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 SoCal Lean Network

Learning and LEANing Through Sharing

Welcome to the home page for the So Cal Lean Network - the place for all things Lean in San Diego and Southern California!

A Message From The Chair: Hello Everyone and Welcome! 

This website features any SoCal based companies, people and events that are part of the Lean Community and/or are embracing Lean Culture, Tools, and Methods. 

We were looking to schedule live tours again in the near future. There are lots of ways to plug into the Lean Community virtually! 


Scroll down to view the upcoming sessions and to register! 


Do you have an opportunity for a virtual tour you would like to make available?


Do you have a summit/conference you would like to let our members know about?

Do you have a job posting you would like to post on SoCalLeanNetwork?

Send a note to Tracy ORourke at tracy@jitcafe.com.

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Event Calendar

Here is an overview of upcoming events. Scroll down for more information on each individual event.

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Reoccurring Events

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Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Course

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) provides a systematic method to improve performance and reduce variation in business operations to achieve productivity and profitability gains. Students earn various colors of Belts which indicate their levels of mastery of LSS expertise. A person who has earned the designation of Lean Six Sigma Green Belt often plays a key role in the success of an organization’s process improvement initiatives.

As a member or leader of a high-performing LSS project team, the Green Belt is involved in selecting or defining projects, setting project objectives, data gathering, statistical analysis, and change implementation. To function effectively, Green Belts need to understand and apply the basic LSS concepts, tools, and methodologies in a variety of situations. This course is designed to educate those who wish to attain the level of Green Belt.

Program Benefits

  • Immediately apply the established LSS principles to a case study or real-life project

  • Receive guided mentorship from a Master Black Belt

  • Learn to implement LSS directly into your workplace

  • Content aligns with the American Society for Quality's Body of Knowledge

  • Know how to best apply Lean Six Sigma's proven techniques and strategies

  • Eligible to earn 40 PDU's through the Project Management Institute (PMI); maintain your PMP certification.

  • Graduates of the project-based program are prepared to progress into the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt course.


Who Should Attend?

Any team or individual responsible for managing or participating significantly in any business process activities including managers, professionals, and line staff. Any process. Any industry. 

Learn more and register here.

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1st Tuesday every month at 5pm PT Virtual Happy Hour hosted by Lean Portland

Join us for virtual Happy Hour!

Lean Portland is a Benefit LLC committed to developing leadership skills of members and local non-profit organizations through project-based volunteer work that lead to continuous improvement. It has been a formalized professional organization since 2010 with the ultimate goal to teach themselves out of a job by developing people’s capabilities and creating lasting impacts in the larger community.

Register for: 

January 2024 here

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2nd Wednesday of Every Month @ 10-10:45am PT

Lean Coffee Hosted by Eric Olsen

Facilitated by Dr. Eric. Olsen, Lean Coffee is a structured, but agenda-less meeting. Participants gather, build an agenda, and begin talking. By voting on participant-generated topics, conversations are directed and productive. Central Coast Lean offers Lean Coffee as a way to build a stronger community of lean practice.


 Future Central Coast Lean Events and Lean Coffee Registration: https://www.purpose-ccl.org/lean-

coffee 

2nd Wednesday of every month from 10-10:45am PT (in person and virtual)

Dates: 12/13, 1/10, 2/14, 3/13, 4/10, 5/8, 6/12, 7/10, 8/14, 9/11

Register here.

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December Events

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December 5th: Lean for Social Good - An Unconference Hosted by Lean Portland

Join fellow Continuous Improvement practitioners at Lean Portland 3rd Annual Virtual Unconference.

The goal for this virtual event is to bring together like-minded people interested in helping nonprofits, NGOs, government agencies and public sector organizations apply Lean and other process improvement methods (Lean Impact, Lean Startup, Continuous Improvement, Toyota Production System, Six Sigma, TQM, Kata, etc) to have greater positive impact to people and the environment.

Unconference Theme: Lean for Social Good

An unconference is a "participant-driven" event that avoids traditional aspects of a conference, such as pre-determined sponsored presentations and top-down organization. The agenda and topics are created by attendees at this unconference. Any attendee can suggest topics that they are passionate about relating to the theme of this unconference. Prepare by bringing topics that you want to discuss in group sessions.

About the event

We will get started by introducing the concept of the unconference (open space) principles and explain our agenda for the session. Attendees will be encouraged to suggest a topic for discussion. Topics are agreed upon by participants and assigned into sessions (multiple topics within each session, like a regular conference).


Attendees decide on which discussions they want to participate in and are able to move freely between breakout rooms. Each session will last about 30 minutes using Zoom breakout rooms for each topic. We will have 3 different sessions (about 90-100 minutes of total discussion). Therefore, you will get to choose from 15-20 topics during this unconference, so chances are good that you'll find something interesting.

This event will not be recorded, as the breakout sessions are where all the learning and discussion will take place, so please plan to attend live!

Register here.

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December 7th: Agile journey at Jasper Engines & Transmissions

This course will give a high-level description of the Agile Method for Software Development. This methodology anticipates the need for flexibility and attempts to deliver software products incrementally through collaboration between the Business and the Development Team.


Agile software development tends to focus on the clean delivery of individual pieces or parts of the software rather than the entire application. The benefits of Agile include its ability to help teams in an evolving landscape while focusing on the efficient delivery of business value. The collaborative culture facilitated by Agile also improves efficiency throughout the organization as teams work together and understand their specific roles in the process. Finally, companies using Agile software development can feel confident that they are releasing a high-quality product because testing is performed throughout development. This provides the opportunity to make changes as needed and alert teams to any potential issues.

Register here

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December 13th: The impact of JI at Sanofi (Swiftwater)

The labour sourcing model at Swiftwater is to use temporary staff which many many leaders and trainers will be familiar with! Even more familiar perhaps will be the challenges this creates and are unlikely to decrease in the foreseeable future.


The Swiftwater site manufactures vaccines; TWI Job Instruction was implemented to support the Flu Campaign as the site needs to onboard and upskill approximately 350 workers annually. The JI program was instrumental in decreasing the upskill time by 68%.

Join this webinar to hear Elizabeth and Trina:

-Detail their approach to the challenge above and what they learned.

-Introduce their sustainment model.

Register here.

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December 14th: 

Training is key to building a continuous improvement (CI) culture, but organizational gains from training can disappear if it’s done in isolation. Traditional belt accreditation programs (e.g., Yellow Belt, Green Belt, etc.) can be time-intensive prescriptive learning pathways, which might not meet individual learning preferences.


To obtain broad organizational participation in CI, development opportunities should be flexible. What helps is a mix of mechanisms that promote  competency and proficiency lasting long after training ends.

Join this 1-hour webinar to discover how the State of Vermont moved from belt certification to a badge-based training program that enabled more personalized learning aligned with individual goals, interests, and schedules.


Performance Improvement Advisor Katie Bockwoldt and Chief Performance Officer Justin Kenney will discuss the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition and their new training program, and how they combined traditional CI training with software training to magnify performance gains. 

Register here.

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January Events

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January 10th: Lean tools for time management webinar from LeanFrontiers

Do you feel like time management is a mystery that you just can't solve? Have you tried every "trick in the book" and you STILL can't make anything work for you? If so, this session is for you! In this session you will learn how to get organized, manage your calendar, meet deadlines and still be able to dedicate time for you (no magic potion required).

Register here.

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January 19th: A3 Problem Solving Immersion

Facilitator:  Dr. Eric Olsen - Director Central Coast Lean

Objective:  Learn to facilitate team problem solving by providing a little bit of structure to unleash a wealth of creativity and positive engagement.

Purpose:  Engaging associates in problem solving is key to building a lean culture.  In particular, A3 problem solving (e.g. Theme, Current State, Problem, Goals/Targets, Analysis, Countermeasures, Plan, and Follow-up) is a powerful concept for lean practitioners.  This workshop teaches participants how to use A3 problem solving while simultaneously using Liberating Structures to engage teams or large groups.

Approach:  Immersion Workshops are designed to introduce participants to a large number of Liberating Structures very rapidly. We take Liberating Structures online to create awareness of the range of possibilities that they open. Also, covering a wide variety of structures underscores the idea that there is no single way to address many complex challenges. Another message that participants get loud and clear: you learn by doing.  Once you’ve seen lean and Liberating Structures in action, and practice doing it in the workshop, you can use it in any setting.  In this special immersion workshop for lean thinkers, we will be using an 8-step A3 framework to engage participants in a problem common to lean organizations. 


Target Audience:  All managers, team leads, and supervisors who are tasked with engaging associates and facilitating their interaction.  Some exposure to lean is beneficial, but not required.


Location:   San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401. or live on Zoom


Length:  1 day, 8:00am - 5:00 pm (breakfast and lunch included) 

Register here.

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February Events

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February 21st: Lessons Learned Since Writing 'People Solve Problems'

Since writing People Solve Problems: The Power of Every Person, Every Day, Every Problem, Jamie Flinchbaugh has engaged with 100s of people around his content through speeches, workshops, book clubs, and had many deeper conversations since launching a podcast called People Solve Problems. In this session we’ll share some of the lessons learned since writing the book, exploring nuances for problem solving success. We will explore lessons around the four sections of the book, which include problem solving behaviors (or culture), capabilities, coaching, and the role of the leader.

Register here.

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April Events

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April 9th - 10th: KATACON10 Toyota Kata Summit

The KATA Summit is an annual gathering of those seeking to grow personally and professionally by practicing, and coaching, scientific thinking.  Most recently the KATA community has become passionate about connection, collaboration and giving back.  Learning together rather than in isolation.


The Summit is full of learning opportunities!

  • 20 minute keynotes

  • breakout case studies 

  • the legendary Kata Geek Meet Up

  • and more…


Who will you find in attendance?

Lean champions, HR managers, Operations managers, and Training professionals who are charged with addressing challenges like these…

  • The inability to make and sustain improvements

  • Difficulty getting your workforce engaged in daily improvements

  • Struggles to create a no-blame culture of mutual respect


Register here.

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August Events

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August 21st - 22nd: Process Palooza

Process Palooza is a high-energy collaborative experience celebrating the power of continuous improvement. Join us for The Great Innovate, our Lean Six Sigma competition to improve real processes and to engage with others as you share, learn, begin, or advance, your continuous improvement journey at Process Palooza. 

Learn more here.

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Subscribe or Contact Us

Do you have a Lean tour available in San Diego? Do you have a Lean related job posting? Do you have a Lean podcast interview candidate in mind? Send us a note? We're always looking for more San Diego Lean companies and people to highlight.

Thanks for submitting!

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