Ideas - The Starting Point

Ideas are the starting point for continuous improvement.

So, where do ideas come from? My belief is that everyone has ideas. My experience has shown that 98% of employees can clearly state an idea they have for improving the workplace if you hand them an idea form and explain what an idea is.

So, what is an idea? An idea is something that improves Safety, Quality, Delivery or Cost (SQDC) - the four measures of value. If it doesn't improve one or more of SQDC, it is not an idea. This is a point that many supervisors and managers miss. They will call it a "stupid" idea which will be the last idea you ever get from that person. By keeping people focused on things that add value, you will eliminate many wasted hours chasing personal preferences that can be disguised as ideas - like "Can we paint the ceiling pink?"

Can you run out of ideas? After implementing over 1500 ideas in a 6 year period, one organization thought they may have run out of ideas. You may be thinking to yourself - that organization must have been a mess at the start; the truth is that they were one of the most profitable divisions in the company. And, after going through a simple training on the plant's idea system 96 new ideas were generated in less than 24 hours. Please note, not all ideas can be million dollar savings. A simple 1 minute saving per day can add up quickly to an hour in a 12 week period. You should do the math to see the impact if every employee in your organization saved 1 minute a day and translate that to dollars using an average pay scale.

How much money should be spent on ideas? Most ideas are free. I have been amazed at what employees can make out of scrap materials found in the factory. I have found that a modest budget of about $50 per month for a team of 8-10 people can go a long ways. The point here is, go for the low cost/no cost ideas first. If an idea doesn't cost anything and it adds value, then the payback is immediate. Typically, $50 falls way below the capital spending budget process and can be quickly accessed within a manager's budget. Of course ideas will come up that cost more than $50, so I recommend you have some form of cost justification process to analyze these ideas. The challenge is to look for the free ideas first.

There are many more points to make about a successful idea system which I will post in the next week. Feel free to post comments or questions that may help improve an idea system.