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The Right Metrics For Ergonomics: Industrial Engineer
The Right Metrics For Ergonomics: Industrial Engineer
THE RIGHT
METRICS FOR
ERGONOMICS
Table of Contents
March 2016 | Volume 48 | Number 3 | www.iienet.org/IEmagazine
Cover Story
Features
28
33
perspectives
18 | Performance
Some unintended messages shouldnt be sent
Value
customer
38
20 | Management
Gauging your spirit of entrepreneurship
22 | Health Systems
Hoshin kanri for a professional society?
24 | Innovation
44
26 | Member Forum
cost
the institute
58 | New name for an evolving era
59 | ISEs and Disneyland: A perfect ft
60 | SHS has new president-elect, board directors
60 | Journey to the Far East
61 | In ergonomics, experience counts
62 | The saving grace of a true network
63 | UPS likes fruits of its generosity
63 | Abstract deadline nears
60
12
4
in every issue
6 | Editors Desk
10 | Trending at IIE
50 | Case Study
52 | Research
56 | Tools & Technologies
64 | Careers
66 | Final Five
editors desk
To reach me,
email mhughes@iienet.org
or call (770) 349-1110.
Intro to IE in Healthcare
June 13-14 | Norcross, GA
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March 2016 | Industrial Engineer
Industrial Engineer
Executive Editor
Art Director
Monica Elliott
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(770) 449-0461, ext. 116
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(770) 449-0461
Managing Editor
Director of Multimedia
Advertising Sales
Michael Hughes
mhughes@iienet.org
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Hope Teague
hteague@iienet.org
(770) 349-1127
Exhibit Sales
Ashlyn Kirk
akirk@iienet.org
(770) 449-0461, ext. 119
Dolores Ridout
ridout3@airmail.net
(281) 762-9546
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
President
VP of Student Development
Secretary
Christopher Geiger,
Universal Orlando Resort
Ariela Sofer,
George Mason University
Senior VP,
Continuing Education
Senior VP,
Technical Operations
Don Greene,
Institute of Industrial Engineers
POINTS OF CONTACT
Institute of Industrial Engineers
Chapters, Societies
and Divisions
Corporate Partnerships
and Strategic Alliances
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Annual Conference
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and Corporate Training
Operations
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dcalvert@iienet.org
Publications
Ext. 102
cs@iienet.org
Website
Ashlyn Kirk, ext. 119
akirk@iienet.org
(ISSN 1542-894X) is published monthly. Copyright 2016 Institute of Industrial Engineers. Established 1969. Subscriptions for members included in annual dues, not deductible. Single copy $17.50. USA
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We treat all communications as letters to the editor unless otherwise instructed. This publication is designed to provide accurate information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is provided and disseminated with the
understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Content:
Publication does not constitute endorsement of any product or material, nor does IIE necessarily agree with the statements or opinions advanced at its meetings or printed in its publications. This magazine acts as a
moderator, without approving, disapproving, or guaranteeing the validity or accuracy of any data, claim, or opinion appearing under a byline or obtained or quoted from an acknowledged source. All issues of
Industrial Engineer are available on microfilm or photocopy from University Microfilms, 300 Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Copies of articles in
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BECOME AN IIE
CORPORATE PARTNER
Our partnership
with IIE is not only
a good match and
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but its the right
thing to do to stay
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- Majid Abab, Industrial
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WWW.IIENET.ORG
Trending @iie
The results are in from the IIE name change vote, and the membership has decided that the Institute
of Industrial Engineers will become the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers. The change will
be offcial in April, but members of the LinkedIn group are already sharing their thoughts. Facebook
group members weighed in on the most important qualities for industrial engineers to have based on
the December 2015 update of the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
LinkedIn posts
Brady Beckham
Owner/industrial engineer, REAL Systems
10
Diane Powers
Project engineer, Abbott
Facebook posts
I a uary, IIE Membership Admi istrator Elai e Schwartz posted
a tem about the rece tly updated U.S. Departme t of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook, which cited that the most importa t
qualities of IEs are critical thi ki g, liste i g, math, problem-solvi g,
speaki g a d writi g skills, as well as creativity. What skills would
you add to the list?
Correction
In the February cover story Unconstraining a Doctors Offce, the colors in the Figure 1 diagram on Page 30 are incorrect compared to the text in the article. The colors in the
second and third columns should have been yellow and red,
respectively. The scheduling buffers frst day is the red region,
the second day (tomorrow) is the yellow region and the third
day (day after tomorrow) is the green region.
11
12
Prime Number
Falling down at work
Falls are among the most common causes of serious work-related
injuries and deaths. OSHA recently announced the preliminary
top 10 most frequently cited workplace safety violations for
fscal year 2015 and fall protection ranks as its top violation with
6,721 citations for the year. According to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, fatalities from falls, slips and trips increased 10 percent
to 793 in 2014 from 724 in 2013. Transportation and material
moving occupations accounted for the largest share (28 percent)
of fatal occupational injuries of any occupation group.
13
the
thefront
frontline
line
U.S. businesses spend more than a billion dollars a week on disabling workplace injuries, according to the 2016 Liberty Mutual
Workplace Safety Index. The index annually ranks the top 10 causes of serious, nonfatal workplace injuries and their direct
costs.
Reprinted with permission of Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, 2016
14
Book
of the
Month
Conrad Tucker grabs a virtual building block that exhibits similar physical real-world
properties such as gravity, color, rigidity, etc.
teractions, which involve communicating concepts and ideas, students will use
the virtual reality environment to create and augment how those concepts are
communicated, Tucker said.
Researchers plan to compare the ef-
15
the
thefront
frontline
line
site to see
Queensland University of Technology has launched a free and courseready virtual classroom designed for engineering lecturers and their students.
The cloud-based Energy Effciency Education Resources for Engineering was developed by a national team led by Queenslands Cheryl
Desha, with involvement from the schools science and engineering
faculty and educators from the University of Adelaide, University of
Wollongong, Victoria University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, according to the Australian news site Engineers Australia.
The available tools equip engineering students with ways to conduct
energy effciency assessments and improve energy performance across
major sectors of the Australian economy.
The package, available at bit.ly/1Sge4Cq, includes 10 videos, lecture
and tutorial notes, two deep-dive case studies and a virtual experience
3-D model through a commercial building.
The resources can be spliced into existing lecture material, while the virtual reality components let students navigate
worksites and conduct energy effciency assessments from their home, offce or classroom.
Quote, unquote
Robotics for agriculture
Driverless tractors are in the early stages of commercialization, and up to this point have
been in the prototype stage. With that said, we expect that the next few years will be a time
of signifcant growth for this category, with approximately 500 unit shipments in 2016
marking the beginning of true commercialization about 1,600 units in 2017, and more
than 4,100 in 2018.
Clint Wheelock, Tractica managing director, quoted Jan. 21 on the EnterpriseTech website about a
report on how robotics is leading to driverless tractors, drone crop dusters and automated milking
Dilbert
16
2015 Scott Adams. Used by permission of UNIVERSAL UCLICK. All rights reserved.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Brian Betts
Vice President of Operations Planning and Insights
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
Phil Kaminsky
Professor and Chair of Industrial Engineering and
Operations Research
University of California, Berkeley
Jack B. ReVelle
Consulting Statistician
ReVelle Solutions LLC
www.iienet.org/Annual
March 2016 | Industrial Engineer
17
performance
18
By Kevin McManus
pany on a daily basis. Like my brother,
her contributions went well beyond time
served signifcant emotional and quality of life sacrifces had been made. She
was respected by myriad suppliers and
teams she had helped over the years, just
as my brothers congregation respected
him. What unintended messages were
sent internally and externally to stakeholders by forcing these people out?
One of my closest business friends was
victim No. 3. He gave so much to his
company in terms of travel time away
19
management
20
By Paul Engle
Two entrepreneurs started small,
fne-tuning their products, services and
business processes until they achieved
success at a single location. Once the
concept proved fnancially viable, the
enterprises rolled out cookie-cutter copies in new geographies.
Risk was effectively managed because
they made their mistakes early at a single
location, where course corrections were
easy.
All expressed frustration at the slow
21
health systems
Like any worthwhile enterprise, IIEs Then, for the strategies, I listed what time-bound. We had developed goals by
Society for Health Systems (SHS) regu- SHS previously called objectives: Grow committee and tied them to the mission,
larly updates its vision, mission and stra- engaged members; ensure visibility and strategies and objectives.
tegic plan. The last revision took place in recognition of the profession and the
For example, one of the goals for the
2012, so this year the SHS board arrived society beyond SHS; align and collabo- Academic and Student Committee was
at Februarys Healthcare Systems Process rate with IIE strategy; build leadership; to present at IIE's student chapter and reImprovement Conference a day early to and host the annual Healthcare Systems gional conferences, and the Content and
revisit the plan and align it with market Process Improvement Conference, spon- Connections Committee aimed to deneeds.
sored by SHS.
velop a marketing and social media plan
A lot of advance planning ensures
Next, objectives, which SHS previ- for SHS, including a monthly newsletthat we spend our limited time together ously called operational defnitions, were ter. The Conference Committee was to
wisely, and my successor as SHS presi- outlined: Manage and build membership keep conference attendance at more than
dent, Joyce Siegele, started preparations and member benefts; make SHS the rec- 300 people. The Education Committee
in September. One technique, hoshin ognized point of contact for IE/systems was to provide at least nine webinars, six
kanri, comes straight from the lean tool- engineering in healthcare by organiza- for members and three to promote the
box. This strategy and policy deconference. The Membership Recployment tool aligns a companys
ognition Committee was to update
mission, strategies, objectives, goals
and document the diplomate proHoshin
kanri
helped
me
identify
and action items. The technique
cess. And the Young/Early Career
cascades the mission and strategy
Professionals Committee was to
opportunities for the board.
by converting it into specifc objecbuild the basic infrastructure needtives, goals and tactics.
ed to support the societys Young
Typically, senior management sets the tions that drive healthcare policy; have Professionals group.
mission and strategy, which are convert- SHS recognized as the expert resource
The fnal phase of hoshin kanri would
ed into objectives and goals for middle in key areas of performance improve- be to convert these goals into specifc
management. Finally, the objectives and ment; present shared (SHS and IIE) we- team actions. This work was done by the
goals are converted to specifc action binars and seminars; provide leadership committee members SHS equivalent
items for the front-line staff. I decided to opportunities for participation in SHS of front-line staff. Translating SHS vitry out this effective business tool with committees and board positions; provide sion, mission, objectives and goals into
SHS.
leadership opportunities for participation the hoshin kanri framework was useful,
Since SHS didnt use the hoshin kanri in formal and informal leadership roles informative and really helped prepare the
framework at the 2012 retreat, it was a in the healthcare industry; and through board for its face-to-face strategic planlittle diffcult to retroft SHSs mission, a successful conference grow engaged ning session.
strategies, objectives, goals and tactics. members, build leadership and ensure
Nevertheless, the hoshin kanri exercise visibility and recognition of the society.
Ama da Mewbor s a dustrial e gi eer,
helped me identify opportunities for the
The next cascade is for goals. I realized registere urse a d lea lack belt who works
board.
that the goals we had established were as executive director for project ma ageme t at
For the hoshin kanri framework, I not SMART, which stands for specifc, Piedmo t Healthcare. She ca e reached at
broke the mission into three statements. measurable, achievable, realistic and ama da.mewbor @piedmo .org.
22
PRINCIPLES IN PATIENT
FLOW AND THROUGHPUT
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VISIT WWW.IIETRAININGCENTER.ORG.
March 2016 | Industrial Engineer
23
innovation
24
By Nabil Nasr
mestic product, doubling its share in
least developed countries.
Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, particularly in developing countries, to
fnancial services, including affordable credit, and integrate them into
value chains and markets.
Upgrade infrastructure and retroft
industries to make them sustainable,
increasing the effciency of resource
Industry is an indispensable
driver of economic and
social progress.
use and the adoption of clean and
environmentally sound technologies
and industrial processes.
Enhance scientifc research; upgrade
the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries (in
particular developing countries);
encourage innovation; substantially
increase the number of research and
development workers per 1 million
people; and boost public and private
research and development spending.
Likewise, the U.N. also recognizes
that energy production and distribution drives growth and prosperity. The
renewable energy sector presently employs around 2.3 million. Given the
gaps in information, this is no doubt a
conservative fgure. Because of rising
25
member forum
26
By Rajiv Saxena
ters or cross-docks? Do you see more
cushioning material than before? Do
boxes and crates have superfuous air
space? These conditions indicate room
for signifcant dimensional reductions.
Examine the confguration of container and trailer contents upon arrival
and how shipping boxes, crates or pallets are put away. A lot of empty space,
especially at the top, and items stored
in single or double rows or layers sug-
Manufacturing
Healthcare
Logistics and Supply Chains
Government and Nonproft
Service Systems & Retail
Education in Industry
Experiential Games and
Simulations
Lean Six Sigma in the Classroom
Administrative Lean in Academia
Process Improvement
Product and Service Design/
Development
Creating and Sustaining a Lean
Six Sigma Culture
Emerging Topics and the Future
of Lean Six Sigma
27
28
29
FIGURE 11
FIGURE
General data
# of employees on job
$22
$15,000
Cost factors
Costs
Equipment purchase
$1,400
Level of increase
Installation costs
$100
Training costs
$50
Recurring costs
Mark 'x'
Other costs
Type of Solution
$1,550
Mark 'x'
$6,000
Productivity calculation
$4,400
Comments:
Absenteeism/employee turnover
Other factors
Total savings from solution
5.71
0.15
30
highly visible activities within the process, staff members recognize the importance of their roles in ergonomics. The management team also gets a close-up look at how ergonomics
affects the staff members and their well-being. This provides
positive reinforcement to management as well as other staffers,
along with providing potential metrics to hold management
accountable for its level of engagement.
Short-term metrics
As mentioned above, short-term metrics should be designed
to implement key ergonomics activities effectively. You need
to trust that the ergonomics process will achieve the intended
outcomes if management, ergonomics team members, and
Long-term metrics
Long-term metrics focus on downstream outcomes that add
value to the company. Management team members want to
31
see the return that they are receiving for their efforts and resources allocated over the long term.
Are we avoiding employee injuries so our people are present
and productive at work? Are we implementing ergonomics solutions that signifcantly reduce risk and increase productivity?
The long-term metrics, which have a time frame longer than
three years, capture the operational impact of the ergonomics
process on the business.
Typical long-term metrics for ergonomics processes include:
32
Operational metrics can drive positive trends in an organization if management selects and uses the right measures to
monitor the ergonomics implementation process and intervene to keep the process on track.
Upstream short-term metrics provide a window of opportunity to identify obstacles early in the process. Downstream
long-term metrics gauge performance and enable the management team to take a broader view of the ergonomics process
and its impact on the organization.
Metrics empower organizations to evaluate and continuously improve performance of management processes, including ergonomics. Enlightened management teams use positive
results from the short-term and long-term metrics to motivate
their staff to reach new heights. Effective use of metrics can
change your organization.
Jack Kester is the director of solutio evelopme t for Creative Risk Solutio s LLC, where he works with corporate clie ts o afety, ergo omics a d i jury ma ageme t projects. Kester has served as the regulatory
complia ce ma ager at Argo e Natio al Laboratory a d leader of the
global workplace productivity a d ergo omics practice for Marsh Risk
Co sulti g. He has spoke t major risk ma ageme t a d ergo omics co fere ces that i clude the Applied Ergo omics Co fere ce, the
Natio al Ergo omics Co fere ce a d Expo a d the America ociety
of Safety E gi eers Professio al Developme t Co fere ce. Kester has
a B.S. i ccupatio al safety from Illi ois State U iversity a d has
ear ed the professio al desig atio s of certifed safety professio al a d
certifed i dustrial ergo omist.
33
Three tiers
to LSS improvement
While many might view lean Six Sigma as a process toolkit ripe primarily
for the manufacturing industry, practitioners sometimes fall victim to the
defne-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) framework. This strict
adherence to process alone shrinks the
scope of its impact as well as the fexibility of the tools methods. In large organizations, this can be fatal.
Military leadership recognized this
and attacked the seemingly singular
LogIT capability challenge by dividing
its application into three areas of impact
within the value stream of delivering
services to warfghters: LogIT capability
development strategy, LogIT operations
in place to enable the delivery of LogIT
support, and the actual logistics technology used to deliver the service within
the LogIT portfolio.
Strategy was evaluated from the
standpoint of macro-level LogIT capability development within the branch,
external to LogIT. What are the inputs,
outputs and communication protocols
for ensuring knowledge transfer? What
drives these decisions? And most importantly do we need this capability or
LogIT system?
As detailed in Figure 1, using root
cause analysis and incorporating the
fve-why method allowed leadership to
take the frst step in recognizing that the
lack of quantitative justifcation for investments in LogIT was but a symptom
of the siloed nature of capability development within the service as a whole,
due to the fact that LogIT lacked policy
direction. The analysis was being executed, frameworks were in place, but
a lack of communication on the part of
program offces stopped the free fow
of information to decision-makers. To
fll this void, the loudest voice in the
room culture won over.
This frst step embodies a fundamental principle in aligning strategy, operations and technology to the DMAIC
framework recognizing the alignment
or misalignment of communications
within your value chain. In many improvement efforts, youll fnd that one of
the biggest issues plaguing organizations
is inept, disjointed communication.
In this case, leadership found that, by
and large, program offces had the data
needed to assess systems and develop
greater capabilities, albeit this spanned
some 300-plus data systems, applica-
FIGURE
FIGURE 11
34
FIGURE 21
FIGURE
Delivering service
Operations are the crux of service delivery and the wheelhouse of lean Six
Sigma application. However, this service area represents one of the largest
and most complex military entities in
the world. Transforming the departments business operations and aligning
its strategy, controls, people, processes
and technology to affect this transformation is an enormous challenge.
To augment the effectiveness of lean
Six Sigma principles, leadership leveraged custom process simulation software. This enabled leadership to assess
35
longtime patrons, a crucial element of it can mean different things to differ- tions be executed? What technology
success, grew frustrated with lackluster ent stakeholders. As the Department of will ensure the realization of strategy
assistance from less-experienced cus- Defense does not produce revenue, the and facilitate successful service delivery
tomer service personnel excellent ser- argument begins at the point of capa- via improved operations?
vice had been a historic hallmark of this bility per dollar spent.
Aligning the levels of an organizaorganizations reputation.
What does that mean? The truth is tion to a custom application of lean Six
In this case, practitioners viewed this that we may never know exactly what Sigma produced considerable results.
organizations challenge strictly as an op- that means.
In regards to identifying, pursuing and
erational endeavor. Had they recognized
However, as capability is an objective assessing new capabilities, the destructhat knowledgeable customer service term to describe value within LogIT, tion of communication silos reduced
operations represented a cornerstone of leadership sought to determine what cycle time by upwards of 60 percent. In
strategy, their lean
streamlining comSix Sigma program
munication between
may have produced a
service entities, duBeing all they can be by using less
more favorable result.
plications of efforts
Logistics information technology isnt the only military function benefting from
To ensure your
were discovered and
the application of lean Six Sigma.
method is the most
adjudicated,
leadAccording
to
the
U.S.
Army
News
Service,
10
Army
organizations
were
fexible
technique
ing to a signifcant
recognized last fall for streamlining their business operations, eliminating
possible, scrap your
reduction in waste.
redundancies and saving millions of dollars via lean Six Sigma practices. The
body of knowledge
This service branch
Army Lean Six Sigma Excellence Awards Program is in its seventh year, and
and think tools.
was able to assess new
the
latest
winners
included
teams
working
on
logistics,
healthcare,
aviation
Yes, you have to decapabilities more rapfne your problem
idly and more effecmaintenance, ergonomics and contract negotiations.
before solving it, but
tively. Whereas prior
Acting Undersecretary of the Army Eric Fanning hosted the Pentagon
recognizing the conacquisition decisions
ceremony.
nection between pilwere executed based
Its not just the cost savings and avoidance that you realize, Fanning said.
lars of organizational
on the functionality
You actually introduce real effciencies for our soldiers, for their families and our
existence (strategy,
of a proposed syscivilians. You make a difference in peoples lives every single day. You make their
operations and techtem alone, decisions
lives easier.
nology) will provide
are now adjudicated
the foundation for
based on a proposed
this discovery. Visualize your highly exactly makes a system valuable to the systems contribution to the capability of
touted, exclusive frameworks as merely end user. As before, leadership leveraged the LogIT portfolio at large.
a collection of your personal toolkit.
the input of warfghters to determine
In our LogIT example, running the wants and needs of LogIT systems. Strategy-operationssimulation software to assess logistics However, this also was built upon to technology
technology support is not found within include elements of quality function de- Operations cannot be executed contrary
the lean Six Sigma body of knowledge. ployment to defne what exactly would to the direction of strategy, just as the
However, the principles offered by the be the most valuable subcriteria to the technology (or tools) used to accomplish
lean framework powered this tool and warfghter.
a mission must ft within operational
offered a more holistic and cost-effecThis allowed the leadership team to workfows.
tive technique. This allowed decision- develop standards to track data within
A great way to ensure that the DMAIC
makers to visualize the improvement the portfolio. Just as importantly, this methodology (or any improvement
wrought by lean Six Sigma application spurred a shift from basing acquisition toolkit) is employed to its greatest efprior to implementation.
decisions on LogIT system capability fectiveness and elasticity is to view chalNow on to the LogIT technology. alone to investing systems based on its lenges through the lenses of strategy,
The primary challenge here was uncer- respective ft within the capability of the operations and technology.
tainty about the LogIT portfolios capa- portfolio at large.
Strategy represents the why, or the
bility and authoritative data sources. If
What was the key here? It was bring- overarching mission of an organization.
youre familiar with Department of De- ing the pillars of your organization full In our military example, this began with
fense acquisition, a very dangerous term circle. Why are we providing this kind developing LogIT capability. What was
is return on investment (ROI) because of LogIT service? How should opera- LogIT providing to warfghters? The
FIGURE 31
FIGURE
Big impact
Viewing the application of lean Six Sigma as a method of integrating strategy, operations and technology will yield the greatest impact.
37
By Paul Odomirok
Value
customer
38
cost
FIGURE 1
The theory
of affordability
Your organization should aim to improve
value, grow your customer base and
reduce costs.
39
FIGURE 2
pillars of value, customer and cost provide the aim as well as focus for the organization to understand what it must
do to improve continually. The pillars
operate at the strategic, operational and
tactical level of every group, team and
individual. The pillars connect the value
of what each individual does with the
purpose of the organization.
The pillars also connect cost to all levels of the organization from the individual to the team to the whole entity. All
columns are pertinent, and all columns
must be addressed with the same level of
importance and relevance.
The platform portion includes the fve
components for achieving operational
and tactical excellence and improvement. The frst level of the foundation,
faster and better, is concentrated on the
quantitative values of systems, processes
and functional performance for delivering products and services that meet
customer expectations, value and cost,
all while conforming to requirements
and complying with standards (product,
market, industry and defacto).
The second level, leadership and
management, connects the strategic
components with the operational aspects
40
A winning formula
Decades of experience has taught that
organizations fail at continuous improvement for various interrelated reasons. Unsuccessful enterprises often lack
an accepted and established aim and true
purpose that touches strategy, operations and tactics. Their continuous improvement programs dont enjoy the full
support of leadership and management.
Or they lack support and motivation in
their employee base, suffer from an absence of tools and resources or have a
limited or even nonexistent plan and
design for success.
This leads us to the formula or equation of affordability:
Affordability = purpose a d visio or
directio d alig me t + i volved leadership
a d ma ageme t + e gaged people +
appropriate tools a d resources + a co cise
pla d desig
41