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Why Christmas isn’t a Lean holiday

You’re probably thinking I’m talking about all that rich food we devour over the Christmas holidays and how we need to keep an eye on our weight. But that’s not what I mean at all. What I’m talking about is what has mesmerized production industry in recent years, ever since Toyota pulled that legendary cord.

It’s easy to be inspired. There must be other areas besides production where Lean can be applied. Why not our Christmas festivities?

Let’s start with stockpiling. We Lean people don’t like keeping things in stock and we also want good turnover. Bringing out Christmas decorations once a year to use for a few days and then putting them back on the shelf for 11 months until it’s time again just doesn’t fly. In true Lean spirit, I went around to several of my neighbors to try to get their support in putting together a single Christmas kit we all could share. We’d also be doing a good deed for the environment, not to mention sustainability. Oddly enough, they all insisted on holding on to their traditional ways of celebrating Christmas and no one was willing  to compromise. I suddenly realized that my neighbors are a major part of our global climate problems.

We Lean people like pull flows, so when the family started talking about a Christmas tree way back at the beginning of December, I naturally felt compelled to perform a thorough analysis of the actual need. I soon saw they hadn’t even planned on decorating the tree until the day before Christmas Eve. It would just be standing there, unnecessarily taking up space for several weeks, awaiting the 23rd. “Entirely unacceptable” was my verdict and I waited until the morning of the 23rd to purchase a tree. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that not a single Christmas tree merchant was still open nor a tree to be had in all of western Sweden. Every living soul had obviously procured a tree well before Christmas Eve. What a waste of resources… it makes me sick just thinking  about it.

Christmas presents are another well-known problem. All over the planet, people are running around, crowding in stores, all to buy a things that they’re going to give away to other people who don’t really want them.  These unwanted gifts will either just sit there gathering dust (storage problem) or returned to stores (rejects). The only alternative is to eliminate the process entirely. As far as I can see, it’s beyond saving.

On the bright side though, the process for baking gingerbread cookies and Lucia saffron buns has plenty of room for improvement. Admittedly though, it will require a certain amount of change to the kitchen to eliminate the many and long distances between the various stations, and that unnecessary equipment be disposed of that serves no useful purpose. Fortunately, IKEA hardly ever closes and you can accomplish quite a lot with just a saw, hammer and a box of nails. True, it might be a bit tricky to move around as freely in the kitchen as before, but who wants to see hordes of people wandering about with no obvious purpose?

Despite my assiduous work with improvements, I noted rising resistance from my loved ones in the days leading up to Christmas, which was hard to understand. Didn’t they see how much better everything was going to be?

As it turned out, I ended up having to work a good part of the Christmas holidays. It felt terrible, letting the family down like that, but life’s surprises never cease. They were neither upset nor disappointed. Actually, they seemed almost relieved!

Merry Xmas & Happy New Year,

The Bald guy

Fellert NA at the Rice Design Alliance Gala 2016

Good Looks!

Fellert North America at the 30th annual RDA Gala, Downtown Houston – honoring Ric Campo, CEO of Camden Property Trust and former Chair of Houston First Corporation.

Photo: Janet Ni Photography

Breaking up the Black with color at le Grand Théâtre d’Albi

We’re at the Albi Grand Theatre by Dominique Perrault Architecture. Black for drama. Color and metal for glam. The back of the main performance hall of 900 seats also shows its grand curves with a smooth seamless presence – maximizing the use and space in this compact building volume and providing the right ambience for the audience when socializing in the lobby.

Photo: courtesy of Gunilla Fredholm

New KU School of Business – designed for learning today while creating ideas for tomorrow

Team Gensler and Gastinger Walker Harden + BeeTriplett Buck combined global experience in higher education projects and local knowledge when designing and constructing the new University of Kansas School of Business. They’ve used high verticals, low horizontals and risings in between, different materials and textures – places for focus, places for movement. We’re thinking…maybe innovation happens in the spaces in between?

Perfectly in line with the school curriculum, Capitol Federal Hall was allegedly built – on time and on budget – by J.E. Dunn Construction and Fellert installer Delta Construction LLC.

> Project reference case Capitol Federal Hall

Hazeltine National Golf Club – award to Fellert

Sharing a memory with you:

Great score in 2012 for our ceilings at the club house, Hazeltine National Golf Club, host of Ryder Cup 2016!

Go Stenson!!
Right, Fellert North America?!

Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, Minn., USA

Design and contemporary Lebanese flavors – Iconic restaurant opening soon in Kuwait City

Iconic Lebanese restaurant, famous for it’s striking architecture and contemporary spin on traditional Lebanese cuisine, is soon taking their love for exclusive dining to the seaside promenade, Kuwait City.

Panoramic views and majestic sandstone walls meet 10 m high ceilings, clad in Fellert’s dark chocolate Even Better Secern to create the right ambiance.

Have a great summer!

…and leave only footprints in the sand ; )

A creative challenge – a story from our Spanish Installer

DAVISINE paints a Picasso mural

Our Spanish representative, Javier Durán from Tecnologia Almendralejo SLL, shared a story about a little project of his, and in turn we wanted to share it with you guys:

“My name is Juan Luis Agenjo, or Juanlu; ever since my early teen years I’ve had a need to transfer my impressions from events of the daily life into images, it’s been an entirely self-taught process over the years.

During this vital process I teamed up with David Tena Morales (DAVISINE), a graffiti artist and my best friend.

In 2008 I started to work as an installer of sound absorbing materials, but they didn’t offer the possibility of being able to paint or draw which was frustrating as I wanted to unleash my creativity.

In 2011 we found the “sound absorption product of the XXI century”, Even Better by Fellert and since then, due to the almost total versatility of it, I was able to combine the two most important facets of my professional life: acoustics and image.

After installing the Even Better Silk on the wall of my living room, we drew the painting GUERNICA from Picasso, pictured in this brief synopsis of my everyday professional life.

We chose the Guernica for it’s challenging composition. It was an inspiring task for both of us – for me to achieve the nexus of both concepts, and for my best friend, DAVISINE, because of the complexity of the drawing, including many shades of grey.

We started with the usual application of the Silk to the wall. Then we applied the coating with brushes of different sizes to do the outlines of the figures and an airbrush to fill and blur them up, always following the recommendations to keep full absorption.

Thanks to the Even Better system by Fellert, fusing design and acoustics, we’ll be able to not only choose any shade of color but also draw images, phrases, mosaics and more to create a unique design while achieving full absorption power at the same time.

We are very proud to be the first and only owners of a sound absorbing Guernica in the world! Llerena, Spain, June 2016”

Fellert CISCA Silver award for Pisco Y Nazca

Good job Fellert NA & Delta Construction LLC!!

to > project Gastrobar Pisco y Nazca

This ceiling is working it – Peruvian style

Photo: ra-haus fotografie

Pisco Y Nazca, a recently opened gastrobar in Miami is going all in; the interior design by Celano Design Studios, the chef Miguel Fernandez, and the authentic ingredients – all of it carefully selected. The interior has been designed to set the atmosphere right away and every surface has been used quiet brilliantly.

Check it out: project case Pisco Y Nazca