New Shop Floor Management

Empowering People for Continuous Improvement

Kiyoshi Suzaki

• Publisher: Free Press
• Year: 1993
• Print ISBN:
  9781451624243
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439107089
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Industrial Management
• Index: Business

In this first comprehensive departure from the time-and-motion dictums of Frederick Taylor's Shop Management that have influenced management practices for most of this century, Kiyoshi Suzaki offers a framework for successfully conducting business at its most crucial point-the shop floor. Drawing on the principles of holistic management, where organizational boundaries are smashed and co-destiny is created, Suzaki demonstrates how modern shop floor management techniques -- focusing maximum energy on the front line -- can lead to dramatic improvements in productivity and valueadded-to-services.
The role of management today, Suzaki argues, is to eliminate its own responsibilities by thinking of the organization from the genba, or shop floor, point of view. In this challenge, Suzaki claims, organizations need to collect the wisdom of people by practicing "Glass Wall Management," where organizations become transparent, enabling employees to contribute maximum creativity as opposed to blocking their potential with what he calls "Brick Wall Management." Further, to empower individuals to selfmanage their work and satisfy their customers, Suzaki asserts that they all should learn to manage their own "mini-company," where everybody is considered president of his or her area of responsibility.
Front-line supervisors, Suzaki shows, must develop a mission and goals and share them both up and downstream. He cites examples of the "shop floor point of view" -- McDonald's Corporation's legal staff learning how to sell hamburgers and fix milkshake machines; Honda's human resource staff training on the assembly line -- that narrow the gap between top management and the shop floor. By upgrading people's skills, focusing on empowerment, and streamlining processes, Suzaki illustrates that an organization will realize concrete improvements in quality, cost, delivery, safety, morale, and ultimately, its competitive position.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• INTRODUCTION RETHINKING OUR SHOP FLOOR
• Chapter One DEVELOPING A VISION OF SHOPFLOOR EXCELLENCE
• Chapter Two DEVELOPING A CUSTOMER ORIENTED ORGANIZATION
• Chapter Three ESTABLISHING A COMPANYWITHIN A COMPANY
• Chapter Four INVOLVING EVERYBODY IN THEPROCESS OF CONTINUOUSIMPROVEMENT
• Chapter Five UPGRADING EVERYBODY’S SKILLS
• Chapter Six ACQUIRINGPROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
• Chapter Seven PRACTICINGPROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
• Chapter Eight LEADING PEOPLE FORCONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
• Chapter Nine MANAGING SHOP FLOOR IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITIES
• Chapter Ten TYING SHOP FLOORMANAGEMENT TO THE TOTALCOMPANY BUSINESS
• Chapter Eleven LOOKING AT OURSELVES IN THE MIRROR
• Chapter Twelve WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
• EMPLOYEE SURVEY
• CUSTOMER SURVEY
• CHECKLIST FOR SUPERVISOR’S ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• DEVELOPING A MISSION STATEMENT
• CHECKLIST FOR ASSURING THEBASICS OF JUST IN TIMEPRODUCTION
• BASICS OF STANDARD OPERATINGPROCEDURE SOP
• JOB TRAINING
• ELIMINATING HUMAN ERRORS
• PROBLEM SOLVING TOOLS
• CHECKLISTFOR IDEA GENERATION
• Appendix 7 1ADVICEON SUGGESTION PROGRAM
• Appendix 7 2 BUILDING AN EFFECTIVE TEAM
• CHECKLIST TO EVALUATE THEKEY STEPS OF TEAM ORIENTEDPROBLEM SOLVING
• CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTSTUDY GROUP ACTIVITIES
• EFFECTIVE USE OF VISUAL AIDS
• SUPERVISOR’S DAILY WEEKLY MONTHLY AND YEARLY ACTIVITIES
• SHOP FLOOR TOUR CHECKLIST
• VOICES OF PEOPLE WHO AREENGAGED IN THE NEWSHOP FLOOR MANAGEMENT
• EPILOGUE WITHSTANDING THE RAIN
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INDEX