Creating a culture of incremental improvements.

DESCRIPTION

Training- How much do we train our staff? what does training look like?

Simplifying-Simplify everything.Nothing can be too simple.

Resources-Do your people have what they need to succeed? Time, tools etc?

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Rapid-Span, an industry leader since 1983, manufactures steel, precast, and timber components for bridges and transportation infrastructure across North America. Renowned for our expertise, reliability and ability to take on challenging projects, our design-build solutions consistently exceed expectations.

PRESENTER

Derek Douma, Manufacturing Manager, Rapid-Span

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Derek Douma moved to Vernon, BC, about 10 years ago and started working as a Labourer at Rapid-Span in the precast division. Over the years, Derek had the opportunity to work in various roles throughout the facility, which gave him a deep understanding of the operations and the people he worked with. 

As the Manufacturing Manager, Derek oversees all three of Rapidspan’s manufacturing facilities. His focus has been on fostering a culture of continuous improvement, which he started exploring through Lean practices about three years ago. Although it took several months to see results, Derek began noticing significant improvements in the spring of 2024. 

To date, his Lean initiative at Rapid-Span has generated hundreds of employee-posted improvement videos and facility upgrades. He attributes much of this success to the time he spent with the “Precast Lean Consortium” put on by CMEC and his week-long study mission in Japan with Paul Akers. Derek’s passion for sharing his experiences is contagious, acting as a catalyst to encourage others to streamline their processes and transform their work environments.