I was fortunate to participate in a recent tour at "In the Ditch", and I could not agree more. Chuck and his team are awesome! Your 13 minute video is a great summary of the highlights we saw too, but I think you missed the best part - you never mention, there is literally a fireman’s pole from Chuck’s office down to the production floor! The firepole lets Chuck respond immediately to issues in the manufacturing area. - They clearly have not lost sight of the fact that LEAN should be fun too. Thanks for documenting your travels and giving us an opportunity to get exposure to all these great companies.
I was trained in the aircraft world where everything had to be as good as possible. Your facility would give any pilot the upmost confidence in their machine. Great job !
Absolutely blown away! It's truly incredible how enjoyable a workplace can be when you empower your employees with the culture and resources to make a difference! Paul, it must be exciting to see how people can take some of your concepts in lean and take it to even a higher level than you ever intended! Thank you for sharing!
Paul, Few days back I saw their recruiting video, and was impressed with how serious they were in getting the right fit, who accepts and understand LEAN. And now I was super-impressed with their actual site footage.. with all LEAN improvements. Thanks for touring, and sharing it. Enjoyed it, and learnt a lot. Probably will use this as Best Practice Video too. Thanks Paul Akers
thank you for this video!!! thank you in the ditch and thank you Paul 😊 i showed the vidoe to my colleges this morning ... we are going to implement the color marks on each of our tools !!! great video ... i will come back to it to get more ideas 😊 regards !Ioan from Romania
So, I have to ask, as one just starting the lean journey with a manufacturing facility of my own, How long was this in the making? How many years since they started their lean journey? Or were they like you Paul, where they started their lean journey in another facility and were able to set this one up just how they wanted it from the very beginning?..... Very inspiring video by the way... Show us some more!!!
I can't believe how well marked everything is. I really like their cart and equipment labels in the colors (look at 3:42ish). Does anybody know where they may have bought those labels? Look closely at the kanban tags, they even cut the sticker around the hole. I'm guessing they make the kanban tags in-house. They should make a product line with the kanban cards and hooks. Thanks for your help.
+Nick Barnes Yes, in house. I forwarded your comment to Chuck. btw, we have erasable labels at FastCap. www.fastcap.com/estore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=44994
impressive! I would really like to work in a place like this. good moral, structure, positive reinforcement, clean, creativity is encouraged. looks like they care about the employees. Nice job. Is In the Ditch planning on expanding to Western Idaho or eastern Oregon? I would apply for a job right now!
Great video, Paul. In recent videos you've taken to sticking your fingers into practically every shot. Your viewers are not idiots. In fact, they're very smart. When you say "Look at that kanban card" well we can plainly see the card without your pointing at it. Advice in the spirit of continuous improvement.
+profitablecopy I disagree. I don't think I'm implying my viewers are idiots because I point to things. And the beautiful things is we all get out own opinions.
Profitablecopy. your comment is unnecessary! You cant speak for every viewer! Keep pointing paul, i appreciate the work you put into making these videos.
I was fortunate to participate in a recent tour at "In the Ditch", and I could not agree more. Chuck and his team are awesome! Your 13 minute video is a great summary of the highlights we saw too, but I think you missed the best part - you never mention, there is literally a fireman’s pole from Chuck’s office down to the production floor! The firepole lets Chuck respond immediately to issues in the manufacturing area. - They clearly have not lost sight of the fact that LEAN should be fun too.
Thanks for documenting your travels and giving us an opportunity to get exposure to all these great companies.
I was trained in the aircraft world where everything had to be as good as possible. Your facility would give any pilot the upmost confidence in their machine. Great job !
5 years ago? It is staggering to think where they might be today!
Absolutely blown away! It's truly incredible how enjoyable a workplace can be when you empower your employees with the culture and resources to make a difference! Paul, it must be exciting to see how people can take some of your concepts in lean and take it to even a higher level than you ever intended! Thank you for sharing!
Brian it is amazing and I am so lucky to get to do what I do and meet the people I meet.
Oh gosh. The process documentation. So great!
+DammitCoetzee Everything about this organization is impressive. I was so happy to be able to see it first hand!!!
That Ceccarelli guy is pretty awesome for sure 😎
Thanks for sharing this. Very inspiring!
Wow ! I can just imagine if I had a company tour and never knew something like this even existed. Thank you Paul :)
+Markus Kaprio Your welcome Markus.
This was a great video. I love seeing how they use their own products . I found this company first when I was looking for a grease gun pegboard setup
Paul, Few days back I saw their recruiting video, and was impressed with how serious they were in getting the right fit, who accepts and understand LEAN. And now I was super-impressed with their actual site footage.. with all LEAN improvements. Thanks for touring, and sharing it. Enjoyed it, and learnt a lot. Probably will use this as Best Practice Video too. Thanks Paul Akers
+HARISH SHETTY Best Practice is right, Harish!!!
This is getting shown to the team. It is always good to see the levels that super stars are working at to inspire us all to do better.
+Steve Douge I so agree with you, Steve!!!
Ahhhh, organization is soothing to my brain :)
What a great way to put it!
Such an Inspiration!! Thanks Paul! So awesome to see an American Company doing it right!!
+Terry Jull Terry, as you can tell in the video I was totally psyched!!! I totally agree!
This is really awesome!
I'm headed to my garage now!
thank you for this video!!! thank you in the ditch and thank you Paul 😊 i showed the vidoe to my colleges this morning ... we are going to implement the color marks on each of our tools !!! great video ... i will come back to it to get more ideas 😊 regards !Ioan from Romania
+emceul That's super! Send me before/after videos of your progress!
Incredible!
So, I have to ask, as one just starting the lean journey with a manufacturing facility of my own, How long was this in the making? How many years since they started their lean journey? Or were they like you Paul, where they started their lean journey in another facility and were able to set this one up just how they wanted it from the very beginning?..... Very inspiring video by the way... Show us some more!!!
They started about five years ago and it's just been one improvement after another!
Amazing shop ! Where did you guys find the dispensers for all the paint cans in the paint department ?
This is lean improvment at is best. im tryting to implement this in our Headstone Workshop.
+Ben Biedenkopf Ben, make sure to make before/after videos to share!!
Inspirational!!
Truly amazing facility thanks guys
I can't believe how well marked everything is. I really like their cart and equipment labels in the colors (look at 3:42ish). Does anybody know where they may have bought those labels? Look closely at the kanban tags, they even cut the sticker around the hole. I'm guessing they make the kanban tags in-house. They should make a product line with the kanban cards and hooks.
Thanks for your help.
+Nick Barnes Yes, in house. I forwarded your comment to Chuck. btw, we have erasable labels at FastCap. www.fastcap.com/estore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=44994
Where do the labels with the notch cut out come from?
Can I buy these pegboard kanban labels please please please
Great place! Looks just like the FastCap operation -- real Paul Akers mecca!
+Sid Moore Thanks Sid!
impressive! I would really like to work in a place like this. good moral, structure, positive reinforcement, clean, creativity is encouraged. looks like they care about the employees. Nice job. Is In the Ditch planning on expanding to Western Idaho or eastern Oregon? I would apply for a job right now!
Yes, very impressive place. You'll have to check with them.
One word WOW!!!
+Stime64 Truth!
Nice video! Is there a way to get your book in german?
Yes. PDF version. Here is a link. paulakers.net/books
Thank you
Very cool.
Great video, Paul. In recent videos you've taken to sticking your fingers into practically every shot. Your viewers are not idiots. In fact, they're very smart. When you say "Look at that kanban card" well we can plainly see the card without your pointing at it. Advice in the spirit of continuous improvement.
+profitablecopy I disagree. I don't think I'm implying my viewers are idiots because I point to things. And the beautiful things is we all get out own opinions.
Profitablecopy. your comment is unnecessary! You cant speak for every viewer! Keep pointing paul, i appreciate the work you put into making these videos.
WOW