ReducedEffort Changeover: The Lean way to quickly reduce changeover downtime

“We worked with Ron to implement the ReducedEffort^® process and saw a 30% output improvement after just three days. The real bonus came with the unleashing of employee engagement.”— Nick Wilson, President of Morrison Container Handling Solutions; Past Chairman of Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI); Packaging Hall of Fame inductee

“I really don’t know if I can put a value on this training because this event will change my life for the next fifty to sixty years. This process could be applied to any and all aspects of work and life. Wow, what an eye-opening week!”— Brad Miller, Process Improvement Coordinator, major beverage bottler

“Ron Heiskell and his ReducedEffort changeover philosophy has been so successful at our facility because it is highly relatable to the everyday worker and manager.... It is both simple and revolutionary.” — Tony Coleman, Plant Manager, major beverage company

“I just wanted to give you a quick update on our ReducedEffort Changeover progress. The changeover we did this afternoon was 40 minutes. Prior to the one week ReducedEffort Changeover event, the changeover time was 347 minutes.”— Danielle Hess, Operations Manager, major extruder of plastics

“Ron Heiskell has given the Lean world a gift: an opportunity to improve far beyond what anybody could fathom.”— Paul Akers, 2 Second Lean, Lean Health, and Lean Travel

“The operators in any given plant, in my opinion, know the machines better than anyone. They are, after all, the ones who have to deal with the equipment forty-plus hours a week. Ron has developed an ingenious way of bringing them together and putting their sometimes unheard ideas into action. I have seen machines go from four to five hour changeovers down to as little as twenty minutes! With his ReducedEffort changeover process I am always super confident when leading operators into a Kaizen event because there are always amazing results.” — Mitch Zirkle, Improvement Methodologies leader, major bag manufacturing facility

Slash changeover downtime in one week with ReducedEffort Changeover. It is the next generation of SMED and sets a new standard in rapid changeovers.

ReducedEffort Changeover provides a step-by-step guide for conducting a Kaizen event that empowers the people who do the work to improve how that work is done. Packed with tips, tools, and examples, this practical handbook begins with a clear description of the Lean principles underlying the ReducedEffort Changeover system. Author Ron Heiskell also explains how and why reducing the effort always reduces the time of converting a machine, line, or process from one product to another. In this book, you’ll find everything you need to quickly and dramatically reduce the effort and time of any process using the ReducedEffort^® method.

Ron Heiskell has a BS in mechanical engineering and an MBA in technology management. A knowledgeable advocate and practitioner of Lean principles, Ron first developed and tested the Lean-driven process that evolved into the ReducedEffort system at The Clorox Company, where he was an engineer for 24 years.

During his first 22 years at The Clorox Company, Ron worked in the Machine Development Group, designing and building packaging machines and lines. During that time, he began teaching a class on product innovation at two California universities. As part of this class, he taught the role that paradigms play in people resisting new ideas. He also discovered a way to shift a person’s paradigm very quickly.

When Ron was asked to conduct SMED Kaizen events at The Clorox Company manufacturing plants, he agreed—in part because he saw it as his chance to try some new techniques. He knew that line workers had their own ways of performing changeovers and that many of them had been doing it the same way for a long time, often for 25 or more years. Their paradigms were well established. The challenge was to get them to readily shift paradigms and try something different. Teaching SMED at The Clorox Company gave Ron the opportunity to try this new reduced-effort process in the real world. The results were so amazing that his job shifted from designing packaging lines to reducing changeover downtime in all the plants owned by The Clorox Company as well as those of its suppliers.

After leaving The Clorox Company, Ron founded ReducedEffort, LLC., a company devoted to reducing changeover downtime by teaching LEAN manufacturing principles. Since that time, he has been conducting ReducedEffort Kaizen Events at Fortune 500 companies throughout the United States and Canada.

Ron has received over fifty U.S. and foreign patents. He is the recipient of the AmeriStar Award from the Institute of Packaging Professionals, the Technology of the Year Award from Packaging Technology & Engineering Magazine,, and the Dupont Award for Innovation.