Oct 4 2017
Boeing borrows a tech tradition to build airplanes more efficiently | Todd Bishop | GeekWire
Speaking at the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Kevin McAllister described the company’s use of hackathons to find efficiencies in the process of building airplanes: “We’ve launched some new things that are a little different to our normal Boeing culture, like hackathons, which we borrowed from Microsoft and many others,” McAllister said, explaining that the hackathons “take data scientists and partner them with mechanics on the floor, to find great ideas that we can solve in days, in small investments that help make the workforce and the workflow better.”
Sourced through GeekWire
Michel Baudin‘s comments: Thanks to my colleague Kevin Hop for drawing my attention to this story. From the description, these “hackathons” look like Kaizen Events with data scientists in the team. On the one hand, it seems like a way to make IT a participant in the improvement process instead of the obstacle it has been in the past; on the other hand, it also appears to retain the critical short-termism of Kaizen Events. I assume this is not the last we hear of this.
#Hackathon, “KaizenEvent, #KaizenBlitz, #Kaizen, #Boeing
Dec 23 2018
Kaizen and Improvements That Last
One reader recently asked the Gemba Coach “Our teams have good results with kaizen, but nothing seems to stick for long – any advice?” This begs the question of what you call “good results that don’t stick.” Successfully completing a Kaizen project means reducing a new work method to daily practice. A compelling demo in a management presentation is not the end. Claiming good results on this basis is like declaring victory after running a quarter of the race. By definition, if it doesn’t stick, it’s not a good result! If it happens systematically, then your whole Kaizen activity is a failure.
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By Michel Baudin • Blog reviews • 8 • Tags: Kaizen, Kaizen Event, Kaizen Promotion Office, Lean