The Waiting Game - A Lego® Serious Play® Simulation

Transform your workflow, not your workload. Learn Lean through a hands-on LEGO® simulation to shrink your engineering backlog. The backlog isn’t the problem—the process is. Whether it is building permits, shop drawings, or work orders, engineering backlogs stack up because of faulty workflows, not heavy workloads.This half-day, hands-on LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop replaces passive lectures with an interactive game. Using the House of Toyota framework, engineering technicians, technologists, and their teams will master Lean fundamentals—specifically the Just-in-Time pillar, takt time, flow, and bottlenecks. Through a four-round simulation of a real-world case study on a LEGO® table, you will actively test process changes and watch a backlog shrink in real-time. Bring one real backlog from your own office (like an RFI list or permit queue) and leave with a functional KPI board and a one-page action plan to immediately optimize your workflow. Details • Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026 • Time: 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM ET • Location: Hampton Inn by Hilton, Toronto Airport Corporate Centre, 5515 Eglinton Ave W • OACETT Member Cost: $100 plus HST + fees • Non-Member Cost: $120 plus HST + fees • CPD Category: Active What You Will Learn • Lean Fundamentals: Demystifying value, the 8 wastes, and why process beats working harder. • The House of Toyota: Mastering the pillars of quality, Just-in-Time delivery, and continuous improvement. • Just-in-Time Metrics: Balancing workflow using takt time, pull systems, and bottleneck management. • Peak Demand Planning: Strategies to handle seasonal surges like permit rushes and construction seasons. • Time & Motion Studies: Using a stopwatch to split value-added time from hidden waiting time. • Visual Tracking: Recording live field data onto a functional team KPI board. Why Attend • Rapid Mastery: Demystify Lean and the House of Toyota framework in plain language in just half a day. • Just-in-Time Focus: Control takt, flow, pull, lead time, and operational bottlenecks. • Interactive Simulation: Experience a real backlog shrink across a dynamic, four-round game board. • Hidden Waste Auditing: Learn stopwatch time-study techniques to capture and eliminate hidden waiting periods. • Tangible Toolkits: Walk away with a House of Toyota model, process cheat sheet, and a customized backlog reduction plan. • CPD Accreditation: Earn a certificate of completion to log up to 4.5 hours of active, in-person learning toward your OACETT CPD goals. The Simulation & Exercises: From the Table to Your Desk Experience how an engineering backlog shrinks in real time using a live LEGO® table simulation. Trucks represent your incoming work requests (permits, drawings, service calls) and doors represent your reviewers or field crews.🕹️ Four Rounds Live on the Table • Round 1 (Today’s Way): Run a standard bottlenecked process with a single worker. Watch the line-up grow and identify exactly where your time is lost. • Round 2 (Add a Loader): Introduce a second worker using the old method. Discover firsthand why simply adding more staff does not automatically equal better flow. • Round 3 (Work in Parallel): Transition to parallel processing. Move workers inside the loop so tasks stop waiting on other work. • Round 4 (Full Flow): Put idle capacity to work. Balance your process to customer demand (takt time) and achieve maximum workflow velocity. 📝 Hands-On Application Exercises • Exercise 1 (Build the House): Map core Lean concepts directly onto the House of Toyota framework to identify exactly where your specific workplace process breaks down. • Exercise 2 (Learn to See): Execute real-time stopwatch studies during the simulation to separate true value-added work from hidden waiting time, tracking the gains on a live KPI board. • Exercise 3 (Your Own Backlog): Analyze the real-world bottleneck you brought to class, apply a targeted Just-in-Time fix, and map out a one-page action plan with a clear owner and target completion date. Cancellation Clause Cancellation by course participant: A full refund will be provided to registrants who provide a minimum of two(2) business days cancellation notice prior to the start of the course. The course participant will also have the option of transferring their ticket to a different course start date, depending on availability. Cancellation by Instructor: Decisions on course cancellations will be made prior to the course start date, early registration is recommended. If you register for a course that is canceled by the instructor, you will receive a full refund.