Recently, I was asked to guest post by fellow Lean blogger and Friend of TheKaiZone, Eric Raio, on his Factory Solutions blog.  Eric posed the following question to six of the world’s foremost Lean authors and thought leaders . . . and me, too:

What is one low-hanging fruit you can solve with kaizen?

You can find my thoughts below, and for the article in its entirety, be sure to check out Eric’s site at Factorysolutions.com.

Kaizen: Beware the Low-Hanging Fruit

Almost all new kaizen programs begin with the search for the proverbial low-hanging fruit, and understandably so.  It just makes sense that we start by reaping the biggest reward for the least amount of effort, doesn’t it?  Perhaps not.  While the low-hanging fruit might seem enticing, caution must be exercised not to become dependent on the high-reward, low-effort model of improvement.  Allow me to explain. [Read more…]