1. How do I determine how much potential my company has?

An average Power Lean ® transformation takes between three-and-a-half to five percent off your costs. An outstanding implementation can cut your cycle times by half and your inventories by more than that – generating massive benefits to customer satisfaction and cash flows.

2. How do I select the change agents for this program? Who should attend?

Appoint leaders who can take on the role of catalysts for your company. Candidates need to:

•  Be dynamic;

•  Be creative;

•  Be personable and willing to contemplate doing things in a new way and

•  Be able to convince others of the advantages of Power Lean® ;

3. Why should I do this now? Can't this wait?

A lack of a sense of urgency has been cited as the number one cause of change program failure. Think about how much opportunity is being lost every day. You can't afford to continue to throw it away every day?

4. How many people must I train?

We have found that businesses that achieve a ratio of one Power Lean ® master per twenty employees really outstrip their local and direct competitors. This is normally achieved over time and should not be a short term goal, but rather a medium term objective.

5. Why is team attendance recommended?

There are two reasons for this; the first is about business sustainability and the second about human motivation. Here's an example to illustrate the first - sustainability; all critical systems in a military aircraft have multiple redundancies built into them. If half of the body of an aircraft is shot away, the aircraft will continue to function since all of the systems are replicated, and all of the duplicate components are placed far away from one another. (This obviously excludes the wings!) You are going to become a critical component in the business system – it is good business practice to minimize risk by ensuring redundancy.

The second reason is that you will have others to go to when you forget something or the next step simply eludes you. Isn't it comfortable when you know that there is somebody among your peer group that has experienced what you have, and shares your skills, constraints, objectives and resources?

6. How much time will it take before I am certified?

You need to complete your project and display the visible improvements within twelve calendar months of the end of your formal training. (Once you have notified the course administrator that your project is ready to be evaluated, you will be contacted to arrange an evaluation.)

7. How does the certification process work?

You select a project at your organization. Your Clemson Power Lean Instructor will assess your project selection in the first week of training for measurability, achievability and scope of tools required. During the course you have full access to their knowledge base in assistance with your project. You notify the course administrator when you have completed the project and the benefits have been realized, who will then schedule an Instructor to evaluate your mastery of the Clemson Power Lean tools. You have twelve months after completion of the course to finish. Each Clemson Power Lean certificate is numbered and a copy of your project presentation is retained in our database.

8. How do I select my project?

You would want to select a project that's small enough to guarantee success, but would enable you to prove your mastery of all the different aspects of Clemson Power Lean. When you select a project, you engage the support of your approving manager, who would help you select a project that fits the corporate strategy and has visible short-term benefits. These aspects of project selection will guarantee your success and help your motivation, show your peers at work that this thing works – and finally, deliver more than enough to the company's bottom line to justify the training expense!

Clemson University's Power Lean instructors will be available during the first week of training to assess your choice of project.

9. Is there a monetary target for the realization of benefits?

No. We demand that your project is ‘of significance' to your company. We find that the typical benefits that a candidate delivers are in the order of one hundred fifty thousand dollars per year ($150,000). We have also found that an average of eighteen thousand dollars ($18,000) is generated from a typical kaizen event, irrespective of company size, project selection or event type.

10. Where does the material come from?

The material you will learn has been developed over the last six years by a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, a Lean Master and an adult training specialist. After two years it was discovered that some of the events were failing because of the reliability of the machinery and it was at this stage that the value of proper maintenance, not just TPM, was discovered. So a good dose of maintenance excellence was injected into the Power Lean ® training program in 2000 and the course now includes in-depth maintenance excellence principles as well as a “Design for Excellence” module.

11. Who are the instructors?

Your instructors are experienced, practical, certified Power Lean ® Master Instructors, supported by academic professionals from the ranks of Clemson University. The Power Lean ® Master Instructors all fulfill the role of Continuous Improvement Manager in their day-to-day role.

12. Can I miss a week or two?

Yes, you may miss a week - but you will not be certified until you have proven your MASTERY of all the tools, including those you missed during that week! You can make up the week/s at no extra cost during the following course yet your certification deadline remains twelve months after the last day of training of your original course schedule.

13. Can someone replace me in the week that I miss?

That may be arranged in special cases through the course administrator. This practice is not recommended since the knowledge transfer has been crafted in such a fashion as to build upon foundations laid in previous classes or simulations.

14. Can I just do a specific week?

No, that is not practical at this stage. The material is interlaced and sequenced in such a way that several different content streams are in progress in any one week of training; some starting, some developing and a few being ‘tied off.' Attending just one week would be like watching two minutes of a feature film and would not benefit either you or your company.

15. Can I see where this has been done?

Yes, simply call the course administrator, Helena Douglas at 864-656-3981, and she will organize a free, hosted tour of a facility close to you where Power Lean ® has been implemented.

16. How do I construct a core of competence?

You need three professionals; a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, a Lean Master and a Reliability Engineer. This team should support the efforts of your Clemson University Power Lean Masters in the more intricate or complex phases of their programs. However their personal impact should be focused at the strategic level, at those issues where the benefits are larger, yet paradoxically harder to unleash while taking longer to deliver.

17. Has this ever worked in a ‘union' shop?

Oh yes! Our experience with those represented by collective bargaining agreements has been extremely positive. Union-affiliated employees have the same needs. They get the same feeling of pride when a good job is recognized.

18. When should my team and I register?

Immediately since enrollment is limited to 20 in each 5 week session. Call Helena Douglas at 864-656-3981.

19. What is the class schedule?

Week one is all classroom instruction covering the basics. For the following four weeks of the program, on Monday and Tuesday you will have classroom meetings with your fellow students; on Wednesday and Thursday, you will participate in a Kaizen event held at a Rockwell Automation Plant near the city in which the class meets. On Friday morning, another class meeting will be held with adjournment at 12 Noon.

20. Where will I stay during the Power Lean sessions?

As indicated under the section on Accommodations, Clemson has reserved Reduced Priced rooms at each location where classes/plant visits will be held. You should plan to arrive on Sunday for each session; class commences at 8:00 am on the First Monday of each week. Each week ends with a class on Friday morning with adjournment at noon. You should plan on checking out of the hotel on Friday.