In a recent webinar, I sat down virtually with Sandro Casagrande from Electrolux to reflect on the 20-year evolution of the Electrolux Manufacturing System (EMS). It’s a masterclass in how a global leader moves from "quality through inspection" to a sophisticated culture of standardized, value-driven processes.
Since 2017, KaiNexus has been a key partner in that journey. Our conversation highlighted a fundamental truth for any large-scale manufacturer: Technology isn't a replacement for culture—it’s the engine that allows a culture of improvement to scale, spread, and sustain.
When Electrolux began exploring KaiNexus, they weren't looking for a "digital file cabinet." They were solving a massive operational bottleneck. At a single site, they were managing 4,000 to 5,000 improvement actions.
As any Lean practitioner knows, spreadsheets and paper boards eventually break. When they do, engagement suffers because follow-through becomes impossible. Electrolux needed a way to:
Standardize: Capture incremental ideas and major Kaizen events in one place.
Provide Accessibility: Empower frontline workers to submit ideas from any device, anywhere.
Ensure Transparency: Give leadership a "single pane of glass" to see the health of their improvement culture.
KaiNexus didn’t create the ideas, but it provided the visibility and accountability needed to drive them across the finish line.
What makes the Electrolux story so compelling is how they’ve used the platform to engage the entire organization. We often talk about the "KaiNexus Advantage" in three parts: Engage, Accelerate, and Impact.
1. Engaging the Front Line: By making the platform intuitive and simple, Electrolux lowered the barrier to entry. Whether it’s an assembly worker reporting a safety incident or a manager identifying a bottleneck, the "tribal knowledge" is captured rather than lost.
2. Accelerating the Cycle Time: With Smart Notifications and active alerts, projects don't sit on a "to-do" list for weeks. Leadership can see the rate of change in real-time and provide coaching where it's needed most.
3. Visualizing Impact: Through customizable Dashboards and Reports, Electrolux can "Know, Grow, and Show" their impact. They aren't just guessing if EMS is working; they have the hard data on engagement, activity, and ROI to prove it.
Sandro shared a pivotal moment when an EMS leader told him:
"Don't worry about showing me ROI up front. Just tell me if this can help."
This is the essence of Strategy Deployment (Hoshin Kanri). It’s about cascading goals from the boardroom to the shop floor. By removing the immediate pressure of a business case, leadership created the psychological safety for the team to experiment.
Today, KaiNexus supports this by linking individual improvement projects directly to the organization’s most critical strategic goals. This ensures that everyone isn't just "busy," but is moving the needle on the things that matter most.
With KaiNexus now active in 60% of Electrolux sites—spanning Latin America, Europe, and beyond—the platform has become a Global Knowledge Repository.
International Collaboration: The platform handles multiple languages and time zones, allowing a successful process improvement in Brazil to be "broadcast" and adopted by a team in Poland.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Waste often lives in the "silos" between departments. KaiNexus brings these teams together in one digital space to solve problems that span the entire value stream.
Whether you are in Healthcare, Finance, or Manufacturing, the lessons from Electrolux remain the same. You cannot "buy" a culture of improvement, but you can—and should—invest in a platform that respects your people enough to give them the tools they need to succeed.
The EMS journey proves that when you combine a disciplined methodology with a robust digital support system, you turn continuous improvement from a "program" into a competitive advantage.