Meet Miranda Suijkerbuijk
Lean consultant 5S and CI Company
An energetic 35-year-old with a passion for process optimization and continuous improvement, Miranda rolls out 5S processes and focuses on improving work processes. She lives in De Heen, the last village before Zeeland. Where carnival is celebrated harder, to prove that they are real Brabanders. With Miranda from Brabant, the processes are often a joy, both internally and externally. Miranda is an accessible and solution-oriented team player with sharp insight. With her driven character and direct, honest approach, she knows how to tackle every challenge with enthusiasm.
Outside of work, Miranda is just as active. She enjoys running, roller skating and tennis and enjoys open water swimming. At home she is surrounded by her at least 52 plants and her dog Marley. In short: Miranda is a woman full of energy, always up for adventure and fun.
Miranda's career started in childcare, but quickly switched to order picking at a logistics company, where she worked for 13 years and grew from employee to supervisor, so she understands the language of the workplace. Driven by her interest in Lean, she specialized in 5S and Lean where she was responsible for LEAN processes throughout the BENELUX as a Lean change agent. She saw firsthand how inefficiencies and frustrations arise in the workplace, which motivated her to improve processes and create a better work culture.
What gives you energy in your work and what motivates you to continue?
Exceeding customer expectations
For Miranda, success in her work is more than just achieving goals; it's about exceeding customer expectations. She gets a lot of satisfaction from providing training and seeing growth among employees. “I really get energy when I see how the penny drops during a training session, especially among young people,” she says. “It's great to see them 5S method teach them early, so that they can apply this throughout their lives. The best part is when someone is skeptical at first and then amazed at what they've accomplished at the end of the day—especially someone who has been working their own way for 20 years.”
What do you think makes 5S and CI Company so powerful?
For us, everything revolves around the practical application of theory. We adapt ideas to the wishes of our customers, so that they really work in practice. Each project is carefully inventoried in advance to determine who is best suited to take charge. The other team members then make a valuable contribution to making the project a success. Our team has a wide range of skills, ranging from strong project management, strong verbal communication, tenacity, decisiveness, to exceptional expertise in visualization. This allows us to provide tailor-made service to each customer.
Do you also apply Lean and 5S at home (in your daily work)?
“In my home it is just like in the workplace: The air fryer is visualized so that it is always used correctly. I also use 5S at home where I experience waste, such as in my wardrobe and when caring for my plants. My plants are color coded (see photos)—green for weekly care, blue for periodic care, and red to keep them from gaining weight. Even my wardrobe is labeled so that I never lose a sock again!”
Miranda's advice to other companies wanting to implement 5S and CI:
Both at 5S and at CI it is important that you involve your employees from the start. After all, they make the difference and know the bottlenecks best. Change your approach from top-down to bottom-up so that the changes really resonate with the people doing the work. Use a bottom-up strategy so that the waste on the work floor is seen and understood by the entire organization.
Postponing and just putting out fires leads to increasing irritation and inefficiency. Waiting to implement 5S will only weaken the process in terms of safety, quality, employee satisfaction and overall efficiency. 5S quickly helps to remove waste from the process and makes improvements visible.
