Also available as Video Podcast #11, Episode #95 of the LeanBlog Podcast features Norman Bodek talking about some of the ideas in his most recent book, How to do Kaizen: A new path to innovation – Empowering everyone to be a problem solver. Late in the podcast, Norman asks and answers an interesting question: what if an employee suggests “we should blow up the factory”??
This was recorded in March 2010, with Norman appearing from his office in Vancouver, WA.
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Mark:
Re. the employee who wanted to blow up the factory, and knowing your dedication to the work of Dr. Deming, here’s a Deming quote I just stumbled across in my archive. Maybe Norman Bodek had run into the shade of Dr. Deming:
“Patchwork will not do it, problem solving will not do it, demolish!” (citation below).
Kind of brings us around to the question asked by Deming and Ackoff that you cited recenty (8/19 leanblog) – how would your rebuild if your factory were destroyed tomorrow? That’s what the employee suggestion Norman Bodek heard might really be asking for – demolish this broken system and then let’s get it right!
-W. E. Deming, unpublished speech at Ford World Headquarters, Dearborn, Michigan, October 1985. As quoted in: Roger Slater, 1991. Integrated Process Management, p. 103. McGraw Hill, Inc. New York.