You’ve probably heard it many times before: “work smarter not harder”. This is a great phrase to live by, but it is much easier said than done. Especially when it comes to our own workplace processes. We get so stuck in our ways that we often need an outsider’s perspective to show us where we can improve. That’s why continuous improvement is so valuable, it puts everyone in the mindset to look for process improvements throughout the company. It also reminds everyone to never get complacent and settle for adequate work. Time is a huge commodity, if you don’t want to waste it, here are some activities to get you started with your own continuous improvement program.
Time studies are one tool to help you work towards continuous improvement. These studies do not simply involve grabbing a stopwatch and finding out how long it takes “Employee A” to complete his or her part of the job. At HUI, having accurate “real” times for all aspects of the job helps our engineers to create line balance and optimize the flow through our shop floor. However, our engineers are also looking for bottle necks, large work in progress (WIP) piles, variations in the process, and any other opportunities to improve workflow.
Kaizen events take place over a couple of days and are a specific attack on a process or area. Cross-functional groups including members in that area, as well as members from other areas of the company, observe the process in its current state. Then they get together afterwards to discuss all of their ideas and everything they saw to brainstorm ways to improve it. Because Kaizen have a team of people laser focused on one specific process or area, they can identify and implement many improvements very quickly. Later on, the team will also verify that those improvements are effective.
Kaizen events are a good way to involve people from all over the company in continuous improvement. They can also help you build relationships with your customers and suppliers by inviting them to participate on your kaizen teams. Including people outside of your company walls helps broaden the team’s ability to identify new opportunities and solutions that you may have missed.
Time Studies and Kaizen Events are some great activities to get you started with your own continuous improvement program. Both of these tools will help you create action items that will help make your teammates jobs easier in the long-run, as well as save the company time and money.
If you have questions about anything mentioned in this article, please comment below. Also, contact us today if you need help with your own custom industrial project.