1-10-12

Dear MLC Community:

Happy New Year! As we enter 2012, the new MLC Board of Directors is enthusiastic about the year ahead. As the new Chair for the MLC, I thank you for the trust you have placed in me to move MLC forward toward reaching its vision. As a reminder, the new board is comprised of the following leaders:

Bob Hemrick, Vice Chair. Contact: vicechair@michiganlean.org

Mike Taubitz, Secretary. Contact: secretary@michiganlean.org

Amy Long, Treasurer. Contact: treasurer@michiganlean.org

Julianne Leigh, Membership Liaison. Contact: membership@michiganlean.org

Robert Amid, Ad-hoc Member. Contact: adhoc@michiganlean.org

The new board has already met and made some key decisions that I’d like to share with you:

    The MLC Annual Conference will again be held in Traverse City, August 9-10 (potentially with an optional day on Aug 8). Details forthcoming so please mark your calendars for another great conference. If you have an interest in joining the planning committee, please contact me directly at chair@michiganlean.org or 732-754-3501.
    A formal committee structure has been put in place and leaders of the committees will form the ‘Council of Committee Leaders’. An email explaining this modified structure will be sent later this week so please look for those details. It is an opportunity to be involved with MLC at a leadership level to help move the MLC forward into the re-inventing MI movement.
    We will be entering into a reciprocity agreement with the Northern Michigan Lean Learning Consortium at Northwestern MI College meaning members of both organizations can reap the benefits of both organizations and attend associated events. This is an exciting step forward in broadening the geographic reach of the MLC. Thank you to Rich Wolin at Northwestern MI College in Traverse City for his leadership and partnership over the last three years.
    A communication strategy is being developed and as part of that strategy, we will be scheduling brief quarterly teleconferences for all MLC members. The board of directors will give brief updates on key initiatives and answer questions. Look for these to begin in March.
    At the moment, MLC membership remains at $45 per person for 12 months and still includes all monthly events so we look forward to seeing you at events soon. We are investigating options for a ‘company membership’ and if we decide to offer this, we will certainly make an announcement. If you have any thoughts on this topic, please let me know directly. We will be examining our membership strategy in its entirety so please feel free to contribute your thoughts.

In addition to these decisions, the board would also like to tell you about the upcoming events from the MLC Event Committee including a much-anticipated event on Michigan government with speakers from the state of MI and the city of Grand Rapids—surely to be an interesting and thought-provoking event. The flyer for this event is attached to this email. See our website: www.michiganlean.org for details on scheduled events.

    Jan 13: Deming: The Foundation for Lean with Mike Taubitz
    Feb 24: How Thinking Styles Affect Launching and Sustaining a Lean Culture with GS Clarke (possible upcharge for this event due to survey cost, stay tuned)
    March 16: Lean in Michigan Government with Jeremy Stephens, Eric DeLong and a panel of government leaders
    May 18: Creating a Lean Culture: The Importance of Leadership with David Mann (author of ‘Creating a Lean Culture’)
    August 8-10: MLC Annual Conference in Traverse City

Stay tuned for information about other interesting and helpful events that are being planned for 2012:

    Benchmarking at a nationally recognized leader in health care delivery
    A Lean Health Care Summit including perspectives from hospitals, insurance companies and health care manufacturers.
    An event on Lean Accounting

If you have any ideas for a MLC event or would like to volunteer your organization as a location for a benchmarking visit or simply offer a room for a training event, please let me know.

A special thank-you to the event committee for its relentless energy in planning these events: Amanda Benjamin, Amy Long, Bijay Nayak, Kate Sweeney, Very Szram-Senyk and Howard Weston. A subcommittee will be formed, comprised of some of these people plus additional volunteers, to specifically focus on the annual conference. This conference takes a considerable amount of time to plan so as a reminder, please reach out to me directly if you’d like to be a part of the planning committee for the annual conference. Volunteers receive benefits that will be shared in a separate email in early February.

In closing, the MLC will likely have the opportunity to help a large government system in Michigan by working on a joint project. As more details become apparent we will let you know.

I wish you well in 2012, that all your hopes, dreams and resolutions come true, and that we see a marked improvement in Michigan from all angles. Thank you for your commitment to spreading lean principles in Michigan to help make it the best place in the country to live, learn and earn.

Debra Levantrosser Setman

Co-Founder and Chairwoman

Michigan Lean Consortium

Office +1-248-782-7444

Mobile +1-732-754-3501

www.michiganlean.org

chair@michiganlean.org

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