LOUCON19 Program Details
Opening Keynote
Peg Pennington, President, MoreSteam
Operational Excellence in Times of Digital Disruption
In an era of digital transformation, quality practitioners need more than PDCA and DMAIC roadmaps to help lead their organizations to success. It’s a game of survival and traditional continuous improvement methods won’t be sufficient to keep your business alive. Incremental improvements gained in daily huddles and quick hit projects are the life blood of operational excellence, but they don’t produce transformational results. As quality practitioners, we excel at finding and fixing problems. However, fixing a problem is essentially rework of a defect or inefficiency that we didn’t expect to happen. So how can we be leaders rather than laggers? How can we leapfrog incremental improvements and deliver a truly award-winning customer experience? This session will: • Review case studies of companies across industries who have transformed their customers’ experience. • Discuss the components of digital business agility. • Identify actionable steps to implement in your organization.
Peg Pennington joined MoreSteam’s executive team in 2018 as President. For the past decade, Peg served as the Executive Director of the Center for Operational Excellence (the “COE”) at Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business, and prior to that she worked in a managerial role at Emerson Network Power.
Peg brings to MoreSteam deep familiarity with the global process improvement community and a strategic focus on ‘next’ practices. She is an expert in developing organizational cultures to embed critical thinking and problem-solving as a core competency. At the COE she was instrumental in establishing rigorous standards for Lean Six Sigma certification aligned with industry norms. And she worked tirelessly to develop an Opex community of learning, offering a variety of educational, benchmarking, and networking events.
Perhaps most significantly, Peg helped architect the Master of Business Operational Excellence (“MBOE”), a unique graduate degree program at the Fisher College of Business. She continues in her role as an adjunct instructor of the MBOE lean leadership and Six Sigma curriculum.
Her academic credentials include a bachelor’s degree in finance from Michigan State University and an MBA from the University of Dayton.
Closing Keynote:
Chris Harrison, Principal Advisory Services, Ernst & Young, LLP
Adopting Process First thinking to drive value from Intelligent Automation
Intelligent automation refers to a wide range of techniques that enable the digitization, processing and evaluation of information to fundamentally change how work is performed. It is not one piece of technology, but rather, a combination of tools and methods that work in concert to improve the performance of a function, the effectiveness of the employees involved and, ultimately, the experience of the customer.
Process first design creates a scalable model to identify, assess and prioritize automation opportunities. It merges the principles of design thinking with the full automation toolkit to transform and digitize the enterprise in line with the overall business strategy.
Applied properly, intelligent automation solutions are designed around the user experience — both customers and employees. In other words, designing for “the human in the loop” enables intelligent automation to be focused on human interactions where you want them, because you want them optimizing the human roles by improving them with tools that advance their efficiency and effectiveness.
Digital transformation and disruptive technologies will fundamentally change how work gets done. Applying the techniques at our disposal – both traditional and new – must be done in a thoughtful and holistic manner. This will require an empowered workforce that is trained and incented to try new things and changing the culture of the organization so that automation, enabled through a process-first approach, is a part of everything we do.
Christopher Harris is the national leader of EY’s Business & Operations Improvement practice for financial services. This team is part of the firm’s global Performance Improvement Advisory group and supports the transformation agenda of EY clients across financial services lines of business, operations, and finance.
Mr. Harris is also a global leader in EY’s Intelligent Automation group. This team leverages the full breadth of emerging technologies to redesign how financial services companies do business including digital, process automation, and cognitive.
With almost three decades of management consulting experience for financial services companies, Mr. Harris has led or played key delivery roles in dozens of projects which helped clients identify more than $1 billion in new revenue opportunities and more than $2 billion in annual expense savings. Prior to joining EY, Mr. Harris was a partner at Accenture where his responsibilities included management of the North American credit strategy consulting practice and banking business process outsourcing practice.
Healthcare Track
A-1 Mark Gaynor Professor of Health Policy and Management, Saint Louis University.
Teaching Process Improvement to Masters of Health Administration
This presentation will explore what we teach our MHA students compared to what the industry needs. We explore the optional process improvement area of concentration available to our MHA students. Next it discusses frameworks we teach such as TQI, CQI, Lean, and Six Sigma. Then it explores tools our students us for Data Science, Statistics, and Data Visualization including Excel and QI macros for Excel, Tableau, and MoreSteam Engine Room. Next, I will describe the training material we use for our Lean Six Sigma Green belt class. The session ends with a discussion about how we can meet the needs of industry better.
Mark Gaynor PhD is an Professor of Health Management and Policy at the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University. Mark received his PhD in Computer Science from Harvard University. His first book, Network Services Investment Guide: Maximizing ROI in Uncertain Markets is published by Wiley (2003). He has been a PI and Co-PI on several grants from Google, NSF, NIH, NSBI and the US Army. His current teaching includes Health Operations Management, Health Information Systems, Security and Privacy of Health Care Information, and Green Belt Six Sigma for Health Care.
A-3 Katie Castree Operations Excellence Manager, Accumen, Inc.
Workflow Optimization Using a Healthcare Lab Case Study
The disciplines of Lean, Six Sigma, and Quality have traditionally been applied to manufacturing organizations, however, they can and should be applied well beyond this environment. This session will examine how to apply them in the healthcare industry, using a laboratory example of workflow optimization. The case study takes place in a 877-bed hospital, part of a larger 4-state healthcare system in the Midwest. The workflow of focus was the process of collecting, processing, and testing bone marrow specimens. Tools will include project charter, current state process flowchart with “swim lanes,” Work Sampling, Standard Work, and more.
Katie Castree is an Operations Excellence Manager at Accumen, a performance partner that works with healthcare systems to create high-performing laboratory and imaging departments. Now in her fourth year at Accumen, she delivers improvements in laboratory productivity, quality, and service by implementing opex practices within client organizations. Prior to Accumen, Katie was at Hospital Sisters Health System for about four years, most recently as Senior Performance Improvement Specialist for HSHS Medical Group. Katie holds a B.S. in Community Health from University of Illinois, a Master of Health Administration from St. Louis University, a Six Sigma Black Belt from ASQ, and is an AHRQ-Certified TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer.
A-4 Matthew Morgan Senior Performance Improvement Consultant, St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Appealing to Empathy: Enhancing Lean Initiatives Using Elements of Design Thinking
Much has been said regarding the similarities and differences between Lean improvement methods and the increasingly popular approach of design thinking, or “human-centered design.” During this session, we will present a practical approach to reconciling and aligning the strengths of these two improvement methodologies. In addition, we will explore some real-life scenarios that highlight their complementary nature in the setting of a pediatric, acute-care hospital.
Matt Morgan has been a member of the Performance Excellence Team at St. Louis Children’s Hospital for 4 years. During that time, his work has focused on the implementation and ongoing development of the hospital’s Lean Operating System. In addition, he provides project management support to the Executive Director of Pediatric Intensive- and Inpatient-Care Services and is the lead consultant for the hospital’s Patient Flow initiative. Matt also holds an adjunct faculty position at Washington University where he teaches Innovation Science and Human-Centered Design.
Operational Excellence Track
B-1 Ray Brand Sr. Performance Improvement Consultant, BJC Health System
Developing Yourself as a Transformational Change Agent
Companies all over the country seem to struggle with identifying the proper skill sets for transformation execution. How many projects does your organization start and appear to not drive sustained KPI performance? Does your organization see the ‘flavors of the month’ come and go? What’s the key to get employees to believe? After years of collaboration, this is the best offering to help leaders understand what individual skill sets and approaches are needed to create intrinsic motivation in others to help drive transformational change.
Ray Brand is a transformation change agent at Barnes-Jewish Hospital supporting various strategic initiatives of the BJC Health System. Ray specializes in various methods of creating emotional attachment (Humble Inquiry, Unleashing Talent, 10x, etc.) for front line staff and leaders in order to drive step function change in KPI Performance. Prior to joining the BJC Health System, Ray spent 11 years in the Aerospace manufacturing sector as a lean facilitator/enterprise process integrator. Outside of his primary profession, Ray values being the Director of Coaching at Missouri Rush Soccer Club, owner/director of GSE Futsal Academy and owner of Ray Ray’s Kettle Corn.
B-2 Dave Binz Director of Engineering, Cambridge Engineering, Inc.
A Smarter, Leaner Workforce: A Story of Employee Engagement and Culture Development through CI.
When it comes to building a cohesive and engaged team, this is the most difficult, complex time in a generation. From finding workers, to upskilling them, to integrating automation, how do you find the right people and strike the right balance of humans and machines? And how do you get them to truly embrace a culture of continuous improvement and learning? Cambridge Engineering has made great progress on all these fronts by focusing on growing people, and they have created one of the most studied mid-sized manufacturing cultures in America.
Dave Binz holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. He began his career with Carrier Corporation serving the large commercial and industrial HVAC market and
joined Cambridge Engineering, Inc. in 2014. He is an active member of multiple ASHRAE Technical committees and participates in the development of new Energy Efficiency standards for improving the built environment. Dave and the Cambridge Engineering team have hosted over 200 firms and 1000 individuals in the last three years and shared their story of employee engagement through people-centric leadership.
B-3 Thomas Miller Operational Excellence Project Leader, Edward Jones
Operational Excellence in the Service Sector
Operational Excellence was born in manufacturing, but in recent years is utilized increasingly in service and transactional organizations. While Operational Excellence practices are readily applicable in both manufacturing and service organizations, there are a few key differences that quality practitioners should be aware of. This presentation will explore the key differences between practicing Operational Excellence in service organizations versus manufacturing organizations.
Thomas Miller is an Operational Excellence Project leader at Edward Jones, where he has held numerous leadership positions. He is an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt as well as being certified in the Prosci Change Management process. In addition to leading Lean Six Sigma projects himself, Thomas coaches and mentors other the Green Belts and Black Belts, who have responsibility for process improvement, process design, and change management. He has over 29 years of Financial Services experience, having been a Financial Advisor at multiple national firms.
B-4 Ahad Housseini Management Consultant, Slalom Consulting
Anatomy of a Transformation
Cloud adoption within IT organizations has increased rapidly as corporations want to leverage the power of the cloud platform to decrease cost, drive scalability, increase overall reliability and unlock innovation across the business. This session will explore the critical business considerations for maximizing the value from your cloud investment. From cloud strategy and initial migration to full organizational transformation, we will use real-world use cases to understand the non-technical considerations that are often overlooked when planning a move to the cloud. These critical people and process components must be addressed for a successful cloud-enabled business transformation, and the session will touch on: Leadership education and alignment, cloud-enabled operating model, and talent upskilling and reskilling.
Ahad Hosseini is a management consultant for Slalom with a focus on business architecture, competitive business strategy, and organizational effectiveness. His teams and clients use him as a subject matter expert for strategic value realization and cloud transformation efforts. Before joining Slalom, Ahad co-founded SigNeuro, a precision medicine company. Prior to his entrepreneurial work, he worked as a management consultant for Black & Veatch, a sales engineer for Rockwell Automation, and as a business specialist for Apple. He has a B.S. in Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering.
Risk Management Track
C-1 Ozzie Lomaz CEO, Lomax Consulting Group
Taking the Risk out of Risk Management
Join this interactive discussion on managing the many surprises that often impact the quality of project deliverables. The session is intended for project leaders and team members who want to learn how to be more proactive with risk management. We’ll introduce over 20 key activities to execute the risk processes. Risk Identification tools will provide a broad identification toolbox, and key risk categories that impact quality. We will also discuss techniques to analyze, quantify and prioritize risk. Risk biases and assumptions will be included to increase project success and minimize errors, oversights, product recalls and catastrophes.
Ozzie Lomaz is the CEO of Lomax Consulting Group, a firm specializing in project Risk Management and Strategic Planning. He has worked in the energy field for 37 years in Engineering, Operations, Procurement, Finance and Senior management positions. He is at Washington University McKelvey School of Engineering as Adjunct Instructor, Project Management Roundtable Coordinator with 20 years teaching experience.
C-2 Alex Vizueta Consultant/Client Relationship Manager, Kepner-Tregoe
Creating a Risk Management Discipline
Creating a Risk Management Discipline is about following a structured process that results in a comprehensive plan to protect against potential problems and recovering as quickly and inexpensively as possible if the “bad stuff” does occur. In a perfect world we would have enough resources to protect against everything, but reality only gives us the space to protect against what’s most important. Let’s not just identify what could go wrong, but let’s work in a way that allows us to recognize the highest priority items that our team should protect against to make the most of our time and money.
Alex Vizueta establishes relationships with clients who want to improve their ability to effectively resolve business issues through implementation of KT’s Problem Solving and Decision Making methodologies within their organization. He strives to use his experience, which crosses multiple industries and levels, to help organizations to achieve their goals, overcome problems, and improve their bottom line, recognizing that with teamwork a company can do amazing things. Alex has 17 years of helping companies in the Manufacturing, Financial Services, and Healthcare industries, as well as the Federal Government. Prior to that he worked in the IT as an application developer.
Information Technology for Quality Track
D-1 Carin Thamke IT Sr. Solutions Business Architect, BJC
Technically Not Technical
In practically every career path, you are impacted by or use an IT solution. If you are interested in a career in IT, you may be asking “how can I be successful if I’m not technical”? There are many opportunities within the IT industry where other skills can go a long way. In this break out session, we will look at how other skillsets could lead you into a career path in IT. And perhaps, you can pick up some technical lingo as well.
Carin Thamke’s agriculture degree (Mizzou – 2000) stemmed from her passion for agriculture; however, IT became her career starting in 2001 at a small software company. In 18 years, she’s advanced her on-the-job IT learning and experiences from service desk support to her current role as a Business Architect. Her career took a leap with a 2018 ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt certification fulfilling a professional goal focused on process improvement. At BJC, she is engaging in process mapping, journey mapping, and road mapping of business processes that will lead to new IT solutions
D-3 Peter Danza Senior Engineer, US Tests at bioMerieux
Software Quality Engineering – Improvement and Prevention
Do you need to complete software projects faster and cheaper while maintaining quality? Are you asking yourself how to assess the effectiveness of your software development process in preventing and containing defects? Do you have a stable development process, but need to improve it? Software Quality Engineering has these solutions, and we will discuss a few tools and techniques to get you started. We will cover initial test planning from a Risk-Based perspective, including an overview of different software test approaches, and applying Cost of Quality concepts to the entire SDLC to improve effectiveness earlier in the cycle. Attendees will be able to apply these concepts to prevent costly rework and defects.
Peter Danza has over 15 years of Test Engineering experience spanning hardware, firmware, and software, with bachelor’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo CA. He attained his CSQE Certification from ASQ in April, 2019, and has been a member of ASQ since 2018. He has worked in many industries, including Aerospace, Utility Metering, Robotics, and Medical Devices. In addition to his passion for Quality and Continuous Improvement, he also volunteers for the Civil Air Patrol as a Squadron Commander and performs weekly in a Jazz and Blues band on a Hammond B3 organ.
