Kaizen 2

[mot98]

Hi All,

The company I am working for is highly focused on using Kaizen/Lean suggestions to improve our workers efficiency and increase productivity.

Are your companies doing this?

Do we want to share idea's?

I couldn't find any forums dedicated to this subject.

Thanks,



mot98

"Is it friday yet?"

 

[rcpis1]

Yes, our company is currently 14 months into our Lean journey. We have just started to do some Kaizens and VSMs.
I would be happy to share ideas/concerns/benefits with someone else that is taking the same path.
Our company is a commercial printer.

rcpis1

 

[mot98]

Hi rcpis1,

How are you motivating your employees to submit suggestions?

At our company we are requiring that all staff submitt and implement 3 suggestions a year.

As an incentive we offer rewards (Movie Tickets,Cash Etc..) based on the savings to the company that the suggestions make.

Thanks,

mot98

"Is it friday yet?"

 

[rcpis1]

i am part of our Guiding Coalition and we just transfered our Bright Idea Program into the Lean department.

We use a random drawing from ideas that have been implemented and give out the same type of reward that you do.

We haven't made any requirements that employees must submit X number of suggestions in any given period of time.

I would like to disuss things with you in greater detail.

Is there any way for us to exchange contact information?



rcpis1

 

[Opieo]

I like the incentives.
But don't the incentives make the requirement of submitting ideas obsolete?
Its seems (may not actually be this way) that not requiring the suggestions would cause slightly more constructive responses.
Although, the incentives may override this fact since people would like to get a bonus if they saved the company millions with an idea.
However, even the employees that don't have constructive ideas may be submitting ideas that are not worth your time simply because they are required to submit something.

Just some thoughts to kind of argue in both directions of the required vs incentive.

~
Give a man some fire, he will be warm for a day, Set a man on fire, he will be warm for the rest of his life.

 

[rcpis1]

With our system, it doesn't matter how much it saved or didn't save, everyone has the same chance to be a winner as it is done randomly.

The other thing with our system is that only implemented ideas can be submitted. This requires the person that comes up with the idea to research and implement the idea after reaching a consensus with their coworkers.

rcpis1

 

[mot98]

Hi Opieo,

However, even the employees that don't have constructive ideas may be submitting ideas that are not worth your time simply because they are required to submit something.

I agree completely, it was a corporate decision to add the requirement of each employee submitting 3 ideas.

Basically right now we are leaving it up to the employee's manager to decide if the suggestion is feasible and that there is a verified cost savings before we move forward with them.

Thanks,

mot98

"Is it friday yet?"

 

[SQLSister]

As a management analyst for 15 years who was charged with improving systems and eventually with running the TQM program, you will find that employees have plenty of ideas for changes that would help their jobs. What they don't have is trust in their managers.

They know they will get shot down, so they don't make suggestions or if forced to make suggestions will make only ones they think will be politically correct and of the most minor type to avoid rocking the boat.

Managers on the other hand are often threatened by employees making suggestions as they often see the need to improve the system as directly reflecting on their poor management of it. Managers often designed the existing system and thus have a stake in preventing others from pointing out its flaws.

If you do not confront this dynamic, any improvement program will fail. Managers must be rewarded for implementing employee suggestions. Managers must not be taken to task for having systems that need improvement (all systems need improvement!), they must not be called to explain to higher management why the system was broken to begin with.

Employees must learn that their suggestions will be taken seriously and that they will not be in trouble for making a suggestion. One way to do this is to "prime the pump" by getting a selected group of employees together to work on a particular thing that everybody has agreed is a problem and then implementing whatever they come up with whether the managers agree or not. Make sure the implementation is suitably advertised to the rest of the complany and that the people who made the suggestion get credit. But what is most important is that the suggestions be implemented without management having the chance to shoot them down.

Some suggestions will work and some will fail, just like the process changes managers make. But until you have a track history of implementing suggestions, you need to let the employees suggestions get implemented without shooting them down.

And make sure you have a budget for items related to making changes. This signals you are serious about it and it makes the larger, more important changes easier to implement. If you can save ten million dollars by spending 40 thouseand that's a win, but if there is no budget to get the 40 thousand to begin with, then the suggestion can't be implemented.

And personally, I'd never call a program Lean. To an employee this suggests that the real interest is in finding ways to get rid of employees.


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[aarenot]

Have a real incentive program.

5% of company savings over a year for two years to the employee who suggested it, company wide if implemented company wide as well. If they save you a million, movie tickets is kind of insulting.

Yes, I have suggested a million dollar change with less than $1000 dollar implementation cost thaty went through implementation.