Category: Learning Tours

Scaling Through People Host Company: Skutt Ceramic Products is a family-owned manufacturer in Portland, Oregon, that builds ceramic kilns, glass kilns, and pottery wheels. In 1953, father and son Ralph and Neil Skutt created the industry’s first multi-sided hobby kiln, a lightweight design that made firing ceramics at home practical for the first time. Today, Skutt’s American-made products are sold worldwide through distributors to potters, glass artists, schools, studios, and manufacturers. More than 70 years in, the company remains focused on quality and service, recognizing that everything fired in a Skutt kiln, from a child’s first project to a professional’s commissioned piece, matters to its maker. Tour Summary: Over the last 20 months, Skutt Ceramic Products has experienced significant growth and has worked deliberately to scale their operation to meet…

Join the waitlist in case an opening becomes available... Host Company: Bob’s Red Mill is an employee-owned food company based in Milwaukie, Oregon, best known for its whole-grain, natural, organic, and gluten-free products. Founded in 1978 by Bob and Charlee Moore, the company started with a mission to bring people wholesome, homemade-style food made with simple ingredients. Today, it offers a wide range of products including flours, oats, grains, baking mixes, cereals, and other pantry staples. They have a strong belief in sharing success with the people who helped build the business and emphasizes employee engagement and continuous improvement. Tour Summary: Bob’s Red Mill has been focused on building problem-solving capability across the organization. In this tour, they will show how they use data to identify, prioritize, prepare for, run,…

Host Company: OHSU is Oregon's only public academic health center, encompassing a system of hospitals and clinics across Oregon and southwest Washington. As an institution of higher learning, they offer schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and public health. They are a national research hub, Portland's largest employer, and a statewide economic engine. As a public organization, they serve vulnerable Oregonians and work to improve health across the state. OHSU has been focusing on performance excellence through our own performance Excellence system – OPEx. OPEx is OHSU's approach to performance excellence. Grounded in respect for people and continuous improvement, our true north is to deliver excellent care for our patients, today and tomorrow. OPEx methods, management systems and mindset empower OHSU members and teams to identify and solve problems, improve…

Host Company: Danner is known in the industry for its high quality, rugged footwear, which is a result of their strong commitment to customer value. This commitment is deeply rooted in their approach to engaging and inspiring employees to actively participate in continuous improvement. Tour Summary: At Danner one of their goals is to drive down the cost of manufacturing and boost efficiency, so they identified a need to have a clear process for understanding staffing and machine needs, product flow, bottlenecks, and sources of quality problems.  This provided a standardized way to build a case for automation through an ROI analysis.  Learn about how Ashton integrated these key techniques into her ROI and listen to the unique way she built this into a "story arc" to sell the benefits…

Tour Focus: Technology Integration in Manufacturing Host Company – A-dec website A-dec designs and manufactures dental equipment at their headquarters in Newberg, Oregon. The A-dec vision began with a simple idea: make the best better. From their simple beginnings, A-dec has emerged as one of the most respected names in the dental industry. In 1964, founders Ken and Joan Austin made the biggest choice of their lives: risk it all to start a company of their own. Little did they know that an invention and a dream would help revolutionize the world of dentistry. 60 years later, A-dec is an employer of choice and the world’s leading manufacturer of reliable dental operatory equipment. They continue to work for the betterment of dentistry and embed their values into the work they…

Theme: Lean Management System Framework in Action Host company: Smith Gardens grows annuals and perennials at five locations in the PNW and Southern California for retailers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and Western Canada. Their local nursery in Aurora, Oregon opened in 1997.  The site has 38 acres of greenhouse and 12.5 acres of field space. The Aurora facility produces and ships year-round. This tour occurs at peak Poinsettia season, which will provide a beautiful backdrop to our tour. Tour Summary At Smith Gardens, an important foundation for creating a culture of continuous improvement included building out their Continuous Improvement Management System (CIMS), modeled after the Lean Management System framework. Leadership at the Aurora site have fully embraced this framework and have been steadily rolling out new components over the…

Host company: Owens Corning is a leading manufacturer of roofing shingles, underlayment, and components, offering systems that not only enhance the aesthetic appeal of homes but also provide long-lasting durability and a variety of options to suit different projects. Their commitment to quality ensures that customers receive roofing solutions that are both reliable and visually appealing. The Portland roofing plant is one of thirteen facilities across the United States. At Owens Corning, Our People Make the Difference, Portland was recognized by the Asphalt Roofing Manufactures Association for our commitment to Safety last year. Owens Corning earned the 2024 Women’s Choice Award as America’s Most Recommended Roofing Products. Tour Summary Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at Owens Corning, where innovation, technology, and frontline engagement are actively redefining the future of…