Involving People Gave Us the Improvements We Needed

We had a problem with handling materials in a production department. Our process required raw materials to enter the department, be processed, and leave the department. The raw material was placed on pods, delivered for production, removed from the pods, placed on a staging fixture, removed from the fixture and process materials were then placed on another pod and delivered to an internal customer. Internal customer had to place on still another pod.

Someone suggested placing the material from the fixture onto the customer's internal pod to reduce handling, errors, etc. Room was tight (because two different style pods were used, one for raw material and one for processing) and someone long ago suggested moving a wall to create more space for easier movement of the pods.

After we realized that involving people would give us the improvements we wanted, someone suggested modifying the pods into a cart that could hold more material and reduce our need for more space. Others became involved; Martin developed possible designs for the cart while speaking with his coworkers to find out their ideas.

A cross-functional team designed and built a new cart. It held more raw materials, eliminated the need for the staging fixture, and allowed raw material and processed material to be transported on the same cart, eliminating the need for the second pod. The cart was built by reusing materials from the old pods.

Immediate benefits included less movement and less contamination of materials, also the new cart was more ergonomically friendly. After using the new cart, others came up with more ideas. All together 20 people contributed improvements to eliminate unnecessary equipment, combine processes, and reduce cost. Fourteen process steps were reduced to seven, operator motion was reduced, material was moved less, quality improved, and the job of the operator was made easier.

Recently someone had the idea of using the cart in a different area, so more improvements are to come.

Copyright © 2005 Chuck Yorke - All Rights Reserved

Chuck Yorke is an organizational development and performance improvement specialist, trainer, consultant and speaker. He is co-author of "All You Gotta Do Is Ask," a book which explains how to promote large numbers of ideas from employees. Chuck may be reached at ChuckYorke@yahoo.com

---

Déjà Vu MCI to Qwest International Inc: Can this Corporate Marriage Survive?

Current Situation:As of this writing, the MCI Board of Governors... Read More

Six Reasons to K.I.S.S.

Six Reasons to K.I.S.S. "Very often, people confuse simple with... Read More

Tales From the Corporate Frontlines: Managerial Influence

This article relates to the Manager/Supervisor competency, commonly evaluated in... Read More

Paretos Law- Your Formula For Success

A 'dirt-world' retail business I used to manage had a... Read More

Great Hires: Avoid Costly Mistakes

Picking people for a job is like going... Read More

Manage Your Business from the Rockies, not the Prairies

The day job as a manager is all about managing... Read More

Controlling Your Cash Flow

IntroductionAre you looking for a way to gain control of... Read More

Stop Waste, Fraud and Abuse

Each year, businesses write-off six percent of revenue to waste,... Read More

Well-Defined Processes ? How to Create

Interested in learning how to reduce development time, save money... Read More

Why Employees Are the Best Source of Cost-cutting Ideas

Cost cutting has become a necessary and important reality in... Read More

3 Keys to Being a Fearless Executive

In my work with business executives, I have come to... Read More

Innovation Management ? idea selection, development and commercialisation, what are the differences?

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Managing YOUR Expectations

I sit on the board of an organization and at... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Enhance the Motivational Climate of the Workplace

It has been well documented that employees' productivity and job... Read More

Ten Problem Solving Techniques

Do you ever need to find some good ideas, or... Read More

Directed Introspection

One of the greatest obstacles to progress can often be... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - The 5th C: Control Issues

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that... Read More

Management Training: Are You Satisfied With The Results?

If you're not satfied with the results of your management... Read More

Taking Care of Middle Manager Bounce Off

How many times have the management consultants been 'in' and... Read More

Turbo-Charge Your Rollout with ERM

Employees are the often-neglected stakeholders in the success or failure... Read More

Big Company Intelligence on a Small Company Budget

Information is the lifeblood of the economy. That's especially true... Read More

Tales From the Corporate Frontlines: An Unexpected Benefit

This article relates to the Compensation and Benefits competency, commonly... Read More

Leading Meetings: The Top Three Challenges

What do people really find challenging about leading meetings? Here... Read More

Why Would Anyone Hold a Bad Meeting?

Pssst, want a stock tip that will make you rich?... Read More

Business Innovation ? Tacit Knowledge

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

10 Critical Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Consultant

Talk to as many consultants as you can before hiring... Read More

Truth or Consequences: How to Give Employee Feedback

In the bestseller, Good to Great, Jim Collins discovered that,... Read More

Increasing the Return on Your Training Investment

Insightful leaders and organizations recognize that training is a valuable... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Competition versus Collaboration

There is much confusion as to whether competition or collaboration... Read More

Innovation Management ? the power of decision makers

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Psychological Reward

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

HRM: Contributing to Well-being or Ill-being at Work?

If you were to take the people out of an... Read More

Leadership Skills

Recent studies have shown that industrial supervisors are working at... Read More