What kind of process improvement techniques are you utilizing in your buisness? Do you have a specific school that you lean towards (pun intended)? Are there specific tools you rely on the most? How has it worked out so far? Are there any industry specific hurdles you’ve run into (cultural issues, regulation issues, etc).
I’m personally a fan of the Toyota Way - though I do believe that there’s so much overlap in all of these methods that the terminology loses a lot of meaning.
So instead of focusing on trying to differentiate the differences between Lean Six Sigma, the Japanese Method, Operational Excellence and the various flavors of the day, I’d rather focus on the principles that I think are most important (and often missed) when implementing improvements at one’s buisness.
My observation from watching attempts at CI in a variety of industries is that the biggest failure happens at a cultural level. Continuous improvement is seen as a role of certain individuals (process engineers, industrial engineers, CI managers, etc) and not as a foundational cultural pillar. This leads to impotent CI specialists who make suggestions and attempts at change that do not last, or are not respected.
Sometimes you will get people in high positions - plant managers, COOs, etc. - who will push CI initiatives down people’s throats, but these too often end up failing. In many cases I feel this heavy handed approach fails because it attempts to make tactical changes without first making changes to the foundational culture (which takes persistance and buy in). Likewise, this heavy handed approach can result in a knee jerk rejection from your most experienced employees, who often have been around long enough to have witnessed several attempts at lean initiatives fail. You’ll often hear “we’ve tried this before”, or “there’s a reason we do things this way”. And often these folks are correct - especially when the lean initiatives are rolled out poorly.
Another thing I see done poorly when implementing CI initiatives is treating the tools laid out in lean methodologies as a checklist that when completed will guarantee success. Toyota’s Shigeo Shingo once said: “Lean is a way of thinking NOT a list of things to be done”. You don’t use every tool in a toolbox to complete a project just because you have them. Likewise you don’t have to use every technique you learned in blackbelt class just for the sake of using it.
Anyhow, how do you view CI at your workplace? Has it been successful? Are you a skeptic or a champion?
