Direction and Annual Goals with Hoshin Kanri

Why it matters

Hoshin kanri builds the link between what the business wants to change in the long run and what it spends time on today. Units doing useful work separately does not guarantee that the shared result will improve. If production raises its own output while shipping cannot keep up and product piles up, a local success can enlarge the delivery problem. In policy deployment, the shared result comes first, then the processes that affect it and the changes they need. Direction does not mean giving every employee the same number. It means explaining which contribution each owner will make under which conditions. Both the long-term goal and the annual goal must rest on the current situation, a defined metric and the resources that can be set aside. That way the difference between a list of improvements and a strategic choice becomes visible.

Long-term direction describes a significant gap that will not close through normal operations. In this lesson, raising the on-time delivery rate markedly by the end of three years is treated as such a direction. The annual goal is the result of that path to be verified in the year concerned. Dividing the three-year gap into three equal parts can be a starting calculation, but it is not proof of feasibility. The first year may need a data definition, a flow arrangement and skill development; the pace of later years may differ. For this reason the rationale, dependencies and measurement period of the interim goals are written down. A number does not become achievable because it was spread over a calendar. The chosen path is tested with resources and process knowledge.

The result goal and the activity goal must be kept apart. Running a training session, preparing a schedule or trying a new layout are completable outputs; whether they improve the delivery result is shown separately. Declaring the goal reached when the training is complete confuses an assumption about impact with fact. The reverse is also wrong: attributing the whole improvement to the running project because delays fell can overlook changes in demand and product mix. Policy deployment makes this link open to question. The roles of the goal owner, the data owner and the contributing units are defined. Working together does not leave a shared goal without an owner; an owner who will answer for the result is still clearly defined.

Not every good idea is a strategic priority. Daily maintenance, mandatory quality work and employee suggestions have value, but putting all of them on the same annual transformation list consumes the time of the shared experts. A strategic choice requires explaining which significant gap will be closed this year and which work will be postponed. Safety and mandatory obligations are not eliminated in a points contest; their resources are protected first. Within the remaining capacity, work is selected that connects directly to the delivery goal or to a necessary precondition of it. A suggestion that cannot establish the connection can be handled in a separate improvement routine. In this way strategy stops being a vague heading covering all work and becomes a concrete choice that changes how resources are allocated.

Formula