Why A3, Why Now in Lean Thinking?

Mike Osterling, the President and Principal Consultant at Osterling Consulting was my guest on the Business901 podcast and our discussion centered around A3 problem solving and A3 thinking. Mike is a long-term Lean Practitioner and an interesting thought on his initial comment in the podcast when I asked, What he has been doing since I last talked to him?

Mike said, “Its been interesting because I’ve been reengaging with some clients and moving on from a lot of the traditional Lean tools, whether they’re being applied in office environment or of a shop floor and going to what they’re perceiving as advance concepts. So that’s exactly in line with what we want to talk about today; problem solving and A3 thinking. So it’s been a good journey and what I think is done in a normal evolution of thought and development.”

Osterling Consulting was founded for the purpose of supporting organizations on their continuous improvement journey. Building upon 18 years of internal experience in operations leadership roles, Mike has worked full time for the last 13 years applying the lean concepts in manufacturing and office environments.

Mike is also the co-author of The Kaizen Event Planner: Achieving Rapid Improvement in Office, Service and Technical Environments. a practical, how-to guide for planning, executing, and sustaining rapid improvements in office, service, and technical environments. Geared to continuous improvement professionals and leadership teams, this book provides the methodology and practical tools for generating measurable results, while building a motivated workforce and creating a culture with an integrated focus on customer value, quality, cost, and service. Mike is an expert facilitator for a Kaizen event, contact him through his website www.mosterling.com.

Sample A3: No Contactor Failures in Field