdrop for the AME Toronto 2013 International Conference. |
Toronto 2013 is a value-packed conference offering you unique opportunities to share, learn and grow — essentials for gaining market share and sustainable business success. You will find many timely and practical presentations, workshops, plant tours, special interest sessions and networking opportunities.
Four leading lean thought leaders — authors, teachers and coaches — will share their innovative ideas during the conference. You will hear from Jim Womack and Dan Jones — the leaders whose book, The Machine that Changed the World, defined and engaged us in lean concepts. Womack went on to found the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), with 15 affiliates around the world. John Shook, the first non-Japanese line manager in Toyota City, Japan, brought the Toyota Production System and culture to North America and to NUMMI. He is now the president and CEO of LEI; I always look forward to his e-letters. Also joining us will be Mike Rother, an LEI faculty member. He introduced new ways of decoding and rethinking problem-solving paradigms using kata thinking and other innovative ideas through his books and presentations. These lean thought leaders have changed our world — and the thinking of many leaders in manufacturing and other arenas.
Be Prepared to Change Your Perceptions
Learn even more about the power of getting in touch with your processes — by “walking the gemba.” Discover new ways to use what you learn, fashioning the unique breakthrough vision you’ll need for tomorrow’s global challenges. As Womack stated, "The life blood of lean is experiments. All authority for any sensei flows from experiments on the gemba (the place where work takes place) — not from dogmatic interpretations of sacred texts or the few degrees of separation from the founders of the movement.”
We have created an innovative twist at the core of our conference. We recognized that one of the most fundamental issues in management is how to think horizontally in our inherently vertical organizations, with an ultimate goal of producing the perfect process with zero waste. In turn, we divided our 54 presentations into the eight areas critical to achieving horizontal value stream flow. Two of these areas, value stream management and daily management, constantly add value throughout the process. The other six areas flow directly into each other, contributing complementary value. (See Breaktrough to Horizontal Value Stream Flow Chart.)
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Another AME Toronto 2013 innovation: We asked our 40-plus plant tour hosts to conduct their tours as gemba walks. They will showcase their best practices along their value stream, not simply explain how they manufacture their products. The tour team spent many hours finding the best breakthrough facilities that will provide a gemba perspective you can build on.
You’ll gain innovative, lean and practical thinking in our 40-plus pre- and post-conference workshops. These in-depth half-day and full-day sessions will help you deal with problematic processing challenges. These workshops, presented by experts in their respective fields, are designed to be interactive. Check the conference website for additional information on our workshops and participate for an additional modest fee.
This year, we’ve gathered experienced continuous improvement pioneers as hosts, panelists and presenters to provide our attendees with a series of special interest (SI) sessions. You can join others who share the same struggles that you are facing, learning about innovative solutions from facilitators and fellow participants. One highly attended SI session at AME conferences is our practitioner Idea Exchange Café. As you drink exceptionally good coffee, you’ll get a chance to share your story and hear others’ suggestions and ideas. These facilitated sessions are open and highly interactive.
AME is a catalyst for building new learning relationships. Experience our Learning Resource Exhibit Center. You will find opportunities for unhurried discussions with vendors selected by the conference team as those who offer practical lean knowledge-based product and service solutions. We will have close to 60 Learning Resource Center exhibitors this year.
The AME companion program provides those traveling with their spouses and families the opportunity to enjoy the sights and sounds of one of the greatest cities in North America — Toronto. Check out our companion program activities, and consider extending your stay for more cultural, dining and entertainment experiences.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our conference sponsors and collaborative partners who help AME and its members promote practitioner-to-practitioner learning and inspire a commitment to excellence in manufacturing. You exemplify what leadership is all about.
To get more information about AME Toronto 2013, I invite you to go to the conference website, www.ametoronto.org, and see the innovative learning opportunities we have planned for you.
