Better Together, For Real
On September 16 and 17, the Michigan Lean Consortium packed up and headed to Grand Rapids for the Lean Solutions Global Summit. MLC was a proud sponsor this year, and the theme was Better Together: People + Innovation.
We didn't just talk about that theme. We rolled up our sleeves and lived it.
The Challenge: Kitchens for Kids
A team of MLC members jumped into the Lean Excellence Competition, part of the Lean Excellence World Championship. The mission sounded simple: build toy kitchen sets.
The twist? Every kitchen we built would be donated to a family in need. So this wasn't a practice run with sticky notes and paper airplanes. Somewhere out there, a kid is going to cook up a lot of pretend pancakes on one of these.
Lean Tools, Real Stakes
This is where the fun started. Our team mapped out the flow, hunted down waste, and problem-solved on the fly, all the things we talk about every day.
Teamwork, critical thinking, a little innovation, and a well-stocked Lean toolbox added up to six finished kitchen sets by the end of the competition.
As team member Trestin put it, "getting to work side by side on something this meaningful was the real win."
More Than a Competition
When we weren't building, we were soaking up everything else the Summit had to offer. The keynotes, breakout sessions, and panels were engaging, interactive, and packed with ideas you can actually use on a Tuesday morning.
Meet Team Blue
None of this happens without the crew. A huge shoutout to Team Blue:
And a big thank-you to Lean Solutions, Patrick Adams, John Dyer, and every speaker, and all the wonderful volunteers who made this competition happen and brought our community together.
