Takt-ical Leadership

About the Book

Takt-ical Leadership is a story about a company that is failing its customers, and has come under siege to improve quickly in order to save their business. Each chapter has a “story” segment that establishes the business challenge and is followed with a “how to” style solution that will help you think through your day to day management style. DFC-P Products Inc. is a fictional company whose customers have put them on notice, threatening to leave. In addition to the performance deficiencies plaguing them, their culture imposed a significant barrier, confusing the difference between doing their best and doing what the customer needs. With a new president tasked to correct the problems before all business was lost, they discover Lean process improvements that improve responsiveness. This book weaves real business situations and Lean Enterprise solutions into a story about how to energize culture change and succeed in saving the future of an organization. While the story is comprised from actual experiences with multiple companies, the solutions: use of Lean tools, business excellence principles, and cultural diagnostics; have been employed time after time by companies trying to resurrect their own performance. Takt-ical Leadership is named to emphasize the concept of time. Just as “Takt” is used in Lean Enterprise to represent the rhythm of the marketplace, so is “Takt-ical” meant to represent the need to keep time in the forefront of your management approach and even in your key metrics. Although this book is centered around a manufacturing business, the leadership, Lean Enterprise, and cultural change concepts it advocates are applicable to any type of business. I hope you enjoy this fictional chronical of the challenges and successes I’ve enjoyed in my forty-three years of manufacturing.

About the Author

A career manufacturing professional currently standing at 43 years, Lowell Puls has managed and consulted with manufacturers around the world, providing Lean Enterprise solutions that have delivered transformational results. Starting as a machine operator on the factory floor and ascending to the leadership level for divisions of fortune 500 corporations, Lowell has successfully completed a number of Lean Enterprise based turnarounds, salvaging many long-standing customer relationships along the way. Lowell Puls led organizations have repeatedly won customer awards for performance, corporate awards for business excellence and Lean Enterprise deployment, and one even achieved finalist status for the then Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award. As a process focused consultant, Lowell has created numerous innovative business processes including: Business 5s – for turnarounds and performance improvement, LEAP (Lean Excellence Assessment Process) – for evaluating Lean Enterprise status and clearing a path for forward implementation, and SIMPLE (Short Interval Management Process for Lean Execution) – a project and turnaround management process. Lowell has a Bachelors in Education and Industrial Technology from Northern Illinois University, an MBA from Loyola University, and has completed several supplemental industrial engineering and executive management programs.