This free session presented by Linda Lundstrom in collaboration with the Canadian Apparel Federation, will serve as a general introduction to Lean Manufacturing and offer an outline of the upcoming three-session, on-line training program. Participants will understand what to expect and what they will learn from the remaining three webinars and the direct benefits of LEAN on their BOTTOM LINE.

These sessions are being presented:

• Wednesday May 16, 2012 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern time
  Wednesday May 30, 2012 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern time and
  Wednesday June 13, 2012 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern time

Why should you attend?

• You want to know about Lean Manufacturing from someone who has actually implemented it in their company.

• You need to understand the benefits of Lean manufacturing AND the costs.

Content:

• Cash Flow…how ‘bundle’ or ‘batch’ systems place pressure on the company’s cash, resources and borrowing costs.

• Space Utilization…how LEAN requires less space to produce more volume.

• Information Systems…how productivity targets are communicated to everyone in the company, empowering them to make decisions to achieve targets.

• Turnaround/throughput time…how does Lean improve production times?

• Effect on People…examples of resistance to Lean, as well as stories of how Lean is embraced by employees.

• Return On Investment…is it a big investment to convert to Lean and are the benefits/returns worth it?

• What are the benefits to the bottom line?

Who Should attend:

• COMPANY OWNERS should attend this introductory session.

• Senior Production Managers and Financial Managers

For further information, including registration fees for the full training program, click here.

This image is from the DARE TO WEAR LOVE Show at Toronto Fashion Week final gala show to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis foundation… helping the grandmothers and orphans in Africa deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Each designer created a one of a kind design for their celebrity model using traditional African fabrics. I was fortunate to have Arlene Duncan of Little Mosque On The Prairie model my creation.

See how this great event benefits these resilient recipients.

Look around…look up…look under…really look at your company surroundings. Take some photos of the ‘messes’ lurking in corners, on top of shelves, underneath desks, in boxes and in storage areas.

Now think about the waste these ‘messes’ represent. Maybe time is wasted looking for things, or space is wasted storing ’stuff’ which adds no value, but occupies prime real estate, which costs the company money. Maybe energy is wasted stepping over, or getting around the mess, or mental energy is being expended in frustration just seeing the mess every day. Even worse is the complacency people feel when the ‘messes’ are ignored…making them a ‘normal’ part of the company’s atmosphere and culture. Now that’s a scary thought!

Last week, I spent time with a client identifying all the ‘messes’ in their Head Office location. As a Lean Practitioner, this process is called ‘5S’, which stands for Sort, Set in Order, Sweep & Shine, Standardize, Sustain. In my Lean consulting practice, I have added another S for ‘Sell’ which often applies to obsolete inventory being held in warehouse space. Even if the ‘Sale’ means giving products to Goodwill, or taking things to the dump, there is still a decision that must be made to let them go. Of course when the ’sale’ brings money into the company, that’s even better.

Sometimes, it’s hard for my clients to ‘let go’ of the ’stuff’ they have accumulated over the years. I ask them one simple question…’Would you pay to buy it again?’ Most often the answer is ‘no’ and that’s when they realize that something they have been keeping has no value even to them. Out it goes!

The energy begins to shift as corners are cleared, then cleaned. The process becomes a metaphor for the cleansing of the company culture. The air feels fresher, the staff begins to take notice…somebody cares…and they begin to care too.
The process for my client is not over. Next we need to Standardize and put practices in place to Sustain the process of continuous improvement, or Kaizen.

Stay tuned!

Here’s an excerpt from Linda’s article ‘A Healing Journey…By Design’ in this month’s MOTIVATED Magazine.

Three moose, nine deer, three black bears, six or seven foxes and an eagle’s nest, with eaglets peeking over the top. Going over the list of wildlife sightings while waiting for my flight to take me back to Toronto, I remember the Caribou tracks and the jackfish we saw in the shallow water in front of Kaaren’s cabin.

It’s been another good trip back home to the Red Lake in Northwestern Ontario where I was born and lived until age seventeen. Now, on June 15, 2011, sitting in the Winnipeg airport after the nearly seven-hour car ride from Red Lake, I reminisce about the events of the past six days.

Kaaren invited us to go to her cabin, a two and a half hour trip by water and land. We left around 6 pm giving us plenty of time to get there since that far north, darkness does not fall until around 11 pm. The bush was lush and bursting with life, with familiar fragrances. The first portage was a rugged game trail created by the hooves of many moose, to the place where a canoe was hidden in the tall grasses on the shore of a small lake. Pollen from the spruce trees lay like a golden topping on the surface of the water. There was no wind, so the water was a mirror reflecting the trees, the sky, and the clouds. We paddled to the second portage. An aluminum skiff with an outboard motor waited at the end of the path and transported us onto a large, perfectly calm, vast body of crystal clear water. The lake we promised to keep a secret. The traditional land of the Anishnabe

You can read the complete article in MOTIVATED Magazine at Chapters across Canada and Barnes & Noble in the U.S. and all major airports. You can also purchase this current issue online on the website. Look for the “Cake Boss” with the blue cover to find this month’s issue.

“Motivated” is the magazine with a mission to “Inspire the World. The September issue aka “The Optimism Issue” features an article by Linda which you can find in the GROW section. Until the winter issue is published, the current issue is available at the newsstand or subscribe online

Washi Star Talk with Linda Lundström
no charge but please rsvp
Tuesday October 25, 6:30 – 8 pm

Linda Lundström, best known for her fashion designs, has begun exploring washi and its potential to be used in filtering light and creating calm warmth in interior spaces. Initially unfamiliar with handling Japanese paper, Linda immediately on using it sensed its transformational properties: she intuitively brought her experience working with textile into play and began to create starched, crumpled, stitched and pleated cushions, window covers and floating washi walls. This evening come and hear from Linda about her journey with washi and to be inspired by her enthusiasm for its myriad uses.

The Japanese Paper Place
77 Brock Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M6K 2L3
Phone: 416-538-9669
Fax: 416-538-0563
washi@japanesepaperplace.com

The best way to become Consciously Competent (CC), that is, to know what you know with confidence and the ability to recall and repeat it… is to teach.

Otherwise, you might be stuck in the Unconsciously Competent (UC) level of consciousness, which is rife with the insecurities of the natural athlete who cannot duplicate his or her brilliant performance under the pressure of the Olympics. Or, the bright student who draws a blank when writing an exam.

Conscious Incompetence (CI) is stressful too. That’s when you are abundantly aware of your inabilities, especially if there is a need for you to overcome them. Maybe you need to learn some new computer program for your job, or become bilingual, or change from a PC to a Mac. Coming home from the hospital with your first baby is a roller coaster of CI, then by the time the second child comes, you’re much more confident and competent.

To progress from CI to CC requires simply… to learn.

For the past 2 years, I have been chipping away at the things I need to learn to increase my competence in areas that are necessary for my business. Understanding Social Media and building my web site were huge tasks for me since I only started using a personal computer in the past few years. I was competent with the pattern-making aspect of the CAD/CAM computer system at Linda Lundstrom Inc., but had assistance from my staff with all the administrative work done on the desktop computers. I was missing the ‘how-to’ know-how. My grade 10 typing skills were hardly enough.

The frustration of overcoming the fears of my incompetence began with a call to my friend Sandy McMullen. Sandy was my age and a geek when it came to Social Media, web site design and understanding the steepness of my learning curve. She was patient and supportive. Slowly things began to sink in and I was able to participate in the digital world with a growing sense of confidence. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, search engine optimization and awareness of the complex internet world became part of my world too. The insecurities of not knowing were replaced by the stress of knowing too much. So now I’m learning how to manage all the information.

Learning has become a way to grow my confidence and competence. I enrolled in one of Sandy McMullen’s workshops called ‘Leading Full Circle’, in September ( www.leading-full-circle.com ) and Sandy continues to be my coach in all things related to my computer skills. We Skype and talk regularly.

In 2009, I was invited to become a part-time professor at George Brown College. I had no idea how profound the opportunity would be to share my knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Fashion Design/Product Development and the business of Fashion. With each class, I had to share what I knew with bright young students, in a way that was understandable to them. I had to organize my areas of competence, gained through 36 years as a designer and manufacturer of women’s fashions. It was all in my head, but in order to teach, I needed to become Consciously Competent (CC) in my abilities.

It was tough… students expected hand-outs and power-point presentations. I was given a ’smart classroom’ and had no idea how to work the equipment. Web CT, the on-line learning system where courses, lesson plans and grades were posted, left me near tears. Even the photo copier required a password and my Mac was not able to access STU-View, another on-line communication system. Chalk and a blackboard together with my wealth of know-how and experience were not enough. Things sure had changed.

Thankfully, Marilyn McNeil-Morin, Chair of Fashion Studies at George Brown, supported me through this challenging time. I worked hard to move beyond UC to CC. It sure wasn’t easy. My students came to the rescue, teaching me enough to get by and helping me work the equipment. I was learning AND teaching simultaneously. We became collaborators, blurring any division between teacher and student.

Then an amazing thing began to happen… with each class, it was as though I was making a deposit in my CC bank. Each time I connected with a student and saw their eyes light up with profound learning… I felt lighter. I became passionate about giving away my knowledge as quickly as possible, just because it felt so good. All the experiences, tricks-of-the-trade, production and pattern-making techniques of my career as founder of a successful Canadian Fashion company, came pouring out of me. “Let the fabric speak” became the mantra of my Draping classes. “Waste Not/Want Not” the underlying principle of the Lean Manufacturing course. In my first semester over 180 students registered for my classes. What a gift!

I became so hooked on sharing what I knew, that I also developed several workshops, which have been attended by Home Economics teachers in Winnipeg, First Nations Anishnabe in Red Lake and aspiring designers who come to my studio near Caledon. Together, we make body forms, drape fabrics to make patterns, create with Washi Japanese paper, stitch and cut and practice all the ‘insider’ techniques from my years in the Apparel Industry.

In the next few weeks, I will be joining an Interim Management company as one of their roster of consultants. Helping people in their businesses is just one more way of fulfilling my goal of lightening my load to become CC (Consciously Competent).

Perhaps the greatest gift is learning that my path to well-being and freedom from stress, is to become Consciously Competent (CC) by teaching and by learning. The process has revealed how I can fulfill my ‘purpose’ in life… to inspire others and by doing so, be inspired myself.

Have I found the meaning of life? Right now… sure feels like it.

Washi is Japanese paper, made using centuries-old methods, by families who have passed on the knowledge for generations.

Japanese Paper Place founder Nancy Jacobi, asked me if I could use the papers her company distributes globally, as though they were fabric. I have really enjoyed the break from Fashion Design over the past 2 years, so I was excited to take on this project.
After working with these beautiful papers for the past several months, wetting them down with a water/konnyaku solution to give them strength and experimenting with textures, the possibilities became endless. I have loved every minute. It felt as though through these papers, I was given the key to a whole new way to express my creativity.

The result……..’Floating Washi Walls’, to define interior spaces while allowing light to filter through. Scarves to adorn a table, hang in a window, or frame a face. Gossamer flowers appliqued to 9ft. high panels, hanging from ceiling to floor. Elements from nature mixed with the konnyaku with cinnamon to create subtle spice hues.

On June 3, 2011 from 3 to 7pm at the Japanese Paper Place headquarters, 77 Brock Ave., Toronto, these ‘Washi Off The Wall” pieces will be shown for the first time. Architects, Interior Designers, press and media have been invited to see these creations.

When is the last time you looked at your hands? Look at them and think about all the things they enable you to do. Hold a child, cook a meal, write a letter, open doors, drive a car…..all done with our hands.
Today my hands were busy making Washi Japanese paper into ‘Floating Walls’. Wetting with Konnyaku and water to strengthen, then gathering with my hands to make fortuny pleats and random creases and textures. These beautiful papers, which are made using centuries-old techniques, are also the product of careful hands.
As I stitched the Washi pieces together on my old industrial Singer sewing machine, I knew that today, my hands were blessed. Strong and soft, my hands grasped the paper with confidence, then gently guided it under the pressure foot on my machine.
My hands are my greatest gift. As a fashion designer, I became known for my ‘draped’ styles. I love taking fabric and molding it to the female form, pinning and cutting to create a unique shape, then making a pattern from the fabric so the style could then go into production.
I love my hands……I give thanks for them too seldom.

What triggers your creativity?
For me, water is the element that runs through some of my most creative projects. Right now I am working on mixing Konnyaku powder with water to strengthen and give memory to the Washi papers that I am stitching together to build ‘Floating Washi Walls’ for a June 3 event at The Japanese Paper Place.
It all started last summer when I swam by the dock of Nancy Jacobi and asked her to join me. By the time we got to my cabin, had a sauna and got caught up on each other’s lives, we had hatched a plan for the Washi project.
Water, Washi, Floating walls…….it’s all going swimmingly. Come and join me on June 3 to see the possibilities.