According to an HBS report, Maruti Suzuki India is trying to ensure that its workers walk around less on the shopfloor. The country’s largest car manufacturer has found that every little stroll away from the assembly-line costs both time and money.

The Hindu Business Line report quoted Rajiv Gandhi, Executive Director (production — Gurgaon) as saying,“There is time spent to pick up spare parts or tools from the racks.” The company has turned to the Japanese management practice of Kaizen, the report added. Kaizen’s ‘One Operator, One Step Reduction’ initiative helped Maruti reduce 21,500 steps from worker walks in FY13. “This was achieved by providing belt pouches to workers (to keep spare parts), introducing ‘synchronised trollies’ (with parts moving along the line) and moving certain racks closer to the line,” said Gandhi.

However, he said that there was no way to “quantity the financial gains from this practice”

Read the complete report here