2. Building Capability
Building capability is a process of learning from experience. What have industry leading organisations learned that delivers higher levels of performance? How can other organisations identify the gaps in their own capability and dealt with?
Most organisations recognise the importance of investing in foundation training in improvement tools for their personnel. The award winning organisations where those who were able to apply the lessons learned to develop capabilities in 3 areas as set out in the table below.
Capability Area |
Competence developed to release the Hidden Factory |
Impact on business performance |
Product/Technical |
Knowledge and management of Reliability and Safety cause/effect mechanisms to improve ease of manufacture |
Lower costs, increased precision and reduced defect levels |
Process/Operational |
Best practice development to improve flow, ease of operation and ease of maintenance. |
Less management intervention, improved productivity and delivery performance |
Management/Culture |
Use of visual management and management standard work to make waste visible and systematically improve complex or incomplete management processes requiring high levels of coordination. |
Increased pace of improvement, more intensive use of space, labour/skills and capital. |
A key characteristic of releasing the hidden factory the evolution in the role of first line managers from the classic supervisory fire fighting role to one of problem prevention and team team development. This change of emphasis is pivotal to releasing the hidden factory and is the litmus test of progress and pace of change.