The Relativity of

Continuous
Improvement
Dr. Klaus Blache

Learning how to work on what matters

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The Relativity of
Continuous Improvement
Learning how to work on what matters
by Dr. Klaus Blache
To be excellent in business, you need a
vision with a clearly defined purpose. By
successfully managing the cultural changes
and continuous improvement, you transition
your organizations vision into reality.

The Relativity of Continuous Change allows

you to learn how to change and sustain the
behavior of the individual and, collectively,
the team as the foundation of ongoing
improvement and striving to be the best.

Chapter 1, Continuous Improvement

and Change Management begins with
an overview on the current state of
continuous improvement and focuses on
the importance of workforce culture and
process.

To order this book, go to The MRO-Zone Bookstore website:

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CHAPTER 1
Continuous Improvement and Change
Management

It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.

W. Edwards Deming

I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.

Abraham Lincoln

1.1 The Current State of Continuous Improvement

A Personal Viewpoint
The future success of any company is more than just chasing global competition. Its
about learning how to apply whats being learned. This is equally true for manufacturing,
chemical, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, utilities, military, medical, and most other company
offices and factories. Business practices and processes all can be improved, and many are
in need of significant improvement. Although appearing simple, many existing methods
used to improve performance have a high degree of complexity attached to them, such as
social norms, work that is not standardized, unclear roles and responsibilities, perceptions
of a level of fairness and more. So without a comprehensive systems-thinking approach,
even very comprehensive change efforts often provide only marginal benefits.
The challenge is organizational, technical and social, and must be understood
and addressed from all aspects together. Even if your initial change effort is successful,
sustaining it is even more questionable. Why do so many systems and processes fail? The
answer encompasses such things as large and small changes, safety, quality, reliability,
productivity, cost, long-term implementations and kaizen events. The following examples
are of failed change efforts and failed systems of varying magnitude and consequences.
Yet, they all could have been avoided or greatly improved upon if a robust, continuous
improvement process (CIP) and a sustainment plan had been in place.
As you read through each item, think about whether it was an issue regarding
machinery and equipment, operational process, product, peoples behavior, or any
combination of them. The failures from these items have a wide range of consequences,
yet they share similar underlying weaknesses.

1
Chapter 1

Many companies cut cost as a strategy. Yet, research found that only ten percent of
cost reduction programs show sustained results three years later.1
I stopped at a truck stop to gas up and get coffee. Numerous packets of sugar were
barely filled or empty. I did a check of twenty and half were unopened and empty.
The sugar company obviously had a problem with production reliability.
Studies of IT projects in the U.S. have shown that, in any given year, roughly twen-
ty-five percent are done on time, on budget and met stakeholders specifications.
Roughly twenty-five percent have to be abandoned before completion and an esti-
mated fifty percent of these projects are expected late or over budget. In other words,
the success rate is twenty-five percent.2
The North American electrical grid is experiencing many more incidents of outag-
es and quality problems not caused by weather events. An energy plan that fails to
address energy reliability is incomplete and under-resourced.3
Im making a non-refundable hotel reservation online and everything works until the
final step. A message states that it could not complete the reservation process and to
try again or call the nearest agent. I repeated the process thirty minutes later and it
worked this time, providing a confirmation number. Being suspicious of these events,
I called the hotel to check if I now had two reservations. It turns out the system did,
indeed, book two reservations.
Its not easy for manufacturers to ensure their medical devices are reliable. For
example, upon examination, seemingly identical lead wires in a random sample were
found to have up to ten times variation in durability.4
Farmers in Hebei province (China) say in interviews that protein powder of often
uncertain origin has been employed for years as a cheap way to help the milk of
undernourished cows fool dairy companies quality checks. When the big companies
caught on, some additive makers switched to toxic melamine which mimics protein
in lab tests and can cause severe kidney damage to evade detection.5
I drive into a gas station that has a big advertising sign reading, Full Service Gas Sta-
tion. When going to the restroom, there is a sign on the door that reads, Sorry, out
of paper towels. Interesting to note is that the convenience store in the gas station
sold paper towels.
Two months after the daylight savings time change, a major airport hotel still had
the incorrect time posted on its lobby information screen and TV bulletin displaying
hotel events. This was next to where they posted flight times.
An aircraft started dropping seven thousand feet while the captain was away on a
toilet break. It was caused by a copilot accidentally pushing a button while perform-
ing a seat adjustment. None of the one hundred and thirteen passengers on the flight
were injured.6
Periodically, I receive cell phone messages several days after being sent.
The Deepwater Horizon had a series of blackouts, seized up computers and other
maintenance problems in the months before the drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of
Mexico, the rigs chief engineer told investigators.7

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 Continuous Improvement and Change Management

I approached the entrance to a Florida turnpike and put in a quarter, but the light did
not turn green. I repeated the process with no success, so I drove on. I called the Flor-
ida Department of Transportation to explain what happened, but they were insistent
that their system does not make mistakes. I sent them a check for twenty-five cents.
In regards to human reliability and safe driving, Nearly nine in ten teenage drivers
engage in distracted driving behaviors, such as texting or talking on a cell phone.8
I had an old wet/dry vacuum that I used for general cleanup. It worked well, except
it was on when plugged in because the on-off switch was broken for as long as I can
remember. After ten years, I bought a new one, the same brand. I returned it the next
day. The on-off switch did not work.
One brand of water softener salt is a few cents cheaper. It just has cut out handles to
carry the forty pound bags. Three out of four handles ripped through, while moving
them from the car to the back of the house. The better brand, with reinforced han-
dles, is a few pennies more, but proved to be better very quickly.
When checking out of my hotel, I pointed out that the bill was two cents higher on the
printout than what my credit card was charged (my room was prepaid). I asked if this
would cause an issue. They said no. It was probably automated, but the hotel charged
two cents to my American Express card later. One has to wonder, at what expense?
Two hundred and forty thousand water main breaks per year occur in the U.S. The
infrastructure is old and not reliable.9
I purchased a new desk stapler, with the packaging claiming it comes with four hun-
dred staples. There were twelve included.
It was time to renew my cell phone contract. With a new phone, I needed a new car-
rying case for my belt. The salesperson recommended a hard plastic one that rotates
on the belt clip and said its very durable. I put my new cell phone in it, clipped it
on my belt and went to my car. Upon getting in the first time, the belt clip cracked
and broke off. I went back to the store and asked if they had something better than
very durable.
The current system allows bad nurses to skip to other states and continue working.
Multistate licenses dont always update issues across state lines and let nurses avoid
consequences of misconduct. A twenty-four state compact was created to help get
good nurses to where they are needed. When a compact state is slow to act or fails
to share information, nurses suspected of negligence or misconduct remain free to
work across nearly half the country.10
When I renewed my passport, the governments passport website clearly states to not
attach the second photo to the application, but to insert it inside the envelope with
the application. When I went to the post offices passport center to mail it, I was
informed that they dont want the second picture anymore.
A crosswalk near a Manhattan school misspelled school as shcool. This was a
crossing sign, with large letters printed on the sign on the street outside a preparatory
school, yet no one noticed it. A utility crew dug up the road leading to the issue.11
An IBM study showed that about sixty percent of business change projects do not
fully attain their objectives.12
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Chapter 1

The risks and consequences of all these situations vary greatly, but the underlying
reasons are similar.

These projects, programs, products and initiatives failed because of such things as:
Insufficient understanding of the degree of impact on the people affected.
Lack of employee engagement.
Poor change management strategies and tools.
Lack of standardized work.
Resistance from norms and existing values.
Change management is viewed as a project or something done while implementing a
project, rather than an ongoing process.
Supervisors and employees in supporting departments are not prepared enough to
deal with the people issues that arise during a change implementation.
Lack of a follow-up or sustainment plan.

After reading all the things that can and are going wrong, you may start to not trust
any system. Now, combine that with issues of corporate governance, global recession
and tomorrows unknowns. Yet, you are still responsible for leading ongoing continuous
improvement and, at times, complex and large change efforts. I fully agree with Ralph
Shrader, chairman of the board of Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., when he discussed taking risks.

We need to take them more than ever. But we must make a better job of deciding which
risks to take, managing the consequences of those decisions and becoming resilient to the
risks that we cannot control.13

In this age of computing, there is often an abundance of data. Yet, many companies
are data rich and information poor. I am referring to available information and data at
all levels of the organization. Good data-driven decisions at the top will steer you in the
correct direction. However, good data for problem-solving at the operator level will help
you attain or sustain business excellence.
If you want to attain a desired state, such as business excellence, you must operate
as if you are already there the future context. At the Lansing Grand River Assembly
Plant, there were several core values, such as teamwork, standardization and continuous
improvement. At every staff meeting, which was conducted with the union, a core value
was displayed and read. Then, a few stories were shared on how the specific core value
was positively demonstrated. Next, examples of how the core value could have been
better supported were also shared using specific examples. The process was repeated
with the next core value at the following meeting, until they were all discussed. This was
an ongoing process, continually repeating the list. By openly discussing good examples
and examples needing improvement, fellow team members were learning how to ask
the right questions on the plant floor. Changing the thinking process improves all areas
of operation.

4
 Continuous Improvement and Change Management

1.2. Observations and Lessons Learned

Get the culture right first and implementing a robust continuous improvement process
will be more beneficial. When implementing large-scale lean processes, there is a sequence
of many items that need to be implemented for each sub-system (e.g., quality, continuous
improvement, production, etc.). Each of these systems has numerous items attached to it
that need to be established. For example, the continuous improvement system is made up
of items, such as standardized work, 5S, error proofing, kaizen events and attitudes/behavior.
From my discussions with lean subject matter experts and my observations of over twenty
implementations around the world, attitude demonstrated by leadership and workforce
culture were repeatedly brought to the forefront in the sequence of implementation of the
numerous lean elements. Items related to culture need to be implemented first for best results.
Understanding how to engage in meaningful, results-oriented improvement is critical
to the ongoing success of every business. From numerous implementations requiring
significant change, I have found that:

1. When you focus on changing the thinking process of the people, the organizational
change will follow.
2. The rate at which we change behavior will determine the rate of business process
success.
3. The level of capability and willingness of your employees to perform problem-solving/
continuous improvement will determine the flexibility and robustness in achieving
and sustaining competitive practices.
4. The current and desired states are usually well-defined in business plans. Whats
typically missing is a detailed transition plan, which enables the desired state.
5. Existing methods of optimizing performance have reached a state of diminishing
returns. Many improvement efforts overlap areas and compete for the same resources.
6. For most issues, long-term strategic thinking leads to better decisions.
7. Many organizations need a better process to capture global learning and redistribute
knowledge.
8. Companies, when implementing best practices, have local variations that need to be
better understood. For example, in a given team, how is conflict resolved? What is the
absentee coverage policy? Are team leaders elected by the team or appointed? A few
variations can be the difference between success and failure in performance outcome
differences.
9. Implementation usually slows down or fails at the putting it into practice stage. This
happens even after many weeks of training and involvement in developing standardized
work. This indicates that the required behavioral change has not occurred.
10. Kaizen events are good, but make sure they dont overshadow the desired long-term
team culture. For example, team members involved in the kaizen previously waited
many months or longer to get their suggestions heard and hopefully implemented.
What message is that sending to your plant floor team? Why are they getting
support now?

5
Chapter 1

11. A focus on safety and ergonomics is a key enabler toward positive attitudes. The
workforce must know that you care.
12. The role of leadership is critical in promoting and rewarding the sharing of data and
facts to enhance continuous improvement behavior.
13. Leadership, both hourly and salary, must be prepared to answer the numerous questions
they will get from the workforce. They need to be able to ask the right questions
to foster learning and answer tough people issues with sufficient understanding.
Otherwise, you can lose control of the process if support capabilities dont match
stated expectations. Most of the tough questions will be people related.
14. Implementing change, such as lean systems, will not make people do things differently.
It only works if people want it to.
15. Roles and responsibilities for everyone need to be clear, including the boundaries for
change/continuous improvement.
16. You must create a logical, desired and understandable need for change.
17. Following standardized work is a fundamental step in continuous improvement.
18. If your workforce is not disciplined enough to do 5S/6S, dont even think about
implementing a lean process.
19. It is necessary to take the time needed to change the behavior of your people. Dont
put a time limit on it.
20. The establishment of a problem resolution process for teams to use is necessary. It
needs to be able to handle a high volume of problems and provide a way to address
questions/issues that the teams cant answer/resolve.
21. The closer your problem-solving process is to the persons actually doing the work, the
more robust and meaningful the improvement will be.
22. You must provide the needed information for decision-making to team members.
Make sure the information is useful. Dont be data rich and information poor.
23. Better integration at the boundaries of groups and departments is where many of the
big potential gains are.
24. The continuous improvement process should be monitored and done as much as
possible with a total systems viewpoint to balance the interaction between materials,
machines, people and task time, and their impact on safety/ergonomics, quality,
throughput and cost.
25. You can only talk about changing behavior for so long until its time to do something.
Only implementation of a change on a real issue will show your current tolerance/
ability to change behavior.

Albert Einstein stated that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results is the definition of insanity. How many things do you repeat every day at
work hoping for a better outcome?
After reading the rest of this book, you should have a better and more in-depth
understanding about each of these statements. Establishing a healthy and robust
continuous improvement process requires putting several fundamental elements in place.
Getting the techniques and technologies in place, like standardized work and 5S, allow
6
 Continuous Improvement and Change Management

you to compete (see Figure 1.1). Getting the enabling success factors in place, like proper
levels of complexity and demonstrating respect for employees, define your limits of
competitiveness. Finally, instilling employee enthusiasm allows you to win.
The elements in Figure 1.1 are only a partial list of tools, techniques and enablers.
Moving to the right in Figure 1.1 increases your level of continuous improvement, which
supports more business success evidenced by improved safety, quality, throughput and
cost, all driven by positive employee attitudes.

1.3 Employee Involvement and Enthusiasm

At the heart of any organization are knowledgeable and capable employees wanting to
make a difference. It reminds me of a sign I saw in a production facility that read: Ya
Gotta Wanna. That says it all. Stephen Covey14 defines a habit as the intersection of
knowledge (understanding what to do and why to do it), skill (knowing how to do it)
and desire (wanting to do it). Furthermore, I support replacing the word empowerment
with allowment, as proposed in the book, Thoughtware, because it recognizes that
employees must first be entitled before they reach allowment. Its about employees
reaching a level of understanding by taking on the information, skills and authority
needed for ongoing improvement and being accountable for results. The worst thing
you can do is empower the organization that is not entitled to be empowered.15
According to the definition from the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence,
workforce engagement:
Figure 1.1: Maturity levels of con6nuous improvement process (CIP)

Allows You To
Win
Denes Your
Limits of ENT
M
Compe66veness OVE
Allows You To IMPR
OUS
Compete TINU
CON EMPLOYEE
S OF
L EVEL ENTHUSIASM
T U RITY
G MA SUCCESS Thriving CIP
SIN
INC REA FACTORS process
Employee Employees
TECHNIQUES & par6cipa6on / making decisions
TECHNOLOGIES open discussion to improve value
on problems chain (goal
5S
Proper complexity alignment)
5 Whys
Employee respect Employees
Standardized
demonstrated making a
Work
Established dierence
Kaizen Events
problem-solving (willing and
Value Stream
process capable)
Mapping
IMPROVED SAFETY, QUALITY, THROUGHPUT & COST
REDUCE WASTE & LEVEL FLOW

Figure 1.1: Maturity levels of continuous improvement process (CIP)

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Chapter 1

refers to the extent of workforce commitment, both emotional and intellectual,

to accomplishing the work, mission, and vision of the organization. Organizations
with high levels of workforce engagement are often characterized by high-performing
work environments in which people are motivated to do their utmost for the benefit
of their customers and for the success of the organization.

In general, members of the workforce feel engaged when they find personal
meaning and motivation in their work and when they receive positive interpersonal
and workplace support. An engaged workforce benefits from trusting relationships,
a safe and cooperative environment, good communication and information flow,
empowerment, and performance accountability.16

A few years ago, I attended a workshop by the Disney Institute on Disneys approach
to business excellence. It was stated that areas with the strongest ratings in cast member
satisfaction also had the highest customer results and the highest leadership ratings. Its all
related and starts with supportive leadership that walks the talk.
It is not surprising then, that institutionalizing a change process is, at best, extremely
difficult. This simplistic, yet often difficult to implement, concept and the improvement
power behind it is finally being more fully acknowledged. The behavior of the individual
in performing the continuous improvement process is at the center of the term kaizen
(Japanese word referring to the constant, incremental improvement of processes and work
practices by reducing waste and increasing value). Kaizen will be discussed further in
Chapter 3.
Workers generally do not resist change. They resist how it impacts their lives (at
work or home) or the perception of what they think might happen (e.g., implementing
lean and losing their job). Change seldom looks the same to the initiating person and the
recipient. It requires trust and respect for the individual. Weve all heard the expression
that we should treat others the way we would like to be treated. It sounds simple enough.
Yet, have you had experiences similar to the following?

Youre at a leadership presentation where it was enthusiastically stated that people

are your most important asset. However, within a week, you start hearing things
about the same leader, such as he wanted to use a specific conference room and
rudely told the people in it to be out in five minutes.

An executive overseeing a group of plants told the IT manager that he wanted his
group of plants to get the new software installed first. Furthermore, he told the IT
manager that the discussion never happened.

The executive presentation may be a motivating vision, but the discussion around the
coffee machine will define your reality or culture. The same holds true for small teams or
one-on-one interactions. Early in my career, I was asked to meet with a seasoned union
leader who was upset about an issue. Meeting for the first time, he looked at me and said,

8
 Continuous Improvement and Change Management

All that Ive heard about you, I thought you would be older. He probably thought I
didnt have enough experience to handle the situation, or was it an indirect compliment? I
walked up to him and replied, Everything Ive heard about you, I thought you would be
uglier. He stared at me for awhile and then stated, I think we will do just fine together.
The lesson here is: Give respect, but also expect to have it given back to you.
New thinking is needed. As Albert Einstein said, The thinking process used to get
us into a situation cannot be the same process we use to get out of that situation. When
looking at what separates the leading productive plants from the others, its the people
working in them thats making the difference. Mainly, its the level of involvement and
enthusiasm toward adding value to the product and process. Thats not new information,
yet many still struggle on how to capture that genuine enthusiasm that defines the
best operating businesses and facilities of all types. Ive witnessed it in hospitals, steel
manufacturing, aerospace, engineering management, plant floor employees, etc. For
example, when I observed and analyzed various world-class operations, I noticed they
all still had daily problems to resolve. The difference was that the people knew what had
to be done, were willing to do what was required and had support structures in place
to help enable the corrections in process to keep things in order. There is a heightened
level of discipline and enthusiasm that makes the difference. The enthusiasm gives you
the desire to do what it takes. However, discipline to do the right thing by following a
standardized process results in a stable process. When everyone does this, it allows you to
get the job done on good and bad days. In addition, the system variability is minimized,
and production and operational uptime/throughput are maximized.
Figure 1.2: Impact of employee par6cipa6on on produc6vity
(Hours/Unit Produc6on compared to Baseline)

120
Baseline
100

80
Throughput

60

40

20

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Sugges6ons Implemented per Employee
(Manufacturing Plants)
Figure 1.2: Impact of employee participation on productivity

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Chapter 1
Figure 1.3: Team inuence on produc6vity
(Team inuence index = Level of problem-solving and personnel issues handled at team level)

Baseline
Produc6vity Improvement Over Baseline = 1

1.6

1.4

1.2

1
Best opera6ng
0.8 teams have 36%
beger produc6vity
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

Team Inuence Index

Figure 1.3: Impact of team influence on productivity

Enthusiasm can come from a number of things, such as sense of mission, team
competition, personal satisfaction, shared benefits and profits, and job interest. Genuine
enthusiasm, however, is built on trust. How fair the reward system is, as perceived
by the employees, and answers to whats in it for me if I change my behavior, will
largely determine the level of enthusiasm. This directly impacts the rate of continuous
improvement.
Figure 1.2 shows the results of a study regarding the impact of employee participation on
productivity. Companies that counted all the small, incremental plant floor improvements
were getting thirty to forty suggestions per employee, per year, with productivity values
in the better half of Figure 1.2. Note that much of the improvement benefits came early,
with few suggestions implemented per employee. At three suggestions per employee, there
is already about a fifty percent increase in productivity. At six suggestions per employee,
about two-thirds of the productivity benefit has been achieved. Additional suggestions
help, but at a diminished rate of productivity improvement. Facilities with greater
employee suggestions implemented per employee had lower production times per unit,
(higher throughput). This supports the thinking that employee participation does, indeed,
make a quantifiable difference toward improving bottom line results.
Figure 1.3 displays a similar trend by comparing the impact of team influence. The
team influence index is based on several plant floor involvement indices: such as level
of problem-solving, within team absenteeism coverage and extent of conflict resolution
handled by the team. A higher team influence index resulted in better productivity.
10
Figure 1.4: Rela6onship between organiza6onal engagement and con6nuous
improvement process
Continuous maturity and
Improvement Change Management

Organiza6onal Engagement High

Moderate High
Improvement Improvement

Low Moderate
Improvement Improvement
Low

Low willing or capable willing and capable High

Con6nuous Improvement Process Maturity

Figure 1.4: Relationship between organizational allowment and CIP maturity

To get high improvement, you need both high organizational engagement and high
continuous improvement process maturity, as shown in Figure 1.4. Increasing levels of
CIP maturity were illustrated in Figure 1.1. Get the workforce engaged (i.e., allowment)
and support the continuous improvement process. People who enthusiastically support
continuous improvement can usually overcome most daily issues that arise, or at least
improve on current work processes and practices.
In an ongoing study started in 2009 and completed in 2013 using data from over two
hundred company project results, it was determined that when employees are engaged (i.e.,
buy-in is attained), there is a seven times greater likelihood of success. Based on an earlier
study of more than two hundred facilities, Figure 1.5 shows that when operators had greater
involvement in such things as using visual aids, preventive maintenance (PM) checks and
the minor use of tools if the plant culture allowed it, the maintenance expenditures, as a
percent of the original investment in machinery and improvement had improved.

1.4. Continuous Improvement and Standardized Work

On August 28, 2012, three days after American astronaut Neil Armstrong died, I listened
to a radio interview that described him as disciplined and calm in the face of disaster.
An example used was Armstrong cruising just above the moons surface and landing with
just sixteen seconds of fuel left. Our consequences may not be as severe, but standardized
processes and disciplined execution, when it matters, are at the heart of continuous
improvement.

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Chapter 1

Figure 1.5: Positive impact of production operator PM involvement on maintenance

expenditure

Figure 1.6: Improve and standardize steps of improvement

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 Continuous Improvement and Change Management

The first step in making an improvement is to understand the current process and
related standardized work. This defines the baseline from which all improvement begins.
Figure 1.6 illustrates incremental steps of improvement. Standardized work refers to having
every job done the same way in both sequence and procedure so its always performed in
the most efficient manner, regardless of who does the job. The recommended improvement
should be clarified and understood by those who will be most impacted (Plan). The new
idea or improvement is then ready to be tried for a designated period of time (Do).
Next, results should be compared to the baseline, which is the current standardized
work (Check). If the proposed method is better, then it should be communicated to all
those impacted and it becomes the new standardized work (Act). This process, called
PDCA,(P-D-C-A) should be ongoing by individuals and teams throughout the company.
The standardized process should be regularly checked for consistency. This process also
introduces numerous small improvements, always building on the previous standardized
work. As it was taught to me: 1.) Make Rule; 2.) Teach Rule; 3.) Follow Rule and include
the check to assure process integrity.
One example of standardized work instructions is a standard operating procedure
(SOP). It is a list of established procedures to follow when carrying out a given operation,
regardless of who performs the task. It is the step-by-step instruction to be routinely
performed. Standardized work also enables doing things right as team members change
on the plant floor and in the office. In many operations, numerous employees are
getting their job done based on what they learned over time, on-the-job training and,
too frequently, who they know in the organization (e.g., plant floor friends, supporting
departments and working through the informal network that gets things done). Even
though there are organizational charts, success is too dependent on position in the
organization and the relative positioning of other team members. If you have an engaged
workforce following standardized work processes, you still have all the same team
members. But now, an action (i.e., best practice standardized work) is only done in a
single manner with a known outcome.
Not following standardized work can negatively impact anyone, even the company
that created the model for lean manufacturing. Toyota deviated from its own system by
responding too late to customer concerns and focusing too much on growth.Toyota
had become far less lean as its inventory turns went from 22 in the 1990s to 10 in
2008.17 Without the proper continuous improvement culture, operational excellence
cannot be sustained.
People not wanting to follow standardized processes also cause issues to their personal
health. Too many patients, when they are diagnosed with an illness or an injury, do not
follow through with their treatment. They dont take their medications conscientiously
and dont change their habits as recommended.18
By regularly following a standardized routine, you can quickly teach a common
process to others. When I first came to the University of Tennessee, I lived on campus,
so three nights per week, I ran up one thousand steps around school and then went to
Subway. I would order a Number 27. At first, the sandwich artists would look at me
and say, Whats that? I replied, Its my Subway the way I like it. (Its a particular sub
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Chapter 1

with select toppings and some salt, pepper and honey mustard.) Every running day for
several weeks, I would order Number 27 and give very specific instructions. It took about
three weeks before the sandwich artists knew what a Number 27 was and the assembly
instructions were no longer needed. As people changed jobs/shifts, I needed to start over,
but it always worked and was a fun experiment.
The United States Postal Service has an online process for temporarily changing your
mail delivery address, which I used. However, after checking why no mail was showing up,
it was determined that the postal delivery person saw a for sale sign on the front yard and
assumed no one was home. He didnt follow the standardized process of leaving a delivery
notification card. Even after deviating from the process, he could have knocked on the
door or called the phone number on the change request. So, two weeks of mail went full
circle twice, from Tennessee to Michigan!

When a group, department, or company does not have standardized work processes,
common traits are typically evident.

There is no basis or foundation on which to build continuous improvement.

Variability increases.
When things go wrong, people are blamed instead of focusing on improving the pro-
cess.
Its more difficult to make decisions based on data.
Whats important changes from week to week or daily.
Goals and targets change frequently.
Goals and targets are mandated without methods to attain them.
Employees find individual ways that best complement their needs and style to attain
the targets, but efficiency and cost usually suffer.
There is high stress in the organization.
Many things dont make sense to the workforce because they dont make sense.
Employees do not contribute openly to ongoing continuous improvement.
There is more arbitrary cost cutting than ongoing improvement.

In general, places of business that do a better job performing the check (C) in PDCA
PDCA are more likely to be one of the best.

1.5 Operations in Chaos and Crisis

In good financial times and when business is strong, its much easier to do things right.
However, its when times are tough that the true character of your team, company and
leaders come forward. Ive found that in times of extreme chaos or crisis, most companies
start to behave in a similar manner, regardless of the type of company.

If you dont have a robust improvement process working in stable times, how can you
expect reasonable results in times of crisis?

14
 Continuous Improvement and Change Management

If you dont have standardized work, when you test/measure improvement ideas, how
do you know what works? This is further compounded as more and more ideas at
this time usually mandated from up high and quick fixes are expected.
There is a lack of transparency in improvement idea implementation. Typically, its
something like, Give me all your ideas by the end of the week. Once in a while, you
may hear something back, but more often there is no feedback. Then a few days later,
a list of ideas gets handed down, with little or no data supporting the ideas and no
comments on your previous ideas.

With regards to managing people, its always easier to do the right thing when
the business is profitable and things are going well. However, the true nature of your
organizational values are better revealed when things get tough. Organizations without
standardized processes and work will have a more difficult time performing and sustaining
continuous improvement. Employees will experience high frustration, inconsistent
direction and more people-related issues, and are less likely to enjoy their place of work,
even though they may like what they do as a career. It is just a matter of time before
even the most optimistic employee is worn down and just shows up. These types of
organizations and companies will merely operate at a fraction of their potential toward
business excellence, if they continue to operate at all in the long run.
Figure 1.7 shows the positive impact of lean on continuous improvement over
time. After five years of lean implementation, more than seventy percent of two hundred
companies still only achieve a low or medium positive impact of lean on continuous
Figure 1.7: Posi6ve impact of lean on con6nuous improvement
(as related to years of implementa6on)

70.0

60.0
Low Impact
50.0
Medium Impact
40.0
Percent

High Impact
30.0
Very High Impact
20.0

10.0

0.0
Under 3 Years 3 to 5 Years Over 5 Years

Most Lean Implementations Fail (fall short of expectations)

Figure 1.7: Positive impact of lean on continuous improvement as related to years of

implementation

15
Chapter 1

improvement. Ive seen many facilities that are rolling out a lean process, but at best do
a mediocre job of implementing 5S. When I visit plants, I usually observe varying levels
of 5S implementation, not just between plants, but within the same facility. I may notice
someone not following 5S visuals and ask why. The response is usually something like,
Bob doesnt like to do it exactly that way, but hes been here a long time, so hes okay.
Before long, Ive found numerous other exceptions for one reason or another. I would ask
if they are implementing a lean process and, typically, they are. My concern is, if there is
not enough discipline in the workforce to follow standardized work at its simplest level
(i.e., 5S), how can they expect to be successful in a full lean implementation, which is an
order of magnitude more complex and challenging?

A working and sustainable lean process is doable in typically two cultures:

1. Where the workforce is required to follow specific instructions (e.g., military) or is

highly regulated (e.g., airlines).
2. Where the workforce is engaged performing standardized work and willing to correct
daily issues back to proper standardized work practices and perform continuous
improvement.

When a workforce does things out of fear (e.g., losing their job and/or business is
failing), success can be sustained only for a limited time. This, however, is neither desirable
nor sustainable.
The team discipline practiced to perform and sustain 5S or 6S implementation is
a good leading indicator of eventual success in implementing lean practices. Analyzing
the data from the same two hundred plants in Figure 1.6, but aligning them by years of
5S, showed that by properly implementing 5S first, the likelihood of a positive outcome
in lean implementation doubles. Without the discipline and standardized work being
followed by an engaged workforce, the many lean implementation failures will continue.
If you cant do this in good times, how will it ever support your company in tougher times?

1.6 Continuous Improvement for Business Excellence

Operational excellence can be made sustainable only by instilling an enabling culture.
Having said that, what are the current definitions of excellence?

- the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree.

- an outstanding feature; something in which something or someone excels; a
center of manufacturing excellence.
- the use of herbs in one of the Excellencies of French cuisine.19
- The quality of being excellent; state of possessing food qualities in an eminent
degree; exalted merit; superiority in virtue.20

16
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 The Relativity of
Continuous
Improvement
Dr. Klaus Blache

To be excellent in business, you need a vision with a clearly defined

purpose. By successfully managing the cultural changes and continuous
improvement, you transition your organizations vision into reality.
The Relativity of Continuous Improvement allows you to learn how to change and
sustain the behavior of the individual and, collectively, the team as the foundation
of ongoing improvement and striving to be the best.

Chapter 1 Continuous Improvement and Change Management begins with an

overview on the current state of continuous improvement and focuses on the
importance of workforce culture and process.
Chapter 2 Change Implementation Concepts and Models reviews select basic
historical models used for implementations of change.
Chapter 3 Using Lean Tools and Other Techniques for Continuous Improvement
is an overview of multiple methods utilized to make improvements.
Chapter 4 Enablers for Successful Change and Sustainable Continuous
Improvement focuses on the success factors for implementing change and
discusses the need for understanding the value and roles of individuals, teams,
leaders and followers.
Chapter 5 Model for Sustainable Change elaborates on what happens when
employees are and are not engaged.
Chapter 6 Sustaining Change hones in on changing the thinking process to
enable, deploy and support ongoing change.
Chapter 7 Its Up to You is all about doing something to get the change process
started and making a positive difference.

Its about steady continuous improvement lots of little changes and some big ones.

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