Continuous Improvement Is a Day at the Park, with All Kinds of Kids, at Playground Manufacturer LSI

“Their caregivers managed to get them to the second level because we had a really good comfortable and accessible route. And then when it was time for them to exit, there was no way to really do so.”

This unanticipated problem that needed solving gave the design team the idea to add slides to the second level of the tower.

“That was such an ‘aha’ moment for us,” Moore says. “It’s feedback that came directly from two kids with disabilities, but the people impacted are caregivers and everybody who comes to the tower. Design details like that make it so much stronger because we’re getting that feedback from every angle.”

LSI strives to continually optimize its equipment for all children, down to the smallest details.

For example, “one in 12 men or boys have a color deficiency,” Roschi says. “That’s a more significant disability than a lot of other disabilities that we are purposely designing for.” To solve for that issue, the team makes sure that the colors used near each other aren’t easily confused to avoid depth perception issues.

Intentionally communicating with and learning more about the community LSI serves makes for continuous innovation in effective product development to serve all end users.

More Lean Processes

Internal collaboration across teams and departments is another way LSI encourages innovation.

“In the product development process, we have a lot of back-and-forth discussion around ‘How much are we doing? Are we doing enough? Are we not doing enough? Are there things that we’re doing that actually might create a barrier?’” Roschi says. “Really trying to find those balances.”

The team must consider many variables during the design process. Testing new paints and materials against salt, ultraviolet and environmental wear over time can take months. UV  weathering chamber tests and salt-fog testing are conducted internally at LSI as well as externally by its powder supplier. Mar resistance and graffiti testing also ensure the finishes can sustain decades of wear-and-tear and cleaning.

Climate change is a design consideration, too. “As our environment continues to warm up, how are we making sure the materials that we’re integrating are cooler to the touch? The colors that we’re integrating into our equipment, how are they lighter so that they reflect more of that light and heat?” Roschi says.

Manufacturing Considerations

Manufacturing teams are an essential part of product development at LSI. Design and development teams take to the shop floor to learn about LSI’s manufacturing capabilities.

“We may have been using a piece of equipment in a certain way, but there are all these other capabilities that we haven’t leaned into,” that design teams can take advantage of, Roschi says.

For example, LSI created a line of site furnishings—including colorful benches and trash receptacles—from scrap material during the cutting process that LSI normally would have returned to the supplier for recycling.

“A lot of the innovation sometimes can come from things that are maybe a little bit invisible to the end user, but the innovation might be just how we’re able to more smoothly make a product” or improve throughput, Roschi says.

A Kaizen Culture Makes a Difference

Continuous improvement that involves the customer—in this case, kids and caregivers—results in a better product.

“At the end of the day, it comes back to listening to what kids are asking for, what their needs are, what Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, what are people looking for in these public spaces? And then the innovation happens just by listening to the parents and to the kids as to what they’re looking for,” Roschi says.

Added bonus: Involving community is purposeful and engaging for the people who work at LSI.

“These kids that we get to work with, they’re impacting families and communities all over,” he says. “They’re having fun with us, getting to try new stuff, but their impact is being felt around the world. I don’t even know that they really understand how much help that they’re really providing by essentially giving voice to all of these communities and kids like them in all parts of the world, so it’s pretty awesome.”

“I think it’s super exciting that there’s a lot we don’t know,” Moore adds. “We are in a really fortunate position to be able to say we’re doing our best, we’re learning—and whenever someone comes to us with that frustration, we want to hear them."