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Innovation in Management Systems

Article from CMA*-Canada
 

"With this blitz approach, it's in your face, it's done, and you emerge a better company."

Let's be honest, we all know that ISO certification can be an onerous task, but worth the effort because of the discipline it imposes on our business. Yet the one criticism that ISO continues to endure is that it produces quality, but not necessarily excellence. In other words, it ensures processes behave as designed, but doesn't ensure ideal, best-of-breed practices.

The exciting news is that the rules of the improvement game are changing. A refreshing new approach, which we have labeled ISO Kaizen Blitz, has proven to be a better, faster approach to both ISO certification and business-process improvement. The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) has used the term Kaizen Blitz to describe a focussed, problem solving process for creating fast change, while ISO Kaizen-Blitz its uniquely of BULLTEK LTD.

Is such an achievement a dream? Not at all. Willow Manufacturing in Toronto is a case in point. Dennis Wild, Willow's president has this to say about the experience, "The ISO Kaizen-Blitz gave us a breakthrough process improvements throughout our organization and successful ISO registration -- all in a matter of weeks. We are delighted with the results."

Wild recalls, "We started out talking about setup reduction but the problem-solving nature of the training soon focused on the opportunity for improved teamwork and communication, the real foundation blocks for progressive change."

Willow's management, adds, "We'd had manufacturing work cells in place for at least two years, but change really didn't happen until we added teamwork. You can't change people, but if you change the environment around them, it removes the roadblocks and allows them to start working as a team."

When preparing a blitz action plan. I advise clients that it is both difficult and self-defeating to plan a blitz in too much detail. While it is important to have a broad framework of key events, such as kickoff meetings, ISO training, process-improvement activity, and a firm end date, much more detail than this is about as fruitless as trying to plan the details of a guerilla war. Like guerilla warfare, blitz planning need only ensure that appropriate information, personnel and tools are available to deal with the challenges as they evolve and that everyone stays intensely focused on the objective -- in this case, improving and documenting processes within tight, unyielding deadlines.

This is where the value of experienced external process coaches really pays off. The quality you should look for are an unbiased perspective, knowledge of best practices and process improvement expertise.

At Willow, existing practices were mapped before any attempt was made to improve them. The results, as always, were enlightening. Dennis Wild recalls, "We were finally uncovering gaps that hadn't been visible in 30 years of operating. It was frightening to find that the things were not as they should be , but exciting to be finally getting to the root of our problems. Only after immersion in the blitz process did I get my first glimpse of what it really must be like to work at Willow Manufacturing, living with the shortcomings of some of our processes."

Trying to describe the ideal sequence of events during an ISO Kaizen-Blitz is a little like trying to write guidelines for golf or sex--BULLTEK LTD Team have done a great service. You just have to be there in order to figure out what to do next. Accepting this reality, each day of the Willow blitz ended with a brief huddle of the improvement teams to summarize achievements and challenges and to create a to-do list for the next day.

When asked what he thought of the hour-by-hour action planning, Dennis Wild said, "I loved it! It allowed us to implement improvements and make progress before we even had time to create barriers to the ideas. The key was the involvement of all employees, so that the processes we documented were sound and accepted by the people who had to use them."

People at all levels of the organization attributed their ISO project success to this fast-paced action planning process. Linda Snow, Willow's vice-president, says, "We would not have had the success we did without the intensity and adrenaline rush of the blitz approach. It was a self- imposed test in which we began to believe in our ability as a team and see how far we could stretch the improvement envelope in a short time.

"It is best summed up when deciding to use the blitz approach easy... "Given the choice between an ISO Kaizen-Blitz or a conventional 18 month project, We would take the blitz any time. It's there in your face, it's done, and you emerge a better company."

By: Bob Wheatly - CMA Magazine