The meeting topic: A Voice from the Real World, Implementing Lean at Hallmark Cards

Hallmark is a household name throughout the nation and sells its products in over 100 countries.  In business for over 100 years and privately held, Hallmark has always held itself to a high standard of quality in both its team members and its products.  It has withstood the tests of time by adapting to the market when needed yet not falling for the latest business trend.   This is no easy feat.  Some of the dynamics associated with all that is Hallmark; distributed manufacturing and distribution facilities, multi-national supply chain management, corporate oversight and management, several wholly-owned subsidiaries and thousands of retail outlets selling their products. Even with Hallmark’s size and complexities, they are consistently named "One of the Best Places to Work" as was the case as recently as 2010.

But it can't all be unicorns and rainbows can it?  Alas no. As a 100-year old organization, it takes a lot of hard work and diligence to sustain such a track record.  One such aspect is in its adoption of Lean principles.  At this month’s meeting Kathy Hallberg, Lean Strategy and Implementation Manager at Hallmark, will share her experiences and some lessons learned in the last five years.  Kathy's background includes24 years at Hallmark with positions in Finance, Hallmark International, Global Procurement, and most currently, the Business Process Management organization.  She has a B.S. from the University of Central Missouri and a Masters of International Management from Thunderbird in Arizona.  Kathy was one of four individuals in 2007 asked to learn and implement Lean at Hallmark.  She has spent time teaching and coaching Lean thinking and approaches in the Lawrence manufacturing facility, the Creative division, Global Procurement, and Accounts Payable.  She is currently working with the Technology and Business Enablement and the Demand and Inventory Planning divisions.  She is an extended member of Hallmark’s Agile proof of concept team and is excited about the possibilities resulting from the combination of it and Lean.

We'll save some time for questions and answers at the end so bring your questions and a friend. 

Hope to see you there!