The Masterflex Group has introduced a standardised idea management system. Personnel at all German sites are being encouraged to submit their suggestions for improvements; they can be rewarded with up to €2500 as a result.
"The people who know the Masterflex Group best are our employees. The thoughts running around in their minds represent a significant potential that we intend to exploit to make our business even more successful," explains Daniel Adamschik, QM-Manager at Masterflex in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
Pay-outs will be made for proposals that help streamline processes, reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and minimise workload or resource consumption. Also rewarded will be ideas that help improve health and safety at work, the group's customer focus, its public image, the atmosphere at work and efforts to protect the environment.
There are two sides to the idea management system; it is not only an employee suggestion scheme but also applies to the group's continuous improvement process (CIP). And staff are to be motivated to submit suggestions that apply not only to the area in which they actually work. "We want our employees to think outside the box, take all departments into account and take an approach where they look at things from the point of view of Masterflex as a whole," adds Adamschik.
Special forms have been designed using which the personnel can submit their suggestions. The relevant department will evaluate these and decide whether they should be implemented. Those who submit approved suggestions will receive a gift voucher in return; these will be worth €40 to €2500. It is quite possible that a particularly good idea that could lead to significant cost savings might even be considered worthy of an even higher reward.
