Chicago, IL (August 13, 2003)— Are you being pressured to find proven ways to transform your business overnight? If so, then ‘Lean Thinking’ in Print Media is your answer. On August 20th, 2003, Raine Consulting and IDEAlliance will be conducting the first, in a series of, Lean Leadership conferences built on the concepts of Lean Thinking. This one-day program gives participants a taste of the workshop modules around Lean Enterprise, and includes both group and individual exercises to practice the concepts. The conference schedule is mindful of senior executives’ time and was designed to give decision makers a professional orientation of Lean programs to test whether Lean can help them turn survival into growth. Print giant R.R. Donnelley will be presenting an actual case study from their Business Process Improvement initiatives. The program is filled with relevant examples from the print media industries. The conference is designed for executives and senior level change-enabled managers from the print media industries including agencies, content management companies, in-plant production groups, packagers, printers, publishers and supporting technology companies. Large corporate supply chain managers and buyers will also find the program engaging. Attendance is limited, so interested parties should reserve their seats now. “We already know that Lean companies have an edge over those that solely focus on TQM (Total Quality Management) or CI (Continuous Improvement) initiatives. Bottom line, this program helps participants assess their tools, technologies, and performance measures to get lean. Attendees will come away with a keen understanding of the five principles of lean enterprises and the lean starting points for their company,” says David Steinhart of Idea Alliance. “Lean is the hottest trend there is today in any manufacturing business” stated Susan Kelly, Managing Partner of Raine Consulting. “The fundamental idea behind Lean, pioneered by Womack and Jones, is straight forward--doing more for less making sure customers get exactly what they want. Lean is not only a well-accepted methodology in today’s leading supply chain businesses around the world...it’s a strategic weapon.” Attendees will receive an advance copy of the new Raine Executive Brief titled, “Lean Enterprise: From Manufacturing to Selling”. Features of the conference include: - Problem Identification: Understand your Pain Points; those that keep you awake at night. Participants spend time identifying challenges that may or may not be in their control. - Connection to Value: What the customer is willing to pay for is an integral part of the Lean process. Participants take a deep look at what their customers value most about their company. - Mapping Value Stream: Print media workflows are used to demonstrate the ‘before’ and ‘after’ results when mapping the value stream. Participants join in to find immediate savings in their own environments and are invited to debate the differences between value-add and non-value-add activities. - Pull versus Push This module takes on the task to find real ways to move from a mass production model built on economies of scale to one that is based on response of real time downstream customer demands for print media. - Lean Thinking: The ultimate challenge is to get lean when everything is constantly changing…. • New Sales and Marketing Methods: Lean Selling • Digitization of the Supply Chain • Technology Solutions and Standards • Human Asset Management Model Participants will also: • Come away with a keen understanding of the five principles of Lean Enterprises and the Lean starting points for their company. • Practice Lean concepts highly relevant to their environment. • See examples of best practices in cost reduction, technology strategies, and improved efficiency as a result of Lean. • Use assessment tools to help with resource prioritization without ‘analysis paralysis’. • Do a Lean self-assessment: identify pain points, value drivers, non-value added activities, performance measures…all in an effort to eliminate waste. • Gain access to content and resources to support their company’s future Lean efforts. • Network with colleagues across a broad spectrum of print media executives in an invitation-only environment. • Be a future Lean Leader for their company. For a full listing of workshop topics, or to receive an invitation for the Chicago event, please contact David Steinhardt, IDEAlliance (703) 837-1066 or Julie Brink, Raine Consulting (630) 629-3410; or online at www.IDEAlliance.org or www.RaineConsulting.com