The Goldmine

Every company is sitting on a gold mine. Every company has potential that is literally worth its weight in gold. Most of the potential for improvement is known; many have been saying for a long time that this or that needs to be improved. Most of the time this is not associated with large investments, but rather small things in the administration or production process.

Yes, that‘s right. But this tool for improvement ideas, which is usually introduced everywhere by the HR department, often runs dry. Unfortunately, all too often, colleagues who submit ideas find that their ideas are not heard. The awards are usually regulated unsatisfactorily. Sometimes the rewards are so small that it‘s not worth putting ideas on paper. Or the results are simply not that clearly measurable, then they are simply not implemented. But isn‘t it all about the multitude of small improvements? Even approaches that at first glance appear to be incalculable turn out to be “game changers” when combined with other measures.

This isn‘t all new. Why then do ideas for improvement fail in almost all companies? Why is that? Why don’t we simply collect this often large gold nugget and “gild” it? “Digging for gold” is arduous, I admit that. But wouldn‘t it be good to collect the big chunks? Why don‘t you do that?

Because working on these ideas is seen as annoying extra work. The ideas usually end up in Manufacturing Engineering (ME), which is commissioned with testing and, if necessary, implementation. The ME is completely overloaded anyway. There are so many more important things to do, customers shout louder than the employees on the assembly line or possibly the works council, who also like to criticize the lack of implementation. I know this, I‘ve experienced this my whole life.

Yes, but how do we collect the gold? It takes someone who is detached from day-to-day business and who takes care of it “full-time”.