You're about to meet, a self-professed maniac!

Brenden Fritz is the President of ADS: Automated Drive Systems in Omaha, Nebraska. They specialize in designing and building control panels that can be used in a company's electrical room or to even power an entire plant. Brenden will proudly tell you or as he states in his LinkedIn profile, he's a "Lean Maniac."

No, it's got nothing to do with Ozempic, but instead Brenden's commitment and his team's dedication to being productive, efficient and customer-focused. Which all—drive results, revenue and profits.

In March, I was speaking to business-owners and C-suite leaders at a meeting held at ADS. Twenty minutes before starting, I snuck-in to the nearby bathroom. It was unlike any bathroom I ever entered. The bathroom was a testament to Brenden's / ADS's maniacal passion about the impact of "lean" on tiny details that create positive outcomes.

Before I began my results-session, I told Brenden how fascinated I was by the bathroom and its use of lean principles. (Which I'll share and show later.) Over the next five minutes, Brenden told me ADS's evolutionary lean story.

That brief conversation, led to this interview. And as you'll soon discover, you don't need to be a manufacturer like ADS, to have lean strategies help you drive powerful improvements and explosive results—in your business and life.

Jeff Blackman: You're a lean company, what does that mean?

Brenden Fritz: All lean comes from Toyota, which stems from Ford. The Japanese implement Kodawari. It's the relentless pursuit of perfection and excellence. Kodawari and lean are uncompromising or obsessive philosophies, attitudes and behaviors with details, improvements, creation and craftsmanship. And it applies to all aspects of one's life.

For ADS to be a lean company, we prioritize first, our team. We focus on our people and developing, training and tapping their genius. The result, we get the cumulative effort of everybody to grow the business.

We don't hire someone to build panels. We train and develop them to perfect the panel-building process. Plus, how to find waste and spot improvements. It's about making a difference to our customers and industry.

JB: How has lean impacted ADS?

BF: When you empower people, there's a positive domino effect. Whether it's related to a job, a project or a quarter's financial performance. When our team does things right and better, the byproduct is profits.

We spend a little over an hour-and-a-half, every day, producing absolutely nothing. Instead, we spend that time developing our people. They spend that time making improvements, fixing things that bother them on the shop floor—whether it's cleanliness, jigs, tools or reorganizing workspace.

JB: How'd you begin?

BF: We started lean in June, 2020—because, due to COVID—orders were slow and we had time. I read Paul Akers' book: 2 Second Lean. He urges taking time out of production—to make lean work. I didn't like that suggestion. And thought my reluctance was justified. It was really an excuse. Plus, my wife knew best! She declared, "Don't be stupid! The guy put it in the book for a reason." She was right.

Initially, we devoted 15 minutes daily to lean improvements. Now, it's about 90 minutes daily. And every 6 to 10 months, we reassess the time, the processes, the outcomes, the customer value, the profits, etc.

Plus, we implement another Japanese philosophy, Kata. It's our specific daily routine. It's never ignored. {My JB note to you: Kata is often referenced in karate and other martial arts. Its literal translation is, "form." And it references specific, rehearsed movement patterns—to help achieve execution perfection.}

JB: What were your concerns or reluctance with lean?

BF: That it didn't apply to us. We create/manufacture custom electrical control panels, every product is different. Yet, we also do one-offs that control municipal water pumps or plant conveyors. We realized we're not focused on a finite niche. That realization, led to new investments in machinery and software.

Those improvements impacted how we serve different customers—as we now add greater value, with different products, partnerships and services. Our philosophy is simple, when we add enhanced value, quality and craftmanship, we deserve to make money.

JB: How have these philosophies affected your team?

BF: Once we digitize production and engineering, there's accurate step-by-step instructions. (i.e., Kata) We know every panel with those specs, will be built from the same set of prints and wired exactly the same. No variation. Seven or eight ADS team members may touch a panel, as it progresses through the shop, yet it's now an easily repeatable, precise process.

This drives efficiency, consistency. Plus, if we need to troubleshoot, it's easier. The ROI from the new machinery and software is profound.

JB: What do you say to cynics, who might claim, "Lean doesn't apply to me."

BF: We've learned, when we bring new teammates in, there could be hesitancy or disbelief. Yet we know they understand the principles, when they share examples of how lean has spilled into their personal life, like organizing their garage or kitchen.

I know a solopreneur, a one-person bespoke furniture business owner in Ireland. He shares in worldwide lean chat groups—how he uses lean to grow and prosper. I also know several large construction companies with hundreds of employees—that also successfully use "2 second lean" strategies.

That's why we encourage others, even our competitors, to literally see the possibilities. Annually, we give three to four public tours of ADS. Yet, we'll also give a private tour.

Jeff, if one of your readers would like to visit ADS and see lean in action, they're welcome to email me at: [email protected]

JB: Brenden, that's very gracious and magnanimous!

BF: During one of our tours, a skeptic said, "You guys are making stuff, it's easy for you to document issues or changes. I'm a sales leader, how does this apply to me?"

He and I began a side conversation, discussing the eight wastes of lean—devised by Taiichi Ohno. {My JB note to you: Ohno was a businessman, engineer and considered the father of TPS: the Toyota Production System. TPS inspired lean manufacturing in the United States. Ohno's original 7 "wastes" are: Transportation / Inventory / Motion / Waiting / Overproduction / Overprocessing / Defects. (Though not part of the original TPS 7, an eighth waste was added: Unused Talent, i.e., limiting team input or ingenuity, poor training, lack of incentives, etc.}

When you look at any business or any role, the "wastes" apply! The sales leader and I brainstormed about "transportation" with his products—where could small incremental changes improve scheduling, routing and deliveries. That's lean!

JB: I was the beneficiary of lean when I went to your bathroom. Please explain what made that bathroom so unique—with its messaging, inventory control and use of Kaizen foam.

BF: All our bathrooms are exactly the same. They're standardized. Visitors say, "Noticed a QR code that goes to a private YouTube video—on how to change a toilet paper roll. Is that really necessary?"

Yes, it is. Without a process, any improvement attempt is just a variation. You can't improve without a standard. Changing a toilet paper roll seems simple, but we think there's a right way. We choose the paper to roll from the front like a beard vs. from the back like a mullet! It's our standard. Our commonplace.

Our faucets have a little arrow, showing hot or cold water. We also have little graphics and messages to reinforce our commitment to cleanliness; before you go...please wipe off the sink, check the mirror for splatter, put your trash in the trash. It's respect for the next user. And it sends a message, about how we approach manufacturing.

We also have an app on our phones, so everyone can make changes to our standard operating procedures. Currently, we have 322 standard operations.

We use Kaizen foam in each bathroom for display, ease-of-use and inventory.

Above, are examples of Kaizen foam being used in an ADS  bathroom and on the shop floor.

For example, the hand soap bottle goes in the hand soap cutout space. If the bottle is missing, there's a tag, with a picture of the bottle and where exactly in ADS, to find another bottle. There should be no wasted motion—walking to six cabinets and hoping to find a replacement. We want to eliminate employee frustration and struggle.

When one gets to the replacement bottle, we use another lean strategy, Kanban cards. They help us see, manage and improve workflow.

If I get to the shelf, and there's not at least one bottle available for immediate use, (highly unlikely), the Kanban card system identifies: who supplies us with the hand soap / how often we buy this from them /  how many to order / how long it takes to get / when will we likely need to reorder.

From that card, a teammate can then click on a URL at the supplier's website and place an order. That "card" then goes to our receiving group, which alerts them the order is inbound. That card also helps the receiving group—stock the order upon its arrival—in its proper location, so it's once again easily found by any ADS team member.

Running out of consumables, led to desperation and wasted time. It was actually a major impetus to our discovery and commitment to lean.

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As you can tell, Brenden and his ADS team, never run out of innovative ways—to lean into lean. They're on an endless journey to discover improvements and drive results!

To learn more more about Brenden, his team's commitment to lean, creating robust automation systems or a future ADS tour, please take a peek at: AutomatedDriveSystems.

Plus, Brenden encourages you to check out the 2SecondLeanPlayApp that gives you access to Paul Akers' strategies and all of his audio books at no cost.

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