House of Quality
How do we get people thinking and working together effectively?
A Lean culture is a culture of teamwork, of energy and ideas. It starts with the concept of Jidoka – the idea that anyone in your organization can stop the flow of work as soon as they observe waste – for example, it could be delays or mistakes or failures.
Jidoka started at Toyota and it turned them into the success they are today. A long time ago, Toyota made weaving looms, and they invented a simple device that could stop the shuttle of a loom if the thread broke. This was a revelation, allowing them to correct problems quickly before serious damage was done. But then they applied this idea to the workforce. How?
- Managers are to have respect for people: they want a team member to stop a process if they discover a problem. The team then comes together to share their skills, knowledge and understanding to solve problems.
- That is a process of continual improvement, and the benefits include multi-skilling of the workforce.
- From Jidoka, the Toyota House of Quality was created with the 2 fundamentals of ‘Respect for People’ and ‘Continual Improvement’ at the heart of it.
These 2 fundamentals are shown as columns on the foundation stone of ‘Resilience’, and supporting the roof of the ‘Management System’.
Management System
The roof of the House of Quality is about how the system of inter-related processes is managed.
Respect for People
First column is how managers must go to the workplace and listen to what people say about problems they face.
Continual Improvement
Second column is a process where everyone must be involved in improvement of their workplace. Teamwork by small-step improvement (“kaizen”) is key.
Resilience
The base of the house is about how we keep people thinking and working together effectively. We will then have the confidence to move forward from adverse events