At AviusULD, being best-in-class is just a starting point. For decades, we’ve been challenging ourselves to reduce manufacturing costs, improve quality and durability, and add a range of new features to our ULD product lines, among countless other enhancements that facilitate air cargo transport for our customers.
Improvements like these remain out of reach for manufacturers that simply rest on their laurels. But this year we’re taking an even bolder step forward with AviusULD Ascend, our continuous improvement program aimed at revolutionizing the ULD industry.
Our team is working tirelessly with the Kaizen Institute to set new standards for the sector. In this report, we will detail how AviusULD is incorporating AviusULD Ascend, guided by the Kaizen methodology of continuous improvement, across our business strategy, production, sales, and performance management functions. We’ll also discuss common pitfalls faced by companies setting out on a similar path, and how our team will avoid them.
“AviusULD Ascend provides a route to even greater excellence across all areas of company activity.”
AviusULD Ascend provides a route to even greater excellence across all areas of company activity. Our goals are ambitious, our journey is already underway, and our team is excited to face the challenges ahead.
This multi-front initiative against corporate entropy lets us push the envelope more than ever before. The resulting product and service improvements will bring major benefits to our customers moving forward, and further cement AviusULD as a leader in the industry.
“At AviusULD, being best-in-class is just a starting point.”
Improvement at Every Level
Customers typically have little interest in the inner workings of the businesses they buy from. But as this report will show, our embrace of AviusULD Ascend as well as Kaizen methods and ideals will reshape AviusULD as well as our products and services for the next generation. Everything we do, both in our customer-facing activities and behind the scenes, will be transformed by this approach.
Yet there is another reason to take an interest in this ongoing mission. Our story of Kaizen-guided advancement touches on issues of great interest to the business community at large, as companies across sectors consider how they will adapt to today’s dynamic economic environment.
Central to these issues is the question of balance. There are competing tendencies for which a delicate middle ground must be maintained. For example:
Consistently threading these needles takes real expertise, and is separate from additional questions of how to prioritize transformation efforts and execute on each plan of action.
Then there is the issue of motivation. How to achieve sustained buy-in from personnel who might otherwise prefer to ease back and go through each day on cruise control?
Every business faces these challenges; few solve them. Here we will highlight our approach toward transformation, conducted in partnership with the Kaizen Institute, and the remarkable progress it is delivering.
Of course, the reason for all of these efforts is to better serve you, our customers. Enhanced products and manufacturing methods let us bring down the total cost of ownership for our ULDs. Greater efficiency lets us fill large orders quickly, in every product category. Superior services improve all your interactions with our office — both before and after each sale.
To revolutionize the industry, we must first revolutionize ourselves. This is the story of how we’re doing it.
“To revolutionize the industry, we must first revolutionize ourselves.”
Identifying a Strategy
Without strategy, any attempt at transformative change will inevitably resemble the desperate flailing of an untrained swimmer: Lots of energy expended for very little forward movement. Many companies have already experienced the pain of failed transformations, and are in no hurry to repeat the experience.
Indeed, it is all too easy for businesses to remain in their comfort zones, and even deny the need for change at all, particularly if the status quo has hitherto served them well. But step back and look around; shifts in culture, technology, and economic trendlines are demanding major adaptation across virtually every industry. But even ignoring the winds of change, there is always room for improvement, as precious little can legitimately be called ‘perfect’ in the business world.
A careful and dispassionate examination will inevitably reveal that every company — indeed every department of every company — has hidden inefficiencies and untapped potential. Improving these areas can unlock cost savings for customers, improved services, and greater overall satisfaction, as products from a newly optimized factory can also be manufactured and delivered more quickly than before.
Yet even the best-run team can’t fix everything at the same time. The question therefore becomes which issues to prioritize, and how to carry out the necessary changes successfully.
“Even the best-run team can’t fix everything at the same time.”
Hoshin Planning and the X Matrix
Hoshin Planning, also known as Policy Deployment or Strategy Deployment, is a methodology that helps implement organizational strategy while ensuring alignment across all levels of the company. It starts by identifying breakthrough objectives based on strategic priorities for the next 3 to 5 years, informed by customer data and enterprise value stream analysis. These breakthrough goals are then translated into annual objectives and laid out in a one-page ‘X Matrix,’ which cascades through every level of the organization.
This structured approach allows us to STRETCH improvement goals, create ownership of initiatives, and challenge internal processes to achieve disruptive growth. Through ‘Catchball,’ a collaborative technique, objectives are communicated and aligned across departments, ensuring everyone in the organization contributes to and understands the strategy. The result is a unified effort toward transformation, sustained through regular review and iterative improvements.
In the context of AviusULD Ascend, this X Matrix approach enables us to target precise areas for improvement, create accountability, and ensure that each step aligns with our strategic vision, driving efficiency and excellence at every level.
“The X Matrix approach enables us to target precise areas for improvement, create accountability, and ensure that each step aligns with our strategic vision, driving efficiency and excellence at every level.”
The first step in strategy is to identify the desired direction of improvement. The Kaizen Institute made sure that every process in our entire company was identified, isolated, categorized, scored, and weighted. Paths to improvement were articulated, and responsibility for action was assigned to the appropriate personnel.
From there, Kaizen Institute analysts defined the expected level of improvement for each Kaizen initiative, based on the difficulty level of such an effort and its likely impact on company output. They helped us determine a schedule for improvement, as well as measurements to track progress.
We then embarked on collective problem-solving exercises to determine the kinds of barriers that might appear in the way of our improvement efforts — and subsequently developed ‘countermeasures’ (contingency plans) to help power through those barriers.
The result was a comprehensive look at the processes in our company that were most ripe for improvement, as well as the roles and responsibilities for turning those goals into reality.
The deployment of the strategy requires a balance between expectations, resources, and deadlines across all levels of the organization. By developing an X-Matrix, we ensure that Value Stream KAIZEN™ Owners are aligned with implementing the Improvement Priorities linked to their Breakthrough Initiatives. This process fosters ownership and enhances governance of strategy execution within AviusULD. Breakthrough Priorities from higher-level planning are transferred to the lower-level matrix or an Action Plan, ensuring that the root causes of identified gaps are tackled effectively at the Point of Impact. This structured approach eliminates the need for frequent reminders and follow-up meetings, as every team member knows their role and responsibilities, with progress tracked through regular reporting. Visualization likewise helps teams avoid imbalances in which certain people are assigned too many improvement tasks, while others have too few.
Just as importantly, the X-Matrix lets the entire team know how each person’s work contributes to a unified effort which will elevate the entire company — a crucial feature for maintaining cultural cohesiveness and shared motivation. When targets are met, each team member can see with their own eyes how their hard work contributed to such a winning outcome.
Then, the next set of targets can be introduced.
“The X-Matrix lets the entire team know how each person’s work contributes to a unified effort which will elevate the entire company“
Continuous Improvement
This mindful selection and visualization of improvement strategy is just one of the elements that makes Kaizen such a valuable tool for improvement in the business world.
The strategy component of business transformation represents the red stripe in the Kaizen logo below. It is also the module which requires the most executive involvement, with middle- and front-line managers primarily responsible for improving their Value Stream to achieve breakthroughs (in white), leaving front-level managers and associates responsible for daily management adhering to standardized work to produce high-quality ULD products (in blue).
Taken together, these complementary approaches bring operational improvement in the long, medium, and short term. Companies without the strategy component may find themselves too frequently looking inward, while failing to see opportunities that are on the horizon. Such companies often find themselves trapped in a cycle of firefighting, repeatedly solving the same recurring problems without sustaining improvements. At AviusULD, we are moving away from this traditional management model by building a strong daily management improvement culture. Our teams at all levels practice proactive problem-solving, visual management, standardized work, and continuous improvement, ensuring that issues are addressed at their root and improvements are sustained for the long term. This shift enables us to prevent problems before they arise, rather than constantly reacting to them.
This shift enables us to prevent problems before they arise, rather than constantly reacting to them.
On the other hand, companies that overemphasize strategy to the detriment of their more immediate needs may find themselves spending too much time in meeting rooms rather than getting their hands dirty with the problems of the day. Such companies may never get around to putting products to market at scale, so enamored are they with ideas that they forget how to run a factory, let alone optimize one.
As ever, balance is the key — with Kaizen as the recognition that improvement in all areas is always worth striving for. Because we adhere to the Kaizen method, we default to a proactive rather than reactive position at all times. AviusULD shuns the path of least resistance, because it is incompatible with leadership. Instead, we put our shoulder down to forge a new, more streamlined path forward.
“Our teams at all levels practice proactive problem-solving, visual management, standardized work, and continuous improvement, ensuring that issues are addressed at their root and improvements are sustained for the long term.”
From Strategy to Execution
“If the first rule of planning is to identify the goal, then the second is to remember that the world is messy and very little goes according to plan.”
If the first rule of planning is to identify the goal, then the second is to remember that the world is messy and very little goes according to plan.
This insight also drives AviusULD Ascend. Instead of insisting on big leaps forward, AviusULD Ascend breaks the journey into small steps which are then simplified and itemized. This way, missteps can be easily tracked, while the consequences for any shortcoming remain small and can be quickly remedied through targeted adjustments.
For our manufacturing team, that translates to adding new features to our products, while making each container lighter, stronger, and cheaper — but carefully, and by testing and refining one improvement at a time. This process lets us work toward Lean Manufacturing ideals, where waste is eliminated and value is maximized at every point in the process.
As with our products, so with ourselves. We turn each AviusULD team member into a leader, giving them the responsibility for success as well as the means to achieve it. This culture of ownership and accountability empowers our teams to transition from authority-driven structures to autonomous teams, capable of leading improvements at all levels. This autonomy enables them to actively contribute to achieving the organization’s strategic goals, fostering a deeper sense of expertise and engagement throughout AviusULD.
Sales and marketing improvements are another essential focus of our ongoing transformation. We are redesigning every element of our customer interactions piece by piece, from our brand storytelling approach to our sales funnel and after-sales services.
When a target in any area is missed, our policy of ‘no blame, no judge’ lets us remove ego and finger-pointing from the equation. We simply debrief the situation together, making the necessary adjustments so as not to miss again next time. All the while, we seek opportunities for training and upskilling so that our leaders become ever more capable over time.
“We turn each AviusULD team member into a leader, giving them the responsibility for success as well as the means to achieve it.”
Optimizing Production
Zero defects, zero unsatisfied customers, maximum value added, and stable year-on-year improvements and growth — these are our manufacturing goals moving forward. Perhaps they are attainable, perhaps not, but we intend to find out, as every action taken by our production team will be toward making them a reality.
Of course, such improvements cannot be achieved overnight. So as stepping stones on the path, we have set our expectations at three significant improvement actions per employee, per year. These are outlined in our strategy sessions, and each team member takes personal responsibility for completing them. Though everyone on our production team receives support from their colleagues and supervisors, ultimately they are accountable for delivering the expected results.
“Zero defects, zero unsatisfied customers, maximum value added, and stable year-on-year improvements and growth — these are our manufacturing goals moving forward.”
Kaizen provides general guidance for how factory processes can be improved. Known as the 5S method, Kaizen encourages employees to:
The necessary improvements are also facilitated by the introduction of a specially designed Mission Control Room, where production issues are visualized and analyzed by the relevant team members, so that solutions can be agreed and acted upon quickly. The room differs from a traditional meeting space in that its attendees typically remain standing as they problem-solve a single process or initiative.
Sometimes, however, both problems and solutions are best identified on-site. To facilitate such scenarios, the Kaizen approach uses a term called ‘gemba’, meaning ‘the real place’. A gemba walk involves at least one supervisor slowly touring the factory floor, observing workstations and processes in action, and offering suggestions for improvement where appropriate. Insights gained from the gemba walk can also inform supervisors about the kinds of training and upskilling that would be most beneficial for the team.
In most cases, Gemba walks are performed in areas of the factory that seem to be operating more slowly than expected, so that actions can be evaluated and then refined for greater efficiency.
Efficiency, after all, is the name of the game. AviusULD is pushing hard to eliminate all forms of waste in our factories — especially time, money, and materials — in order to maximize value for customers. It is this relentless focus on every aspect of value that will cement our status as an industry leader in the years ahead.
Streamlining Sales and Marketing
“Sales become much easier with a world-class product.”
Sales become much easier with a world-class product. But AviusULD has nevertheless identified numerous opportunities to raise the quality of our customer communications at every stage. From our social media profiles and posting cadence, to our website design, to our presence at trade shows, to direct sales and post-sales interactions, we have mapped out an ambitious path to achieving improved communications across the board.
Until recently, for example, we didn’t have any process in place to convert leads into sales. Nor did we have an SEO-friendly website, or a vibrant social media presence. In fact, we didn’t even have a data-driven digital content strategy to promote our brand or its mission.
Today we’re building a highly developed digital marketing presence, to establish our brand identity to our target audience. Henceforth we will publish frequent, high-quality content aimed at potential customers, using the Hero’s Journey storytelling template which is the standard for modern marketing.
We will also follow through on these efforts by implementing best practices in sales and after-sales communication. The diagram below breaks down the steps involved, and where we will therefore focus our efforts.
The sweeping nature of these improvements indicates that you, our customers, will soon have a more refined and satisfying experience throughout your interactions with us.
Unlocking Excellence Through Performance Management
“A system, however well-designed, is only as effective as the people who run it.”
A system, however well-designed, is only as effective as the people who run it. And companies can neither recruit nor motivate top talent through incentives alone. For a business to assemble the best team in its industry, and keep it working on all cylinders, a culture of excellence needs to start at the top.
“Practical skills can and should be taught, but character defines potential.”
Practical skills can and should be taught, but character defines potential. We bring aboard teams that work well together, have a willingness to learn, and share a strong motivation for excellence and social responsibility. These qualities are ideal for maintaining a spirit of improvement, to better serve our customers and our communities.
Still, that improvement requires direction. That’s why we’ve implemented performance metrics across every company process, and begun analyzing the resulting data with AI. For each task that takes longer than expected, we see an opportunity for training and support. While standard gemba-style interactions take only a few minutes, we also take advantage of more formalized upskilling sessions.
Mostly, however, improvements are self-directed. Our feedback for employees is pointed but not paternalistic; each team member is independently accountable for their own performance, and therefore must demonstrate initiative and leadership in their area.
Within the Kaizen framework, we all have targets for improvement, and no one can achieve greatness alone. To ease the stress of expectations, our internal support efforts are centered around empathy and relationships, rather than the cold and often impersonal feedback given by managers who are too focused on the bottom line.
To function as a team, we must feel like a team. We all work best when motivated organically, by ourselves as well as our peers working toward a common purpose.
Our performance management efforts are therefore guided by this goal — to continuously improve, not because the boss is pushing us harder, but because we believe in our work, and our team’s capacity to achieve greatness.
“We all work best when motivated organically, by ourselves as well as our peers working toward a common purpose.”
The Rules for Success
“We take the hard road because leading the industry in ULD quality demands nothing less.”
Corporate strategy shouldn’t stay confined to the boardroom; it belongs to the entire company, and can only succeed when it earns buy-in from a motivated workforce. For the effort to work, goals must be defined to all. Responsibilities must be understood by all. What remains is execution, and the will to become better together.
On the production line, that means eliminating waste even as we improve quality and durability. Team members will each have multiple improvement targets, peer support, and an understanding of how AviusULD Ascend helps us achieve our common environmental goals.
For sales and marketing, focused communication at every stage is the key to success. We are currently redesigning our entire suite of customer interaction services, alongside evidence-based methods of brand building and product promotion.
Bookending these efforts are our proactive talent optimization initiatives. Just as activity without strategy is directionless, strategy without energetic and coordinated effort is doomed to failure. From analytics-driven hiring and evaluation, to the mentoring and upskilling of employees, to morale-building based on our shared values and vision — we are fast developing the best team in the industry.
Taken together, these initiatives let AviusULD embody the relentless pursuit of improvement under the banner of AviusULD Ascend.
“Corporate strategy shouldn’t stay confined to the boardroom; it belongs to the entire company, and can only succeed when it earns buy-in from a motivated workforce.”
Yet the journey is only beginning. Guidance from the Kaizen Institute has been invaluable during this push forward, in the realm of strategy, production, sales, and performance management systems — and the benefits that such efforts will bring to our customers.
Though our products already deliver industry-leading quality in every respect, we believe there is always room to make them even better. So stay tuned: A new era for AviusULD is just beginning to take flight. And we can’t wait to take you along with us.
“A new era for AviusULD is just beginning to take flight. And we can’t wait to take you along with us.”
