Padding factory performance has become a best practice at one company I visited recently. As I walked the floor with the site manager, I was impressed by the level of improvement activity I saw.

“We’ve been at this for about eight years,” said the site manager. “But it’s only in last couple years that we’ve been able to devote the time that’s needed to make a real difference.”

“What changed?” I asked.

“Two years ago we began rotating shop-floor employees through our Lean Program Office to assist our overworked LPO staff,” he explained. “This has had multiple benefits. First, we have more resources; second, those resources have direct shop-floor experience and credibility; and third, we’ve discovered this is an excellent way to develop employees. Our participation rate on the floor has skyrocketed from about 5 percent to 65 percent and continues to climb.”

Pointing to a productivity measure—103 percent of goal—posted on a board at the factory entrance, I noted, “It appears you’re hitting all your plant targets as well.”

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