Jeff Hajek

Some elite companies pass from a strong continuous improvement culture to one that drives world class performance. These top tier companies continually stay ahead of the competition, and regularly make game-changing breakthroughs.

This final phase of the continuous improvement model is an extremely interesting one. It does not have a lot of supporting sections, as there are not many specific things that separate a good or great company from a world class one. That just means that you can’t just add new ingredients like A3 reports to the mix and become world class. Rather, world class companies come into being because to their ability to do all the little things extremely well.

Even though this endeavor you have been working on to build a continuous improvement culture is commonly called a “Lean journey”, the name is not entirely accurate. A journey implies an end. It is more like an adventure or an exploration. Regardless of what you call it, though, if you are successful at it you will eventually uncover the great paradox of creating a business management system that drives a continuous improvement culture. By definition, you can never finish building your system. Because it is so focused on continuous improvement, the structure will not just uncover opportunities with your production and support processes. It will identify ways to improve itself.

Once a solid foundation is laid, the organization can really start to accelerate its progress. Not only will teams get better at the things they are already doing, the structure they built will make it easier to continue to add increasingly sophisticated tools.

Overview

In this phase you will build the foundation of your business management system. The focus here is creating the structure upon which you can apply the variety of tools that support Lean operations. The team will emphasize creating flow and eliminating waste. It will also become extremely accustomed to using Standard Work and other forms of standardization to stabilize processes. Finally, we roll out kaizen events during this phase.

Overview

Once a leadership team commits the organization to developing a business management system that drives continuous improvement, it is time to take action. Many people rush into trying to apply the tools. The problem with this is that the tools require a core set of skills that many employees do not have.

There comes a point in every company’s existence that it questions how it does business. There are a variety of reasons for this. It could be as simple as an individual pushing for change. Maybe she has experience in an alternative method from another company or learns about something new and sees an opportunity.

What Our Practical Guide Is The Nuts and Bolts Guide to Continuous Improvement is a step-by-step approach to continuous improvement. It walks you through the phases of a transformation from deciding to commit to Lean through world-class performance. The guide is broken down into the volumes listed below with each Read more…