There is Always Room for Improvement – due to Applied Shopfloor Management and High Leadership Skills.

Yes, more is always possible and, of course, expected. Developments are moving forward quickly, while change and innovation are taking place everywhere. Companies have no choice but to constantly develop and improve.

Even though many companies have recognised the need for “continuously improving,” transformation and improvement processes are often only to be found in abstract strategy papers. Despite goodwill and enormous effort, concrete results and changes fail to materialise in practice. Shopfloor Management* provides a more effective approach and an integral management tool to achieve continuous improvement at the place of value creation.

Visualisation, communication, problem solving:

Are the three pillars of Shopfloor Management, whose joint effect leads to sustainable improvements.

Visualisation and transparency: The focus is on process understanding by means of visually depicted key performance indicators showing the “actual” and the “target” state at a glance. Any discrepancy between actual figures and target figures shows where action is needed and creates transparency with respect to a company’s objectives regarding costs, quality and time.

Communication and cooperation: Shopfloor Management is intended to recreate a closer connection between managers and their employees on site, and consequently keeps them up to date. Furthermore, such communication routine is intended to contribute to an open-minded error culture as mistakes are the basis for further improvements. To this end, communication is standardised and the conduct of a Shopfloor Management conversation precisely defined.

Problem solving and process improvement: Here, a problem solving cycle is practised. Such a cycle is systematic, simple and target-oriented, and comprises amongst other things recurrent steps such as “understanding a given situation,” “developing and testing countermeasures,” “analysing results,” ”defining standards” and “comparison of target and actual figures.”

Comprehensibility and straightforwardness, good communication, the presence of managers and executives as well as individual responsibility at grass-roots level are aspects of particular importance for implementing Shopfloor Management. As soon as this is provided, deviations and disruptive factors can be detected with minimum effort, decisions can be taken quickly and solutions can be immediately implemented.

Shopfloor Management requires structure, discipline and daily work, but it ensures success due to its fast adaptability and rewards with a corporate culture of efficient interaction. As usual, we will soon describe such application-oriented HR management approach to changing and developing leadership skills in a best practice example.

* Shopfloor Management is used as a management tool in manufacturing processes, since in the past, possible improvements were primarily expected in production processes. Meanwhile, one can see the potential for improvement also in administration and for project activities. Consequently, further adaptations such as Officefloor Management and Engineeringfloor Management have meanwhile come into existence.