Learn Toyota Production Methods, Adapted to the U.S.

Course Agenda

I. Who is Milliken & Company?

• Company History
• Divisions, Products, Footprint.
• Milliken's mindset of continually challenging itself to achieve World-Class levels in all that we do
• How that mindset led to an 'Initiative Driven' culture
• Milliken & Company winning the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award

II. Life after Malcolm Baldrige?

• Benchmarking Trips to Japan
• The specific improvements we saw in Japanese companies
• What we created (based on our benchmarking trips) when we returned from Japan - The Milliken Performance System
• The structure of the Milliken Performance System

III. What is the Milliken Performance System?

• The pillars of the Milliken Performance System
• The inter-relationship of the pillars
• What we mean by the word 'System' and why that's so important
• How a properly developed 'System' sustains gains and moves you from an 'initiative-based' culture

IV. How and Why 'Safety' is an integral component of any Performance System

• Safety as the 'Trust' factor
• How to develop a culture of associate engagement and empowerment.
• Selecting a Steering Committee
• Selecting the proper Sub-Committees
• How associate-led safety teams and committees create the culture whereby improvements are sustainable

V. How Six Sigma and Lean fit into a Performance System

• How do Milliken & Company's business units fit in the Performance System
• Improvements are built upon a base of associate trust (Safety) and equipment reliability and stability (Milliken Performance System). Then, you can achieve 'velocity' through the supply chain (Lean)

VI. Financial Benefits

• The 'Micro-Economic' perspective - the financial impact of the Milliken Performance System as it relates to individual sites
• What is a 'Loss' and how loss analysis kept pushing Milliken & Company forward
• The 'Macro-Economic' perspective - the financial impact of the Milliken Performance System on Milliken & Company in total
• The ROI of the Milliken Performance System
• Where did the improvements come from (by pillar)?
• The financial benefits of being 'Safe'

VII. The Challenge

• The creation of the Milliken Performance Solutions business
• Differentiation of the Milliken Performance Solutions business
  1. Accommodate - companies interested in hearing about these journeys and interested in taking one of their own are welcome to Spartanburg, SC to hear more
  2. Educate - spend time learning and understanding the Milliken Performance System and Safety processes in greater detail
  3. Demonstrate - Tour one to two Milliken & Company sites to see these systems/process in action
  4. Practitioners as opposed to consultants