ABSTRACT
Heather was most concerned about how the employees who would be most affected by the process changes would feel about the program. She knew that no one would lose his or her job as a result of the lean manufacturing program. They may be doing different jobs or conducting work in a different manner than they were used to doing, but they would not lose jobs as a result of the continuous improvement efforts. She knew they had already identified a list of existing improvement initiatives, which were not getting done due to a lack of resources. She knew a Kaizen pool was being established for personnel who were released from current production areas so that they could be utilized on future Kaizen events. She realized that Regal sorely needed production engineers and technicians to work on the shop floor and with the supplier base to address lean improvement opportunities. Even though she knew about all the outlets that had been put in place, she was still concerned as to how the people would handle the news. She went up to Carl, lightly touched his forearm, and asked, “Carl, how do you think the people are going to receive the presentation?”
