Technical Communication Workshop.

Developing engineers to express themselves effectively with A3 thinking and proper presentation skills.

    We like to keep you updated about our workshops.
As a manager, I have often sat at the edge of my seat waiting for the real questions from my engineers.  There are too many times, a 5 minutes question took 20 minutes to present because they failed to go straight to the points.  Wouldn't it be great if we can discuss 10 ideas in a hour instead of 3?
The good news is there is a good way to improve.  It is an open secret called A3 thinking (some called it A3 report or one pager).  It was introduced by Toyota as part of TPS (Toyota Production System) and has been widely adopted.  But the results are mixed in industries because too many people focus on the format instead of the principle.
There are many elements involved for a professional to truly benefit from A3 thinking.  To list a few, a solid root cause analysis would drive the message to the critical elements, graphical presentation would drive the massive data into an image that highlights the trend or results.  Combine with a good presentation skill, it would be a power approach to get buy-in or approval for your idea and projects.  I know for sure because it did for me.
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There are several service approaches are available.
  • Join me at the public workshop during IISE annual conference in Orlando.  http://www.iise.org/Annual/details.aspx?id=6792
  • It can be an in-house workshop if you have more than 5 individuals wants to participate.
  • Or contact me if you are interested, and we will contact you when there are enough interests for a public workshop.
  • If you prefer an individual coaching or need someone to brainstorm for an important presentation.  Contact me to arrange individual sessions.
Success Stories
One day, one of our supervisors came with his manager to see me for approval to purchase a new part washer.  Them sat down and presented the cycle time improvement and all kinds of cost benefit.  They present all kind of details to prove their case for over an hour.  The problem was, the return on investment is less than 10% no matter how they stretch.  I couldn’t approve it.
Knowing the supervisors, I feel there is more of the story.  I ask him why he thought they must have this washer?  Then he told me, we are building much bigger engine than when we purchased the washer years ago.  The shaft won’t fit in completely so the technicians have to allow the parts overhang caused the solvent dripped on the floor that leads to unsafe condition.
In our factory, safety and quality are the number one and two priority.  I told him to go back, put a shaft on top of the washer.  Because the real reason why he came to me for approval is for safety concerns, the 10% return is the bonus saving.  It is a great investment once the project presented properly, it was approved within 5 minutes in the capital approval committee.  Knowing what the audience’s focus and using the pictures to tell the story.  It would get people’s attention and buy-in in no time.