Tour
Abbott - FULL
Tour Code: ThT-01
Day and Time: Bus leaves 7:40 AM, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012
Length Including Travel Time: 5 ¾ hours
Lean in Pharmaceuticals- FULL
See 21st Century lean in both production and management
Abbott is seeing success on its lean journey. And it's doing so despite being a broad-based health care company in a highly regulated industry. During this hands-on tour of Abbott's largest U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing plant, you will see just how it's lean that's making a difference. You will 1) hear about Abbott's 9+ year lean journey from shop floor employees, 2) see how it applies lean initiatives and leader standard work to improve performance and job satisfaction, 3) see the new state-of-the-art packaging line for auto-injector syringes, 4) see how the company staffs its lines with high performance teams and 5) see Abbott's Perfect Performance scorecards. By sharing its challenges, failures and success stories, Abbott will both teach the lean community and learn from the tour attendees.
Abbott - FULL
Founded in 1888 by Chicago physician Dr. Wallace Abbott, Abbott is a broad-based health care company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets products and services that span the continuum of care - from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and cure. Abbott's principal businesses are in global pharmaceutical, nutritional and medical products, including diagnostics and cardiovascular devices.Mike Schickler
Mike Schickler has 20+ years of pharmaceutical operations experience with Abbott. As the business excellence manager for Lake County Operations, Mike leads the organization's application of lean six sigma techniques. He turned towards continuous improvement after becoming a certified quality manager through the American Society for Quality. This exposure to a wide variety of improvement techniques was the catalyst for Mike to build a continuous improvement program that blends problem-solving methodologies and employee engagement techniques, ensuring every employee has a voice. Mike has an engineering degree from Marquette University and is a six sigma black belt.
No competitors allowed
No cameras or other recording devices
Non-disclosure agreement must be signed
Please come to the Tours Registration Desk on the 4th Floor to sign up


Captain Mark Kelly
Mike Abrashoff
Jason Jennings
Doctor Patricia A. Gabow
Daniel T. Ariens
Once again, the Idea Exchange Café will be open for the interactive sharing of best practices among all participants. There will be six facilitated sessions on a variety of relevant topics taking place over two days. Come for the coffee - stay for the ideas! (read more...)
