Have you heard of Kaizen? What about Lean Six Sigma? These might sound like niche terms, but at their core, they are simply thoughtful, disciplined approaches to getting better every day.
Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that emphasizes continuous, incremental improvement. It encourages small, consistent changes that, over time, lead to meaningful progress. Hand in hand with Kaizen is Lean Six Sigma, a structured methodology focused on eliminating waste, reducing errors, making work smoother and more efficient for everyone.
At Evergreen Roadworks, we are already deeply committed to sustainability and operational excellence. These frameworks simply help us sharpen that focus even more.
At our Urbana, Illinois office, a large group of Evergreen team members — from accounting and finance to operations and logistics — gathered for a Kaizen workshop, guided by experts from our partners at The Heritage Group.
Together, we explored how Lean Six Sigma principles could apply to our daily work. We looked for opportunities to improve both large and small: from optimizing the supply chain to reducing the paper we use in the office. No idea was too big or too small.
To prioritize the ideas, we used a simple but powerful tool: a graph mapping effort vs. impact. This helped us identify quick wins that require minimal effort but deliver maximum benefit; those are the changes we will tackle first.
One of the core ideas behind Lean Six Sigma is that the people doing the work are best positioned to improve it. They see the pain points, the inefficiencies, the everyday frustrations. Everyone is invited to speak up when they see a way to make their job easier, safer, better, faster and/or less costly. Then using tools from the Lean Six Sigma toolkit, we can make our work better together.
For example, a frequently used tool in the fabrication shop is stored far from where it is actually used. That simple insight leads to a simple fix: relocate the tool closer to its point of use. It is a small change, but one that saves time, reduces fatigue and makes the work smoother.
That is the power of continuous improvement: small tweaks that add up to big impact.
Evergreen has always been grounded in sustainability. It is in our DNA. This workshop offered another avenue for exercising our sustainable values and being good stewards of our resources.
Our core business — pavement preservation — is inherently sustainable. By extending the life of existing roads, we reduce the need for resource-intensive reconstruction. That saves money, and it reduces environmental impact.
But we know sustainability is not just about environmental impact, it is also about long-term viability. It is not sustainable to have roads deteriorate faster than budgets can keep up. By treating pavement proactively throughout its life, we extend its serviceability in a cost-effective and resource-efficient way.
To us, sustainability rests on three pillars:
These values guided the ideas that surfaced during our workshop. Conserving steps, resources and streamlining our processes frees us to build more efficiently, durably and sustainably—today and for generations to come.
We are proud of what we have already achieved. Evergreen’s work is already a model of sustainable pavement management. But we are not content to stay still. That is why efforts like our Kaizen workshop matter: they help us uncover and act on the small improvements that keep us moving forward.
Learn more about our approach to sustainability and carbon footprint here.
Editor’s Note
Evergreen Roadworks is part of the Heritage Construction + Materials (HC+M) family of companies. HC+M is part of The Heritage Group.
