A unique approach is being developed by a Northern Ontario company and a member of SAMSSA that solves problems, saves money and has proven successful by utilizing Lego. I attended a workshop recently and the process and use of Lego was one of the most creative approaches I have been involved in. The session took two hours and was totally inclusive. I asked Neha Singh, CEO, Timelined Inc. to comment for more insights and industrial applications.
What is Timelined?
Timelined is a team of senior excellence professionals primarily from the mining supply sector who are skilled at taking organizations to the next level of excellence and productivity. Since our team consists of people who have actively worked in leadership roles with the big mining companies alongside the suppliers from the mining supply sector, we have first-hand knowledge of the opportunities and challenges faced by the sector. Timelined currently has operations in North Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Kitchener/Waterloo.
Considering the current state of the sector, why would a mining supply company use your services?
From a dollars and cents perspective it is simple. We provide a significant return on investment on the services we offer. As a continuous improvement organization we are continually accelerating our service offerings to make them more time efficient and get our customers the highest value for every dollar they invest in us. This consulting work is easily covered by the FedNor Smart Assessment Funding, for which we are qualified service providers.
You talk about return on investment. Do you have any real life case studies of clients for whom you’ve provided an actual return on investment?
Absolutely. Most recently we’ve been working with Atlas Copco’s Global R & D division and Atlas Copco operations in North Bay. They had a few problems that we have helped them solve. A specific case study which we will be showcasing at our Awards of Excellence ceremony on August 24th is a $200,000 savings on an initial project related to their rod line which directly resulted from the Lean Green Belt Training we provided to the senior team in March 2016.
Who are the experts in your company?
The company is led by me as CEO. I have specializations in Change Management, Project Management, Lean Consulting and in igniting change within work teams. I am also a certified Lego Serious Play facilitator.
Derek Polano, vice president, is a certified management accountant with a vast history and background in the mining sector and is well known in the mining supply community.
Norm Rudd is a senior leadership coach. Prior to working with Timelined, Norm was part of the senior team at Kidd Creek in Timmins managing the Sustainable Development Assurance and Six Sigma program. As the site’s Six Sigma deployment champion, the site’s process improvement program generated over US $5 million in efficiencies per year for the five years Norm was managing the program.
Mike Campigotto is a senior strategy and innovation consultant. After running his own consulting firm for over 10 years, Mike is a young and early “retiree” who is now taking great pleasure in helping businesses achieve clarity of purpose and picking the right problems for them to solve. Mike has been instrumental in designing strategies that have been implemented at the senior levels of the provincial and federal governments.
Dennis Parisi is director, training and development. A lifelong resident of Timmins, Dennis worked at the Kidd Creek Metallurgical Site for over 34 years before retiring to pursue his passion for teaching and mentoring. A certified Engineering Technologist, Dennis led many facility and technology improvements at Kidd, implementing a number of automation projects as part of the engineering team. Derek, Mike and Dennis are also certified Lego Serious Play facilitators.
How can mining supply companies benefit from playing with Lego?
We will answer that question with a quote from Plato. “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” We also use Lego to hit home some very specific educational concepts, which helps improve productivity in the workplace. We are actually publishing a five part blog series which can be found at www.timelined.ca/blog on our website that provides images, video and explanations of the various benefits of using Lego and how we use Lego in the workplace.
