The new shop floor management: empowering people for continuous improvement

"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 ... 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 'hop 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."