GE WorkOut



GE WorkOut Spotlight

 

New Book by Ron Ashkenas, one of the creators of GE WorkOut

Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done

GE Work-Out TrainingThe level of complexity in most organizations today is staggering-and it's only getting worse. There are so many choices to be made, people to involve, processes to manage, and facts to analyze, it's impossible to get things done. And in today's hypercompetitive world, that can be fatal.

Yet complexity doesn't happen on its own. Managers unwittingly create it, often through well-intended decisions. In Simply Effective, Ron Ashkenas provides a playbook for regaining control, focused on the four major causes of complexity:

-Constant changes in organizational structures

-Proliferation of products and services

-Evolution of business processes

-Time-wasting managerial behaviors

The author provides a diagnostic for identifying how these causes of complexity are affecting your organization-and presents practical tactics for combating each one.

Ashkenas also explains how to craft a strategy that will make simplification an ongoing driver of your company's success-no matter where you work in your organization. Abundant examples from companies like ConAgra Foods, GE, Cisco, Zurich Financial Services, and Johnson & Johnson illuminate his points.

A crucial resource in today's overly complex age, Simply Effective should be required reading for everyone on your management team.

Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done

 

GE WorkOut: Quality Culture Change Process

GE Work-OUt for Six Sigma | People

GE's Work-Out process was created in 1988 as part of the ongoing drive for better productivity and efficiency. Initially, GE Work-Out was intended to identify and eliminate unneeded processes and tasks that were left over from previous years, when management had more layers. After restructuring, many groups did more work with fewer people, rather than making comprehensive operational changes

The aptly named GE Work-Out process involves identifying an area in need of improvement and bringing people together from all sides of the process (design, marketing, production, sales, etc.) to identify a better method. The GE Work-Out team meets outside of its normal work environment to discuss the issues and develop recommendations.

Read more about GE Work-Out

GE WorkOut Thought Leadership

GE Work-Out Case Study: Creating the Spirit of a Start-Up Firm in a Large and Complex Enterprise

 

Why GE Work-Out?

As Jack Welch began to recognize that employees were an important source of brainpower for new and creative ideas, he wanted to create an environment that pushes towards "a relentless, endless companywide search for a better way to do everything we do." The Work-Out program was a way to reduce bureaucracy and give every employee, from managers to factory workers, an opportunity to influence and improve GE's day-to-day operations.

Ultimately, the goal of the Work-Out program was to "clean up" GE, to make workers more productive and processes simpler and more clear-cut. "Work-Out was also designed to reduce, and ultimately eliminate. all of the waste hours and energy that organizations like GE typically expend in performing day-to-day operations."

GE Work-Out for Six Sigma Case Study More on this GE Work-Out Case Study

GE WorkOut and Kaizen Events

How to Implement Kaizen Events by Worcester Polytechnic Institute

GE Work-Out TrainingThis workshop focuses on improving the operational performance of your supply base. Companies, large and small, whether manufacturers or service providers, depend on successful supplier performance to maximize operational effectiveness and satisfy their customers' demands.

Kaizen/Events are an effective process for introducing rapid change into your organization by utilizing the ideas and motivation of the people who do the work. In just one day you will learn how to plan and conduct a Kaizen/Event; identify the bottlenecks constraining your organization; motivate and utilize the intellectual strength of the people who will lead and implement the necessary changes for success. A successful Kaizen/Event will result in reduced process or product time cycles, increased capacity at bottleneck operations and improved service levels.

What You Will Learn

  • What is a Kaizen/Event ?
  • The GE Workout
  • How To Identify and Assess Opportunity Areas
  • How to Prepare Requirements - Lay the Groundwork for Success
  • The People Side of A Kaizen/Event
  • How To Identify the Scope and Constraints
  • How To Conduct the Kaizen/Event
  • How to Present the Results
  • About the Critical Post Kaizen/Event Follow Through

GE Work-Out Training Learn more about How to Implement a Kaizen Event

 

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