Japanese grocery stores had a problem. They are much smaller than their US counterparts and therefore don’t have room to waste. Watermelons, big and round, wasted a lot of space. Most people would simply tell the grocery stores that watermelons grow round and there is nothing that can be done about it. That is how I would assume the vast majority of people would respond. But some Japanese farmers took a different approach. If the supermarkets wanted a square watermelon, they asked themselves, “How can we provide one?” It wasn’t long before they invented the square watermelon.
Experience tells us that this example alone is just a part of what it takes to develop a true Continuous Improvement culture. Additional steps include the ability to identify waste, understanding of reliable methods to use as counter-measures, creating a favorable environment (cultural) for idea creation and implementation and then keeping everyone practiced all the time, in slow and busy times.
