THE Northern Echo and BKR Haines Watts have teamed up to give world-class manufacturing advice to companies in the Tees Valley.

This week Paul Bell, of BKR Haines Watts, looks at the concept of continuos improvement versus radical change.

Continuous Improvement, or Kaizen, has been used as the principal improvement technique in Japanese companies for several decades.

Their belief is that it is usually easier to make a series of manageable small steps, rather than a single, great big, leap upwards.

Radical Change, or Kaikaku, is making quantum change for big and rapid results.

Which technique is best and when?

If this is one your first improvement initiatives, I would recommend using a team-based Kaizen approach to areas such as workplace layout and housekeeping.

This usually gives a win-win result, with the workforce enjoying more pleasant conditions and the business efficiency improving in leaps and bounds.

Once people are on board with change and willing to support further improvements it makes sense to tackle one or more radical change projects, although these need to be more carefully selected and controlled.

Follow this up with a number of Kaizen initiatives to involve most of the workforce, and watch the profits stack up.

Top Tip: Share the successes with the workforce, using anything from praise to celebratory events or shared bonuses, and you will quickly develop a culture of continuous improvement.

lPaul Bell is the Manufacturing and Business Improvement Manager for BKR Haines Watts in Darlington, working with local companies to improve their performance and profitability.

He can be contacted on Darlington (01325) 254700