The best senseis—or teachers—always ask thought-provoking questions and do not give mere answers. A team of volunteer practitioners from AME created a new self-assessment tool that anyone can use to improve the way they improve. We’ve titled it, “AME Lean Sensei” The AME Lean Sensei app is available for free from the Apple app store or as a downloadable Excel spreadsheet from the AME website.

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence offers the AME Lean Sensei to anyone interested in benchmarking their organization against distinguished AME Excellence Award recipient companies’ improvement performance results. AME Excellence Award recipients operate at exceptional levels of improvement effectiveness, setting the bar high for achieving success in the search for performance excellence.

The questions asked by the AME Lean Sensei will help a team of people to think about how to become best-in-class at your site or facility and to decide which actions are the most important priority.

PRESENTER: Mark Preston

Mark Preston has been driving change in manufacturing and supply chain environments for more than 25 years using continuous improvement – lean. Preston is the president and CEO of Lean Applications, a management consulting company dedicated to providing practical solutions to help individuals and organizations get better at what they do: driving excellence throughout the enterprise. He previously worked with Acuity Brands Lighting, Respironics Inc. (Phillips Healthcare) and TDK Electronics. During his 11 years with TDK, Preston studied Kaizen manufacturing techniques in Japan during his executive sensei training. He later continued his training in Japan with Singijutsu in 2006. Preston is a lean Champion for AME and has held board positions as a member of the Southeast Regional Board and as a Director-at-Large for enterprise excellence. He is also a member of the AME Awards Council and has been a strong driver of the team for the Lean Sensei App. Preston created the AME Lean Sensei excel version for those who are unable to use the iOS app. He is a keynote speaker for organizations across the U.S. and recently published his first book “Southern Sensei.”