By Tom Dossenbach
This article first appeared in Wood
& Wood Products
In response to recent reader inquiries about Continuous
Improvement, I feel many manufacturers
need encouragement to stop looking at this as some
sophisticated management system for the rich and famous.
It matters not that you are a small shop making kitchen
cabinets, a supplier of parts to the industry, a millwork
company or a Fortune 500 company. Continuous improvement
is for everyone.
You have heard a lot about Kaizen (“Good
Change” or “Continuous Improvement”)
over the past decade. The Japanese have been given
the credit for this movement, but actually Dr. W.
Edwards Demming initiated much of the philosophy while
assisting the rebuilding of Japanese industry following
World War II. But regardless of what you call it,
there are two important axioms to bear in mind:
1. Continuous Improvement efforts,
applied diligently,
will generate positive results -- certain!
2. Defiance of Continuous Improvement Pursuit
will result in company doom -- certain!
Some of us have forgotten what we learned
many years ago when we had suggestion boxes in our
plants. We learned that those on the production floor
knew better than anyone what needed to be done to
improve productivity and quality. The problem was
that we really did not have a program in place to
follow up. Now it is time to get those suggestions
out of the box and empower employees and groups of
employees to participate in their own change initiatives
for the good of the company.
Continuous Improvement: What
Is It?
What is continuous improvement and why is it important?
The answers are found in the following simple example:
I did some consulting for a case goods manufacturer
last year. During a tour of the factory I noticed
that there was a lady on the assembly line working
very diligently scraping and hand sanding every one
of the veneered tops to remove defects. I had just
seen an excellent sanding department with up-to-date
equipment so I asked Albert, the supervisor, why they
were having to do so much re-work?
He replied, “We always have to because of
the scratches and marks on the tops.”
“Where do the marks come from?”
I asked.
“Well, they just happen.”
“Have you tried to find out why?”
“We can’t. It’s always something
-- first one thing and then another”.
I replied, “Well, why don’t you try
to fix the one thing’ first and then the other’?”
Sure enough, we took a quick look and found the drawer
fitter was using the top as a workbench for his tools;
the top-out station drug one top across the other
as they drew from stock; and a wet sponge was set
on another top. I suggested to Albert that we take
two minutes, right then, and explain the problem to
the entire line and point out some of our observations
asking them to see if they could find ways to avoid
the extra work.
The assemblers began being more careful when applying
glue so there was no reason to use a wet sponge on
the tops to remove the glue. The top-out station started
lifting the tops instead of dragging them. The drawer
fitters started placing their tools on a convenient
shelf they made. (These are woodworkers, after all.)
Other ideas on how to avoid dents and scratches were
discussed.
By the end of the next day, the lady who had been
sanding the tops had been moved to another department.
That’s a $30,000 cost avoidance!
The norm in industry today is to repair the damage
or to remove the symptom. That’s what they were
doing. The Kaizen way is to get to the cause and remove
it, permanently. Putting it another way, we often
are satisfied to say: “If it’s broken, fix
it.” In a plant practicing continuous improvement,
the question is: “Why did it break?”
I have said it before and I will say it again. You
have to believe that your company can and must improve
to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Furthermore, you
need to believe in the ability of your people to recognize
opportunities and make improvements in an ongoing
manner.
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How to Fail at
Kaizen
• Go around
telling everyone you have a great program
to save the company — “right
now.”
• Believe that you know all the questions
and have all of the answers to make Continuous
Improvement work in your company.
• Begin before discussing with your
key people to decide what you want to
accomplish.
• Use your own personal vision to
lead the effort instead of developing
a set of long range goals for your company.
• Believe in changing processes and
systems alone without any attention to
the company culture.
• Expect and tolerate no failures
or set-backs.
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If you still want a fancy definition of Kaizen, it
is the metaphysics of positive change. If you prefer,
it is a philosophy, an attitude, a way of thinking,
and a way of acting all in one. It can include Kaizen
Circles, Quality Circles, Total Quality Management,
Participative Management, Kan Ban, JIT, and many other
useful tools. However, it can be as simple as your
dedication to get people involved in cutting costs
through positive change.
Pilot Program
Do not start out making your Continuous Improvement
Program too complicated. Go slowly. Be willing to
take a step or two backwards from time to time. Expect
mistakes. Don’t freak out when they occur. Learn
from them.
If you wish, do as I have done and begin with a pilot
program after you have decided on a vision of where
your company needs to go. Identify a critical area
in which you would like to see progress made. Select
a group of capable individuals to make up a team.
Maybe it is a manufacturing department, such as packing.
Get the supervisor in the team leadership mode. Let
them begin to work on their challenges. With your
leadership from the top and their initiatives from
the bottom you will have a winning effort.
I would caution you not to let an atmosphere of elitism
surface. I have seen this turn the rest of the plant
against the idea.
This is just a pilot program to find out what works
and what doesn't in your organization. It can
also serve to generate interest throughout your organization.
Look at it as a primer.
Kaizen Online Tutorial -
online tutorial will introduce you to Kaizen.
FREE - Introduction
to Kaizen - free booklet describing Kaizen and
how to get started.
