Een paar opvallende passages:
“All the training in the world will come to nothing unless senior management displays a strong commitment. If you demonstrate the right commitment, I’ll provide your people with the training they need.”
A professor from a German university came to our plant one time to learn about the kanban system. He started off by asking me about the purpose of kanban. I replied that the kanban was a tool for tapping people’s potential by fostering a creative tension in the workplace. “I had always heard that kanban were for reducing inventories,” he replied, “but your answer makes more sense.”
Any tool or method will work if people are motivated. And no tool or method will work if people are not motivated.
“Aren’t you guys convinced that the way you’re doing things is the right way? That’s no way to get anything done. Kaizen is about changing the way things are. If you assume that things are all right the way they are, you can’t do kaizen. So change something!
“When you go out into the workplace, you should be looking for things that you can do for your people there. You’ve got no business in the workplace if you’re just there to be there. You’ve got to be looking for changes you can make for the benefit of the people who are working there.”
“As much as possible, get the opinions of the people who are actually doing the work. Wisdom is born from the ideas of novices. The veterans will spout off about what’s possible and what’s not possible on the basis of their experience and a tiny bit of knowledge. And when the veterans speak, everyone else keeps quiet. So kaizen can’t even get started.”
“What’s the big hurry? Mistakes happen when people are rushing back and forth like that. You’re making a huge mistake if you think that a lot of running around means that people are doing a good job. You’ve got to arrange things so that people can get their work done more easily.”
Lees meer: The brith of Lean