LCI Paper Company

When Karen Armstrong bought LCI Paper Company in May 2021, she was able to identify early on that she needed to implement change management. From her Green Belt background, Karen was able to see that LCI didn’t have any processes written down, and that was just one area needing improvement. Karen knew of MassMEP from a previous job and recognized that MassMEP could provide training that would help her to gain trust with her employees since she was a new owner and get them engaged in continuous improvement. After discussion with MassMEP, aContinuous Improvement training plan was identified and implemented. Training for the entire company was kicked off with a Lego Lean Simulation that proved to be a great tool for introducing Lean terms, the 8 wastes, and techniques and for team building and getting people on board. This step was essential for effective change management. Following the Lego Lean Simulation, the focus shifted to training in Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and 5S Kaizens for the printing team and warehousing team. The teams learned a lot through the development of spaghetti diagrams and brainstorming new processes. The printing area had a new printing manager, and this was a good opportunity for her to learn the new processes and to put her new ideas into action. The printing team was primarily newer employees and open to change. They were able to identify areas to save a lot of steps. Some simple redundant tasks were streamlined, and new processes were established that resulted in increased productivity and improved inventory practices. The Continuous Improvement training plan was successful in ushering in change management and helping to support the sales growth that LCI was experiencing.