We are problem solvers. At the bench or on the manufacturing floor, we are constantly faced with challenges and must implement the best solutions possible. Meaningful, practical, and sustainable resolutions incorporate many resources. Our success depends on effective collaboration across those resources. Learning and solving problems together―engineers and technicians, managers and production operators―we can leverage diverse thinking styles and subject-matter expertise. We learn together when we build a discipline of speaking with data and regularly reviewing that data to gauge the success, failure or null impact of our actions. Collaborative learning and evaluation means we develop more quickly into an environment of shared, relentless continuous improvement. This paper shares the methods to structure a work environment for collaborative continuous improvement using data, experience, observation, abstraction and implementation.

Author: Matthew Anderson