Operation of an employee suggestion system in administration and production departments of a remanufacturing company

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of the article is to discuss the issues of the employee suggestion system (ESS) in a remanufacturing enterprise. ESS is a tool used in many modern management philosophies like continuous improvement, Kaizen, lean etc. A number of factors influencing the operation of the employee suggestion system (ESS) were examined in the literature. However, none considers the fact that within various departments, the nature of this tool may vary.Methodology/approachBased on the data from a representative international company, the system performance was assessed. Using statistical tests, it was examined whether the ESS works identically in different departments of the company. The article reviews the literature and attempts to explain the reasons for the results.FindingsOn the basis of statistical tests, it has been proved that despite the same implementation and occurrence of the same types of waste in various departments, the number of employee suggestions and thus the functioning of the system is different. According to the authors, the reason for this is the fact that the company performs remanufacturing processes. Managing an enterprise using lean remanufacturing has a specific character in relation to classic lean.RecommendationsSince the article presents only one example of a company in which this phenomenon appeared and the lack of this issue in the literature, further analysis of this problem is necessary.