The Main Indicator of All Continuous Improvement

Discover the main indicator of all continuous improvement.

When it comes to achieving continuous improvement, companies often rely on the Hoshin, or improvement workshop. Before an improvement workshop can begin, a team leader, or pilot, is chosen to lead the group. The pilot then decides:

• What area to focus on
• What to improve and aim for
• Where to start
• What equipment is needed

After this analysis, the pilot attempts to guide the team by looking at how to eliminate waste, helping them to reach different possible solutions and avoiding over-the-top ideas.

This is the point at which the improvement workshop can fail because it has not considered the main indicator of continuous improvement – people.

When we focus only on improving quality indicators, costs (productivity, OEE, etc) and deliveries, we forget the people who carry out the essential tasks day to day. Without them, the wonderful solutions that will solve everything in a single step cannot exist.

We must always consider the GAP, the group of operators who spend eight hours a day working on the line or on machines in the workshop. We must always remember, “We will advance more in 10 steps of theirs than in only one of ours.” Those 10 steps become their solution.

You do not have to convince them, as they are motivated. In addition, we will already have taken them down the path of continuous improvement – by eliminating waste, step by step, and using their own ideas to achieve sustainability. 

Thus, the success of the improvement workshop depends not only on the value of the ideas contributed, but on how well they are accepted.

SUCCESS = VALUE OF THE IDEA x ACCEPTANCE OF THE TEAM.

At SGS, we focus on people, processes and productivity.

Contact us today to discuss your consulting and efficiency requirements.