Innovating Lean Six Sigma: A Strategic Guide to Deploying the World's Most Effective Business Improvement Process

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Linking Top to Bottom: Using Hoshin Planning for Strategy Deployment

WITH CHUCK COX

Years ago, an auto assembly plant was trying to “go green.” In addition to using a variety of Lean Six Sigma methods to make improvements, they used a technique known as Hoshin Planning to communicate priorities throughout the entire plant. Was it successful? You be the judge.

We asked a forklift operator at this plant why he occasionally stopped at the assembly stations to check on whether empty cardboard boxes were protected from contamination (from waste paper, dirty cloth wipes, and the like). He said, “If we can reduce contamination, the plant makes more ...