The Role of Front-Line Ideas in Lean Performance Improvement

Alan G. Robinson and Dean M Schroeder, ASQ Quality Management Journal, Volume 16, Number 4, 2009

A great many Lean initiatives have fallen short of what is possible, because they have failed to incorporate a critical component needed for success – a high-performing idea system. Without such a system, a company could be ignoring as much as 80 percent of its improvement potential.

High-performing idea systems — which the authors define as those that implement 12 or more ideas per employee per year — were found to be a major factor in successful Lean initiatives for three reasons: (1) they create a “lean culture” of daily improvement, (2) they address improvement opportunities that are difficult for managers to spot and (3) they promote rapid organizational learning.

• Principles Distinguishing a High-Performance Idea System
• High-Performance Idea Systems and Lean Performance Improvement
• Why High-Performing Idea Systems are So Rare