Isn't it amazing that the US government is getting behind green initiatives? I thought that reuse, recyle and reduce were cost effective by themselves. Apparently not. However…Subaru of America's 20-year history challenges that. Drs. Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder just published an article in the Wall Street Journal, Greener and Cheaper telling Subaru's head start on the auto industry. Their story is inspiring. But even more, it's a wake-up call. Why aren't all businesses doing this?

Subaru America employees are one of the most prolific improvers

You've probably seen the Subaru ads on TV. It shows a plant in the middle of an idyllic field with deer going by. I've been to that plant. To think that deer are feeding on the property is amazing. This is a typical industrial setting. Except it's not typical. Subaru is not dumping or land filling anything. How do they do it? In a word…kaizen.

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It's been almost two years since Tom Peters claimed kaizen was dangerous. Now Silk and Spinach takes up the opposition, Kaizen Considered Harmful.

"Kaizen frees the hands of the innovator. And to think that sloppy processes can support rapid innovation is dangerous advice, Tom."

As Norman Bodek says, "Kaizen is a numbers game." The companies that embrace continuous improvement will eventually rise to the top.

A group of like-minded lean practitioners noticed that kaizen was generally not being practiced in the project setting. We've set out to change that and we invite you to help us do that. We called ourselves the Gang-of -Seven¹. Our first project was a week-long co-blogging series where we explored project kaizen. You can read those postings along with some additional postings of others on this site.

1. Hal Macomber: Reforming Project Management
   Norman Bodek: Kaikaku
   Joe Ely: Learning about Lean
   Jon Miller: Panta Rei
   Bill Waddell: Evolving Excellence
   Chuck Frey Innovation Weblog
   Mark Graban: Lean Manufacturing Blog [back]