Putting commitment to work through short‐cycle kaizen
Ed Heard · National Productivity Review · 1998
Abstract Continuous improvement is all the rage in the world of manufacturing. A few programs get incremental results so fast that improvement looks continuous. Others, however, yield little because they put systems and people under a constant state of tension, demanding ever‐better results without providing improvement tools or education. Successful programs rely on repeated, rapid but very systematic, methodology‐based, crossfunctional attacks on bite‐size plant floor targets. When the goal is continuous improvement, short‐cycle kaizen is the gift that keeps on giving, but it is not free. Its price is measured not in dollars, but in the self‐discipline it takes to conquer old habits, learn new methodologies, and rigorously adhere to new improvement protocols. Forget your old kaizen paradigm. This is a whole new ball game, and it's played by different rules.