LEAN Partners

Denise Bennett

Lean Enterprise Australia

Denise pioneered the application of Lean Thinking in healthcare and local government within Australia, learning and sharing what she has learned within these sectors and internationally to the Lean Thinking community. She has established a comprehensive development programme for Lean Learners and Practitioners and the Lean Practitioner course is certified by Swinburne University (Certificate 1V).

Denise is an active member of the Lean Global Network, a faculty member of Lean Enterprise Australia and a founding executive of the Australasian Lean Healthcare Network. She constantly support the activities of these organisations, including convening summits and workshops. She plays a strong role in connecting Lean Thinkers locally, nationally and internationally. In 2016, she co-convened the inaugural Lean Healthcare Academic Conference at Stanford, a partnership between Stanford Children’s Health, Stanford Health Care and the School of Medicine attracting 250 delegates.

She loves to lead and develop teams, gaining immense satisfaction from developing the capability of her team members, ensuring that she is preparing them for their next potential career opportunity.

The following companies have been among her significant clients:-

Oriol Cuatrecasas

Instituto Lean Management Spain

As Director of the Instituto Lean in Barcelona, Spain, Oriol Cuatrecasas has helped many organisations start and sustain their lean transformations. He has also led many lean transformation projects in industries that include manufacturing, laboratories, offices, services, insurance, banking, retail shops, hotels, restaurants, hospitals and healthcare centres. 
 
As Director of the Instituto Lean in Barcelona, Spain, Oriol Cuatrecasas has helped many organisations start and sustain their lean transformations. He has also led many lean transformation projects in industries that include manufacturing, laboratories, offices, services, insurance, banking, retail shops, hotels, restaurants, hospitals and healthcare centres.
 
One of the successful lean transformation projects that Oriol has led is his work with Barcelona-based 365.Café, which is a chain of little cafés and bakeries with one production centre supporting 78 outlets. 365.Café started with just one bakery in 1999, operating out of a small facility in central Barcelona. After applying lean thinking and principles, 365.Café opened an additional 32 shops by 2004 without having to move to a larger facility.

Find out more about 365.Café in this detailed case study.

René Aernoudts

Lean Management Instituut (Netherlands)

René is founder and CEO of the Lean Management Instituut (Foundation) in Zeist, the Netherlands, and also the Director of the Nyenrode Lean Institute. His career has included senior positions in NPI Instituut voor Organisatieontwikkeling (Managing Partner) and Lean Global Network (Executive Committee Member).
 
A well-respected consultant and trainer with over 20 years of experience in a wide variety of organisations, René has been designing and implementing over 120 transformations worldwide. His objective is to bring lean and the typical results that come with it to a wide range of organisations, and help implementing enterprise wide lean business systems. His particular expertise includes change management strategies that can be used in implementing lean in an organisation. He is a strong leader and trusted coach of boards and directors.
 
Among his clients are both SMEs and bigger organisations both in The Netherlands and abroad. The following companies have been among his significant clients:-

Rob van Gorkom

Lean Management Instituut (Netherlands)

Rob studied business economics MBA at Groningen University. He started his career in financial services in which he occupied positions in marketing, sales, product & process management. Since 2004 his sole focus is process improvement and Lean Management as an independent consultant.
 
From 2012, Rob has been with Lean Management Instituut as a senior consultant and trainer of the Lean Postgraduate Program.

His motto: “I teach Lean in order to practise, I practise Lean in order to teach”.
 
The following companies have been among his significant clients:

Stéfan Visser

Lean Management Instituut (Netherlands)

Stéfan studied Electro technique and is educated in general management and production and Lean management. He works as a senior trainer and coach for Lean Management Institute since March 2007. Stéfan learned about Lean for the first time in 2001 at his employer, market leader in mobile sanitation systems, refrigerators, cooking equipment and toilet additives.
 
Next to teaching Lean at different levels (Green Belt - Master Black Belt and Lean tool workshops), he is working as a consultant in different industries like Construction, Government, Healthcare, Services and Logistics. Stéfan supports management teams in deploying Lean and motivates employees with practical ‘on the job’ support to bring real change. Stéfan is also a Management Drives Partner. Management Drives improves the performance of organisations by increasing the effectivity of employees and showing teams how to work together in the most efficient way.
 
From 2001, Stéfan helped in setting up a new factory (refrigerators) with Lean and was the production manager of 60 employees in four departments. He organized new production lines (U shaped cells, 5S, KanBan), deployed performance and operational management, created help‐chains, multi-model lines, etc. Results: building time down with over 60% per fridge, visual management throughout the entire factory, working on Takttime, quality assurance in the line, and very high motivation with employees.
 
Stéfan is strong in supporting people, also in difficult situations, in deployment performance management and applying Lean. He is a real team player and with his experience as a leader in a production environment has a good understanding of what the job requires. Stéfan loves coaching and motivating people so they can achieve their goals.
 
The following companies have been among his significant clients: