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 past three years to help create an environment where employees are connected to the purpose, understand their roles and the standards for the jobs they perform, know if they are winning or losing, feel comfortable exposing and solving problems, and feel heard and seen.
What you’ll experience:
On this tour, you will learn more about the framework and rollout of the Smith Gardens CIMS and see demonstrations of how these pillars fit into the daily activities throughout the facility. Specifically, we will observe and learn about:
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- Tier 1 & Tier 2 daily huddles
- Employee scorecards
- CIMS audits
- Purpose statements
- Daily Accountability
- Visual Management
Who should attend? Anyone who wants to see how to stand up a Lean Management System and connect the different components of an LMS to create an engaged workforce who creates customer success by solving problems and continuously improving their processes.
Date: Friday, November 14, 2025
Time: 7:30am – 11:30am
Location: Smith Gardens: 23200 Hubbard Cutoff Rd NE, Aurora, OR (map link)
Registration: Email jennifer@nwhpec.com, include name, email, job title. Initially limited to two attendees per company.
PPE requirements: Closed toed shoes (no heels). Wear comfortable walking shoes and bring a jacket.
