For the past five years, Shannon Chamber has organised an annual Lean in Business seminar, initially held in conjunction with Zimmer and now, for the second year, in Molex.

The seminars are aimed at introducing companies to the Lean concept and, for those already involved with Lean, to give them case examples of the process in action and the gains that can be delivered from the systematic elimination of waste in business.

This year’s seminar, entitled ‘Creating a Lean Culture in Your Business’ will be held in Molex, Shannon on Friday, 4 November from 7.30am until 12noon. Keynote speaker, Noel Hennessey, continuous improvement director with New Ross, Co Wexford based Lake Region Medical, will share his journey to Lean and taking the company in a new direction to a position where it was awarded the Shingo Bronze Medallion and crowned Irish Medical Technology Company of the year 2012. Now also responsible for continuous improvement in the Company’s plants in France, Germany and Malaysia, his advocacy of the transformational power of Lean manufacturing and the Shingo Prize Model should inspire more companies in the Mid-West to initiate Lean undertakings.

Mr Hennessy will be joined at the seminar by speakers from Molex, Zimmer Biomet, Enterprise Ireland, IDA and the University of Limerick. Guided tours of the Molex plant to show the practical benefits of Lean will form part of the seminar.

This year’s event will also include the launch of a new Mid-West Lean Network, which is being driven by Shannon Chamber in conjunction with Molex (incoming chair) and LBS Partners, Limerick. The network will be mirrored on, and work in conjunction with, Waterford Institute of Technology’s very successful Lean Enterprise Excellence Group, a forum set up to foster interaction, collaboration and knowledge exchange between Lean educators, researchers and enterprise practitioners.

The  Mid-West Lean Network will have a similar ethos with the end goal of creating competence and capability in lean enterprise, facilitating continuous improvement, sustaining and generating employment in companies throughout the Mid-West.

Speaking ahead of the event and network launch, Shannon Chamber’s chief executive Helen Downes said: “We’re very excited about creating this new network. We have already seen the benefits emanating from the sharing of information and knowledge in both our CEO and HR Forums and expect, as this new one gathers momentum, we shall see a greater interest in, and take up of Lean in companies.”

Bookings are still open for the ‘Creating a Lean Culture in Your Business’ seminar to be held in Molex on Friday, 4 November. Advance booking in essential and can be made online at www.shannonchamber.ie/events/creating-a-lean-culture-in-your-business/