Employee Involvement: The Heart of Lean Production

© Operational Excellence Consulting. All rights reserved. 1© Operational Excellence Consulting. All rights reserved. 1
Employee Involvement
The Heart of Lean Production

Learning Objectives
Understand the
key concepts and
principles of total
employee
involvement
Acquire
knowledge of the
various channels
of employee
involvement
Learn how to
apply the process
and tools to
improve
employee
involvement
Understand the
critical role of
management in
sustaining total
employee
involvement

© Operational Excellence Consulting. All rights reserved. 3
Contents
1.  Key Concepts & Principles of Employee Involvement
2.  Segments of Employee Involvement
3.  Common Channels of Employee Involvement
4.  Process & Tools for Employee Involvement
5.  Role of Management
NOTE: This is a PARTIAL PREVIEW. To
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Introduction to Employee Involvement
§  The Toyota Production System consists of ﬁve main
elements: Stability, Standardization, Just-in-Time, Jidoka
and Involvement
§  Total Employee Involvement is the heart of the Toyota
system, just like the wind that brings the sailboat to life
§  Employee Involvement should be managed as intensely
as production and quality
§  Involvement includes all three segments of employees:
1.  Management
2.  Workgroup
3.  Individual

Introduction to Employee Involvement
§  Taylor’s assumptions regarding worker capability are no
longer valid
§  Today’s workers are better educated and more literate
than ever before, and our modern culture places a
premium on creativity and individual expression
§  Moreover, today’s companies need ﬂexibility and
creativity to traverse rapidly changing markets,
technology and ﬁnancial conditions
§  We need all hands on the deck to avoid the rocks and
other dangers in the competitive marketplace

All Hands on Deck
§  To continually improve, we need to engage all our team members, especially those in
the front lines, where the real work gets done
§  Only they can ﬁx the myriad small problems that invariably add up to monster
problems
Very few big
problems
Few medium-
sized problems
Many small
problems
How problems are distributed at most organizations.
Source: Adapted from ‘Lean Production Simplified’, Pascal Dennis

© Operational Excellence Consulting. All rights reserved.
7
“Some in management
positions operate as if they
are in a tree of monkeys.
They make sure that
everyone at the top of the
tree looking down sees
only smiles. But all too
often, those at the bottom
looking up see only asses.”
Simon Sinek

Source: Adapted from ‘Lean Production Simplified’, Pascal Dennis
Employee Involvement is the Heart of the Lean
Production System
Stability
Standardization
Just-In-Time Jidoka
Customer
Focused Goals:
Highest quality, lowest cost, shortest lead times
by continually eliminating muda
Involvement:
Flexible, motivated
team members
continually seeking a
better way

What is Employee Involvement?
§  A participative process that uses the input of employees
to increase their commitment to the organization’s
success
§  The direct participation of staff to help an organization
fulﬁl its mission and meet its objectives by applying their
own ideas, expertise, and efforts towards solving
problems and making decisions
§  Regular participation of employee in deciding how work
is done, making suggestion for improvement, goal
setting, planning and monitoring of their performance

What Employee Involvement Is NOT
§  Taylor’s principles of scientiﬁc management
§  Excludes managers and the trade union
§  Formed to address external customer complaints
§  An old-fashion “QC” circle activity
§  An employee suggestion scheme
§  Another one of those “extra-curricula activities”

A Thinking Worker is a Productive Worker
Thinking Worker Productive Worker

Employee Involvement and Maslow’s hierarchy of
human needs
Self-actualization needs
Esteem needs
Social needs
Safety needs
Physiological
Needs
Degreeof
EmployeeInvolvement

Employee Involvement includes Management
Teams, Workgroups and Individuals
System &
Facility Teams
Productivity
committees
QC/Kaizen
Circles
Zero Defect
Movements
Safety
Groups
MBO
Groups
Workshop
Involvement
Movements
Suggestion
Groups
Mini Think
Tanks
Problem-solving
Groups
Jishu Hozen
Groups
Workshop
Talk Groups
Factory-of-
the-Future
Groups
Recreational
Activities
Groups
A.I.
Groups
Training
Resource
Groups

Goal of Employee Involvement
§  The explicit goal of all
involvement activities is to
improve productivity, quality,
cost, delivery time, safety and
environment and morale
(PQCDSM) by:
–  Solving speciﬁc problems
–  Reducing hassles
–  Reducing risk
–  Improve team-member
capability

3 Ingredients for Employee Involvement Success
Authority
Employees need
to be given the
authority to
participate in
substantive
decisions
Training or
Experience
Employees need
to have training
or experience
with appropriate
decision-making
skills
Incentives
Incentives to
participate must
be present
1 2 3

How Employee Involvement Improves Decisions
Identify and define
problems better
Usually identify more and
better solutions
More likely to select the
best option
Employee
Involvement

Benefits of Employee Involvement
§  Increased employee productivity
§  Increased plant performance
§  Improved organizational decision-making capability
§  Improved work attitude
§  Improved employee well-being
§  Reduced costs through waste elimination
§  Increased job satisfaction

3 Key Segments of Employee Involvement
Source: Adapted from ‘Kaizen’, Masaaki Imai
Management-
Oriented
Group-
Oriented
Individual-
Oriented

Setting up a 5S Steering Committee facilitates the
implementation of Small-Group Activities at the shopfloor
Leader: Factory manager
Production Level
Leader: Division manager
Implementation
Level
ILLUSTRATIVE
5S Steering
Committee
Division A
Department C
Team C1
Team C2
Department D
Team D1
Team D2
Department E
Team E1
Team E2
Division B
Department F
Team F1
Team F2
Department G
Team G1
Team G2
Department H
Team H1
Team H2
Evaluation &
Certification
5S Planning
Office
Kaizen
Projects

Planning and
operation
All-at-once activities
Deploying the 5S
activities at specific
workplaces
Kaizen projects
Technical training
Kaizen
announcements and
certification
The 5S Implementation Plan defines a roadmap for step-
by-step employee involvement activities
ILLUSTRATIVE
Promotional meetingsEducation
Basicplanning
Setting up of 5S Steering
Committee and Sub-committees
Planningreview
PR Posters calling for participation Monthly themes
Selecting 5S pilots
StartReleasing 5S manuals for 5S activities
Pilot #1
Pilot #2
Company-wide rollout
Step-by-step rollout
(Step 1,
Step 2,
Step 3, etc.)
Announcements as appropriate
Kaizen technology and
maintenance technology
Initial training Follow-up training
5S audits and certification inspections

Involvement of Management and Workgroups in fuguai
tagging during “Initial Cleaning” illustrates the
importance of TPM to the company
During initial cleaning Afterwards –
Everyday process
Tag is removed only after the
repair is made

The Compliance Pyramid establishes a structure for
Standard Work and facilitates employee involvement
Make it the only way:
§  No alternatives left
Warning:
§  Warns for abnormalities
Showing:
§  One-point-lesson
§  Visual information
Reading:
§  Manuals
§  Procedures
§  instructions
Fail-safe
Visual
control tools
Visual
aids
Procedures, Instructions
and Manuals
The Compliance Pyramid

A Culture of Continuous Improvement is a result of
effective employee involvement at all levels
Materials
and parts
MeasurementsPeopleMethodsMachines
(equipment)
Feed in
materials
Ship to customers
Standard
Sloppy work = defective,
off-standard products
That’s not what
they ordered!
Customer
request
Different
product
Control Points
Elements for Building Quality into Products

Kaizen Circle Roles & Responsibilities
Role Responsibilities
Circle Member
Attends meetings. Contribute ideas. Choose and analyze problem.
Recommend and implement solutions. Make presentations.
Facilitator
Attend training. Guide team members through problem-solving process.
Attend circle meetings. Complete and submit KCA meeting records.
Advisor
Attend training. Provide technical and administrative advice as required.
Attend circle meetings. Help coordinate presentations to management.
Circle Trainer
Develop and conduct training. Attend circle meetings if requested. Provide
problem-solving training if requested. Collect meeting records and report to
management.
Manager
Encourage circle formation and involvement. Periodically check circle
progress and offers suggestions. Approve recommendations. Attend
presentations.

3 Essential Factors of Bottom-up Activity
§  Education and
training
activities
§  Learning about
the principles
and rules
§  Learning
through
practice (OJT)
§  Top management policy
§  Participation of senior
executives
§  Administrative targets
§  Competition between
departments
Motivation
Compelling
Force
Skills
Development
Bottom-up
Activity§  Understanding
the purpose
§  Reward system
§  Evaluation
system
§  Information
from outside
Source: Kaizen Teian 1

Involving Employees to generate quantity of ideas
“The only way to have a
good idea is to have a
lot of ideas.”
Winston Churchill

The Suggestions Cycle
Encouraging
People to
Participate
Improvement
Proposals
Review,
Evaluation &
Guidance
Awards &
Recognition
Source: Kaizen Teian 1 - Developing
Systems for Continuous Improvement
Through Employee Suggestions

Hoshin Planning Model helps to align Employee
Involvement activities to the organization’s vision
Source: Yoji Akao, 1991
q  Vision
q  Objectives
q  Strategy
q  Resources
q  Action
q  Schedule Measures
Hoshin
Plan
Senior
Management
Implementation
Teams
Middle
Management

Hoshin Planning at 3 Different Levels
•  Vision
•  Mission
•  Shared Values
Management by
Principles
•  Objectives Setting
•  Target-means Deployment
Management by
Priorities
•  Network of Inter-related Projects
•  Cross-functional Management
Management by
Projects

Employee Involvement: The Heart of Lean Production

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