How I Started in Business - Initial

RYAN CARTIER

Business / Lean Practitioner

How I Started in Business - Initial Investments & Startup

Ryan started implementing Lean thinking before knowing what it was – after seeing his first shadow board in the high school auto shop he applied it to his relative’s tool shed; followed by cleaning up old wood between the houses (which wasn’t positively received).

After moving out and supporting himself as a direct salesman for 2 years, he ventured into tar sands exploration drilling. With what could be considered crude standard work the small team completed the fasted coring project on site that winter.

Seeking more challenge at a time companies thought university was a hiring requirement, he enrolled part time in college to obtain enough credits & GPA for admission to the U of C.

Although accounting bored him so much he had to repeat it; one project led him to make an investment in a company studied, in under 2 years generating a 36% return – initiating his deep interest in corporate turnarounds.

In a marketing class results characteristic of Lean kaizen also piqued his interest.

Due to Universities producing such a low number of Operations Management graduates he opted to obtain this skillset. With admission changes rendering the U of C unable to scale and meet business student demand that year (they spiked the GPA preventing entry of many students who normally would have entered), he transferred to Ottawa.

At Carleton he worked in 3 tech start ups and appealed (perhaps annually) to stay in. Resigning from the last start up in response to an unethical proposal he focused on completing the Commerce degree, picking up a position at Canadian Tire to get through – where he identified opportunities to remove waste at front entrance, however did not have an opportunity to change the layout.

Seeking Lean expertise immediately after university he found a company in high tech saying it was Lean and took a position on the assembly line to learn by doing. Efforts included attempting visual management, and a small capex proposal with breakeven point for feeders to reduce changeover times.

During this position the requirement for executives to support continuous improvement instead of delegate it became clear.

After being told Lean would not be pursued in the next year or the foreseeable future, Ryan resigned in search of a company pursuing a customer focused operation.

Seeing a larger opportunity in Lean’s application to office & admin environments than manufacturing but unable to find a good book on this application Ryan approached local consultants offering to interview & ghost write a book for them to release. After a few interviews and a 40 page start they were too busy to review and provide feedback; their Lean Office Handbook stills sits at 40 pages.

How I Started in Business – Initial Investment & Startups

Leading the 1st Lean implementation – Low Volume High Mix

Lean Healthcare

Distribution & Retail

Leading the 2nd Lean Implementation – High Volume Low Mix

1 Off Custom Manufacturing - No Volume High Mix

Lean Product & Process Development – Technology Startup Ramp-up

Leading the 3rd Lean Implementation – LPPD heavy industry

ACL Repair & Regrown - InternalBrace Ligament Augmentation