Respect First - Running Kaizen Successfully in a Union Environment

Kaizen Snapshot

Setting: Unionized distillery in Kentucky
Challenge: Excessive changeover time between bottle sizes
Stakes: Many thousands of additional bottles per year
Approach: Gemba walk, union alignment, Kaizen Waiver
Outcome: Constraints removed, continuity protected, team fully engaged
Key Lesson: Respect builds alignment, even in complex environments

The Situation

I’ve been running Kaizen events for more than 30 years in all kinds of environments, union and non-union alike.

While the rules may differ, one thing never does:
people are people, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

During a recent site visit to a distillery in Kentucky, leadership shared their most pressing need: reduce changeover time when switching between bottle sizes.

If we could cut the time in half, the plant would unlock capacity for many thousands of additional bottles each year. The business case was obvious and worth pursuing.

What Was Getting in the Way

The plant was unionized, and two contract constraints surfaced immediately:

• Division of labor: Production, maintenance, and management roles were clearly defined. In a Kaizen event, however, everyone needs to test ideas regardless of title.

• Overtime by seniority: If overtime was required, a more senior employee could replace a team member mid-event, disrupting continuity and momentum.

I knew from experience that if we didn’t address these issues before the event, the team would be constrained and the results would suffer.

What We Did

In similar environments, I’ve used what I call a Kaizen Waiver, a temporary, transparent agreement that allows:

• Any team member to do the work the team needs

• Team continuity if overtime is required

My team leader hadn’t used this approach before, so I suggested we take a Gemba walk and meet directly with union leadership.

That’s when we met Sam, the union vice president.

“We’ve tried this before. What are you going to do that other consultants couldn’t?”

I didn’t deflect the question.

I told him exactly what I planned to do:

• Listen to the team.

• Prioritize improvements that would make the biggest impact on safety, quality, and effort.

Sam’s next concern was one I hear often:

“What happens when you’re gone?”

I explained that if we made the process safer, truly safer, no one would want to go back. And I would rely on both union leadership and plant leadership to hold people accountable to the new standard.

When Sam asked about the contract, I walked him through the Kaizen Waiver and why it was critical to the team’s success.

After thoughtful questions and discussion, he agreed to support the approach.

I asked if he wanted to be on the team. He declined, which was understandable. That would have put him in a difficult position with his membership. But his support was enough.

What Changed

With constraints removed up front, the team was able to:

• Fully engage in testing and implementing improvements

• Maintain continuity throughout the event

• Focus on solving the real problem, not navigating rules

The Kaizen event itself was a success. But more importantly, it was done in a way that respected everyone involved.

The Takeaway

When you explain why you want to work differently, and you do it with respect, alignment is possible.

Union or non-union, Kaizen works best when trust comes first.

Why This Matters

Too many improvement efforts stall because leaders avoid hard conversations or try to work around constraints instead of addressing them directly.

Respect, clarity, and alignment remove friction — and create space for real results.

Ready to Apply This Approach?

If you’re navigating improvement in a complex environment and want results that stick:

Treat People with Respect

I worked for an amazing manager during my time at Dal-Tile in Texas. Wayne treated people with respect, cared for them personally, and was true to his word.

We were working in an extremely difficult situation. Our responsibility was to ensure our manufacturing and mining sites were compliant and safe in all of their activities. Historically, they were minimally compliant. We had an environmental, safety, and health department that was difficult to work with, to say the least. They made our work challenging and we had to establish trust with our manufacturing and mining facilities.

One of our responsibilities was to manage our mining resources and deal with issues as they arose. We mined clay and talc in various properties all over the country. One such property was located in Mississippi and was adjacent to a property owned by an elderly lady named Miss Anna Belle. We needed to negotiate a right of way with her, so that our equipment could go through her property to get to the mining site.

My boss was told there was no way that Miss Anna Belle was going to let us have the rights to drive on her property. Many had tried, but there was a “Hatfield vs. McCoys” vibe going on in the area. This meant she viewed any outsider as the enemy and didn’t get along with her neighbors. Those neighbors were willing to let us establish a right of way, but at a much more significant cost than what would be reasonable.

So, Wayne decided to try his hand at getting to know Miss Anna Belle. He took a trip to the site and decided to spend time with her and understand the situation from her perspective. His approach worked and it wasn’t long before she signed the contract for the right of way. From time to time, he would visit her to make sure she was doing well and that our equipment stayed on the correct part of the property.

We joked with Wayne that Miss Anna Belle was his girlfriend and that his southern charm was what won the contract with her. He seemed to genuinely care about her. I was about to find out just how much.

Wayne took me with him on a trip to a number of our mining sites around Mississippi. One day, he said he wanted to stop in and see Miss Anna Belle. I couldn’t wait to meet his “girlfriend.” We knocked on the door, and after about two minutes, a lady, probably in her 80’s met us at the door. When she saw Wayne, her eyes lit up. He was glad to see her too. She wasn’t in the best of health and looked quite frail.

Wayne introduced me, and Miss Anna Belle offered to get us some lemonade. How could we say no? Wayne asked her about her son, a long-haul truck driver, and knew a lot about her family and her situation. She shared many stories and told me how much she appreciated Wayne and that he always kept his word. Everyone used her right of way as agreed and she had no complaints. When we got up to leave, she gave Wayne a hug and thanked him for being such a gentleman.

I learned a lot working for Wayne. He taught me to treat people with respect and never go back on your word. When you genuinely care for people, good things happen.

Fix It and Make a Difference

In 2005, I was working in the central engineering group for Armstrong in Lancaster PA. One day, while I was sitting in my cubicle, the CEO of our division came up to me and told me that he needed my help at our newly acquired cabinet plant in Auburn Nebraska. I asked him what help I could provide. He looked at me and said, “Fix it – you’ll know what I mean when you get there.” I was told I would have a small team travelling with me and our first visit to the plant would be for 2 weeks. During that time, we were to evaluate the things we could improve, make quick improvements, and develop plans for future efforts.

I have been to hundreds of factories in my career, and have seen some well-run factories and some poorly run ones. When we arrived, I saw what was clearly the poorest run facility in my experience. There was no organization or order. Equipment was in disrepair. People looked like they had been beaten down. Many had evidence of prior injuries. It was hard to find a safe walkway in the entire plant. It made me immediately angry that people had to work in these conditions. In fact, one of my team members was so angry, we had to take him outside to calm him down.

“What the hell are they thinking?” he asked, “How can they get away with this?” We talked for a while and eventually came to the conclusion that we couldn’t fix the past, but we could damn sure improve the future for these folks. Luckily, the company had hired a new plant manager, who had arrived at the plant about a week before we did.

We spent some time with him on our first days at the plant and believed he wanted to improve conditions for his people as much as we did. We felt he would support our efforts to make real positive change for the employees at the plant. We knew we needed his support to get critical work done.

Thousands of opportunities

Everywhere we looked, we saw things that could and should be improved. Early on, we reorganized a panel cutting area and made it easier and safer to get the materials needed to be cut. We also created some signage for the area, so finished parts could be easily found. We were also able to get much needed repairs for the equipment that was being used daily. We realized we couldn’t fix everything, even though we wanted to. We had to prioritize and decided to work on things we could immediately fix in order to give the employees hope for a better place to work.

Miles to go

One day I was watching the flow of material to different parts of the factory. I saw a large man take a pallet jack and transport cabinet parts from one area of the plant to another. He had to physically pull the material, which probably weighed 250 pounds, over a quarter of a mile. I followed him to his destination and then watched him pick up another pallet of parts, and manually pull it to another part of the plant. This looked really difficult to me, and I wanted to know more.

I introduced myself to him and he told me his name was Roy and that he had been doing this type of work for more than 5 years. I asked him if he knew how far he moved material in a day. He told me he was given a pedometer by the health and safety manager and found out he was pulling materials more than 17 miles in a day on average! Seeing how physically difficult this work was, I asked him, “What do you do when you go home at night?” His response was, “Adam, I sit down in my recliner, fall asleep, get up the next morning, and go back to work.” This was no way to live. I knew we had to help him.

I assembled my small team and we talked about what we could do to help Roy. In my mind, if we didn’t help him, he would soon be injured, and probably had been in the past. We did our research and found out there was a battery-operated pallet jack that would allow the operator to ride on when moving materials. We found a used one in the area that cost less than $5000. It was time to convince the plant manager to buy this unit immediately.

Sealing the deal

We asked the plant manager for an opportunity to review our findings and share our plan for further improvements. We had 12 improvement projects we wanted to implement before we left at the end of our 2-week assignment. We told him we thought there was nothing more important than buying the battery powered pallet jack for Roy. When we explained our reasoning, he realized how critical this would be for the health and well-being of one of his employees and also how much it mattered to us. He immediately gave us approval and called in his purchasing manager to help us buy it.

In 3 days, we had our new battery powered pallet jack and gave it to Roy to test out. He did and was so happy, he gave rides to some of his co-workers. The next day, I followed up with Roy and he told me he had some of the best sleep he had in months. We made a real difference for one person, and that made all of our efforts a resounding success!

Use Standardized Work to Unleash Creativity

Most people don’t like being told what to do. They definitely don’t want to be told how to do it. But, with proper standardized work, we can show people the right way to do things and free their minds to work on more complex problems that they face. The key is to develop standardized work that engages people, speaks to them at the appropriate level, and captures the routine aspects of a task in a way that ensures everyone follows it properly and easily. Once that occurs, they can concentrate on solving problems that aren’t covered by the standardized work.

When I was very young, I was told, “Don’t touch the stove top. It’s hot!” Naturally, that sparked my curiosity. I wanted to know how hot, so I had to touch it. Unfortunately, I got burned and learned a lesson. I should have asked “How hot?” or, “What happens if I touch it?” If I understood what and why and the implications, I may not have received a boo-boo. This was a valuable personal lesson, but it also provides a good structure for standardized work. Now that I didn’t have to touch the stove anymore, I was freed up to use my creativity to create other mischief.

How to Engage Your People to Develop Standardized Work

People tend to do things the way they are taught, the way they observe, or the way that feels right to them. Unfortunately, they may be doing things improperly, unsafely, or inefficiently. So, it is incumbent on you to help them see the better way to do their work. The best way is to engage them in the development of the work. I have found that you should engage at least three people who are currently doing the work so they can share experiences, approaches, and break the tie, if a final decision on how to proceed is needed. You should set the expectations that work must be accomplished safely and productively, but give them the freedom to use their experiences to guide them in the process.

What To Do

The first part of standardized work is to define what to do and the order in which the work must be done. Once you have engaged people who do the work to participate in this effort, have each one of them demonstrate their approach to the work. Those who are watching should provide feedback and ideas that would make the work safer and more efficient. Once all ideas are shared, help bring the group to consensus around the final procedure. Once they have done this, they should practice the new procedure and see if they have missed any vital elements. Following that, document the procedures with pictures, videos, and/or written process steps. The more visual the better, as you want to be able to explain the procedure to anyone in a short amount of time, and you want them to be able to demonstrate their understanding without much effort. Once they have reached consensus, you must gain agreement that the procedure will be followed the same way by everyone who does the work. 

Why To Do It

You can’t guarantee people will follow the new procedure, just because it is safer and more efficient. They may not realize this is the case. Most people are willing to try something different than what they are used to if they understand why it will be a benefit to them. Therefore, the group that develops the new procedure should incorporate the “why” or benefits behind the steps in the new procedure. If they’re unable to do so, it probably means there aren’t real benefits and the procedure needs improvement. Keep working and improving the procedure until you have something that delivers a benefit. Once you have done that, it will be easier to sell the new procedure to others.

The Implications of the Work

The best standardized work results in safety and efficiency gains. These should be clear and measurable. After all, how do you know you’re winning if you’re not keeping score. So, the team should be able to identify and incorporate clear measures of the standardized work. For example, the procedure now takes six steps and 30 minutes, while in the past it took 12 steps and 48 minutes. Another example is the new procedure results in a higher yield rate than the old procedure. It is not uncommon to reduce the time required to accomplish a task by 30% to 50%, just by gaining alignment and simplifying process steps.

Using these three elements – what to do, why to do it, and the implications of the work should convince people to try this new way of operating. Once they are convinced, they should also see that by following this new process, their minds are freed-up to work on more complex problems, thus unleashing their creativity.  

Here’s a real-world example: A production line was shutting down erratically.  In the past, people would be blamed for not following procedures. With clear standardized work, the time to troubleshoot was reduced dramatically, as the human variables were eliminated. The team could focus on other reasons and quickly found the root cause of the problem, which was a switch that was shorting out.

We want people to be creative and improve things and solve complex problems. By creating clear standardized work that is consistently followed, we give people the opportunity to use their creative minds and drive positive results.

The 8 Deadly Wastes

The customer defines value for any product or service.  If they aren’t willing to pay for something, it has no value to them. In the terminology of Lean, anything that doesn’t directly provide value to the customer is called “waste”. Further, there are eight specific types of waste. Once you know what they are, you can begin to spot them, and then work diligently to reduce or eliminate them. If you do, the customer experience will be improved and so will your operating results.

These are the eight deadly wastes:

Transportation
The movement of anything from place to place is considered waste, because it adds no value to the product or service being provided. It only adds time, and the potential for loss or damage. It may seem necessary to move things around in a process – putting things in trucks, putting things away on shelves, sending electronic data from one server to the next, but there is no change to the form or function of the thing being produced. The question to ask is, “how can we reduce or eliminate transportation in the process?”

Inventory
Ideally, the only product you should produce is the product that your customer wants; no more, no less.  More production creates inventory. Less production creates a shortage. The risk of having too much inventory is that it may spoil, become obsolete, or never leave the shelf. Think about computer chips. Once the new version of computer chip comes out, who is buying the older version? Typically, nobody, or if they do, they are receiving a sizable discount.  Another problem with inventory is that the thing you need may get lost behind the thing you don’t need. So, you end up producing more inventory that can hide the next thing, and the cycle continues.

Motion
This waste addresses the effort required to complete a task. If you must reach over your head, or grab something from the ground, you are using extra motion. If you must go away from your area to track something down and retrieve something, you are using extra motion. Ergonomics, which is the study of people’s efficiency in their work environment, is a method to identify and reduce excess motion.

Waiting
Time lost while waiting for an answer, a return email, an earlier process step, booting up your computer, or general waiting around is considered waste. It can be frustrating, time consuming and adds to the overall time in the process, which delays delivery to the customer. The key is to find the things that force you to wait and strive to eliminate them. Empowering people to make decisions is a quick way to drive waiting time down.

Overproduction
Have you ever noticed people who print out every email that they receive? This is an example of overproduction. How about a production line that is running really well and the managers want to keep things running? While the current product gets produced, the next product waits. There is a risk there will be a shortage of the raw materials to make the next product, or that there will be a delay in shipping the next product to the customer.

Overprocessing
This waste refers to the complexity in the process. If there are more steps than needed, or if the product or service is delivering beyond the requirements of the customer, this can be thought of as overprocessing. In the 1930’s, there was a cartoonist named Rube Goldberg, who devised the most complex ways of completing simple tasks. It was entertaining and creative, but not the ideal way of accomplishing work.

Defects
When the product or service doesn’t deliver to the required level of quality, this is considered a defect. When something has to be reworked, this is considered a defect. Many companies try to instill a culture of “Doing it right the first time.” They want to ensure that each process step will continue adding value to the benefit of the customer.

Unused Employee Creativity
The people who do the work generally have ideas to make their work simpler and safer. The best companies listen to their employees to get improvement ideas. Other companies think they know all of the answers and ignore suggestions by their employees. We don’t want people to shut their minds off when they come through the door, or we will be responsible for the worst waste of all.

In order to reduce or eliminate waste, you must be able to identify it. These eight wastes are easy to find in any process, if you are willing to look. If you make it a habit to reduce or eliminate these wastes, your customers will benefit. If your customers benefit, so will you.