The Central Coast Lean program in Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business will host the seventh annual Central Coast Lean Summit on Apr. 16 and 17, at the SLO Brew Rock Activity Center to showcase successful “lean” strategies in health care, education, government and non-profit agencies.

“Establishing a Lean Culture” is this year’s theme. Industry leaders and lean experts will focus on creating high-performing workplaces from a human perspective.

Lean business practices aim to increase customer value while minimizing waste across all facets of an organization. The philosophy originated in manufacturing, but has influenced other sectors to streamline processes and require less human effort, less space, less capital, and less time to make cost-effective products and services with fewer defects.

“I think this year’s theme will help organizations reap true value from their investment in lean tools and processes by engaging their workforce,” said Cal Poly Professor Eric Olsen, who is host and facilitator of the lean summit. “This event will benefit everyone from CEOs to new hires across a variety of industries.”

The Summit on Monday, Apr. 16 will feature two keynote addresses. In the first, Jeff Hastie – Bose Global Director of Lean Enterprise, will share the story of their Lean Enterprise Maturity Model as an inflection point in the Lean Enterprise journey at Bose Corporation. In the second, Carlos Scholz – Director of TPMG Strategic Initiatives for Kaiser Permanente, North Valley, will talk about the North Valley Way: A lean operating system as a vehicle to achieve engagement and continuous improvement by every team member.

The Summit will also include interactive breakouts led by experienced facilitators to allow participants to probe pertinent topics and share and apply concepts to their industry and function.

Throughout the event, a “Coaching Café” will give participants a chance to discuss lean challenges with Sam MacPherson, Lean Transformation Leader and Founder of the Lean Leadership Academy. Attendees will be able to network with lean experts from throughout California and collaborate with Cal Poly faculty. Participants will also see lean posters of improvement projects from Cal Poly students and the Central Coast lean Community. The day will end with a reception where Summit participants can network in the SLO Brew Rock Beer Garden.

The event will end with a Post-Summit Workshop on Tuesday, Apr. 17, 9am-3pm. Jim Benson, author of “Personal Kanban: Mapping Work Navigating Life,” will discuss continuous improvement processes for back-office employees.

“We hope to expand upon the lean community of local leaders by providing networking opportunities with like-minded managers engaged in lean strategies,” Olsen said.

Registration is open. Tickets and corporate sponsorship information can be found at:

https://www.cob.calpoly.edu/ccl/


About the Orfalea College of Business and Cal Poly

Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business prepares career-ready, global business leaders through the university’s Learn by Doing philosophy. The undergraduate program offers a polytechnic education in a broad range of disciplines in business administration, economics, and industrial technology and packaging. The college also offers master’s degrees in business administration, business analytics, accounting, taxation and economics. It is one of six academic colleges at Cal Poly, a nationally ranked, four-year comprehensive public university in San Luis Obispo, Calif. For more information, visit www.cob.calpoly.edu.