Mini Companies is an approach, which helps to change the industrial culture, by creating constructive competition between small teams with common goals. The approach creates the link between production and administration. Everyone becomes empathetic to production problems and helps to quickly implement suggestions for improvement, coming from the operators.

The launch of the Mini Companies project, it begins with a change in the organizational structure of production. It is divided into small teams with 8-12 the person. A leader is chosen for each of the teams. However, the leader is not named by the management, and by his colleagues by voting. Every leader goes through a training course, which includes topics such as :

Leadership skills
Communication skills
General knowledge of the entire production process and in detail of the relevant Mini company
Allocation of activities by people to achieve the production plan
Controlling discipline
Receiving / transmission of shifts
Motivating the members of the Mini Company
Ability to monitor the indicators of the Mini company and ensure their implementation
After passing the course, the leader of the Mini Company is ready to manage it. In addition to his/her direct operational duties, he/she is responsible for his/her Mini Company performing at a high level and at the end of each quarter, respectively and at the end of the year to be chosen as the best. The criteria for choosing the best Mini Company are, as well as purely manufacturing productivity and quality, as well as the number of proposed and implemented kaizens. In the process of fulfilling all the indicators, the Mini Company receives daily support from its trainer. He, as well as almost all other members of the administration, are responsible for a Mini Company. In this way, the coaches (the administration) make their direct contribution to production. Coaches can be jerks, even the representatives of human resources departments, accounting, information technology etc. Their obligations related to the Mini Companies are:

Mandatory attendance at the scheduled meetings of the Mini Company
Assisting the Mini Company in the use of problem solving and idea generation tools
Establishing the relationship between the Mini Company and the rest of the organization
Track the development of suggestions for improvements, given by his Mini company
In order for the whole project to run smoothly, other organizations such as the Steering Committee were formed, Kaizen team, Support Group and Evaluation Teams. All of them monitor the performance of Mini Companies and their impact on company results, and if necessary take preventive corrective action.

Paying attention to the Mini Companies project will help any organization to:

Rally your teams
Increase operator motivation
Improve company results
Created an internal customer/supplier concept across teams
Locates and resolves most issues
It binds everyone indirectly involved in the production
All this together with the implementation of the other modules of World Class Manufacturing will help your manufacturing to start the long way of changing the mindset.