Building Your PIT Crew: How to Form a Cross-Functional Improvement Team

Introduction: Why Improvement Fails Without the Right Team

Most continuous improvement efforts do not fail because of poor tools or weak ideas. They fail because the wrong people are involved — or worse, key people are missing entirely.

The book emphasizes that improvement isn\’t the sole responsibility of a single department, role, or champion. Processes cut across various functions, so enhancing them requires a cross-functional team representing the entire system. This team is called the PIT Crew.

A PIT Crew is not a committee, nor is it a steering group. It is a hands-on team formed to identify issues, develop improvements, and maintain results where the work truly occurs.

What Is a PIT Crew?

A PIT Crew is a dedicated team created to address a specific process, problem, or performance gap. The name illustrates how improvement should function:

• Fast
• Coordinated
• Role-specific
• Focused on execution

Just like in racing, each member has a specific responsibility, and progress only happens when everyone performs their role at the right moment.

Why Cross-Functional Teams Matter

Processes do not operate within isolated functional silos. A single production step may be influenced by:

• Scheduling decisions
• Training gaps
• Equipment reliability
• Inventory rules
• Quality standards
• Staffing flexibility

When improvement teams are comprised of just one function, solutions tend to:

• Shift problems downstream
• Create unintended consequences
• Collapse once pressure returns

A PIT Crew avoids this by uniting all system owners in the same room.

Who is in the PIT Crew

The PIT Crew is a designated team formed to enhance the process. This group consists of positive members committed to reducing waste and helping the company reach its goals.

The team members are ideally a cross-functional team from different departments listed in the Efficient Process Book and in this blog. However, if you are a small company and do not have these departments, have the team separate the tasks to ensure that the work gets done.

The book highlights that improvement depends on both execution and support functions. A typical PIT Crew usually includes the following roles:

Supervisors / Front-Line Leaders

Supervisors are crucial because they:

• Understand daily performance pressures and constraints
• See where standards break down in real time
• Are accountable for maintaining improvements after changes are made

Without supervisors in the PIT Crew, improvements often fail during daily operations because new standards are not reinforced or maintained.

Operators / Frontline Employees (When Applicable)

Frontline employees offer the most precise perspective on the process because they:

• Perform the work every day
• Experience waste, delays, and rework firsthand
• Know which changes are realistic versus theoretical

Their engagement guarantees improvements are practical, realistic, and more likely to succeed over the long term.

Engineers (Manufacturing, Process, or Industrial)

Engineers provide technical and analytical skills by:

• Process Mapping current and future state
• Identifying technical constraints and capacity limits
• Supporting data-based decision making

They play an important role in turning improvement ideas into sustainable, long-term solutions instead of just temporary fixes. By using Standard Operation Worksheets, they make sure processes are carefully documented and clearly outlined, helping teams implement changes effectively.

This approach not only fosters consistency and reliability in operations but also enables organizations to measure outcomes, identify best practices, and refine their strategies over time, ultimately leading to continuous improvement and enhanced overall performance.

Quality Representatives

Quality involvement is essential because:

• Many process problems first appear as defects or rework
• Improvements made without quality input often introduce new risks
• Quality metrics validate whether changes actually improve performance

Quality is vital for ensuring that improvements in speed and cost-effectiveness do not undermine the overall stability and reliability of the process. By applying strict quality control measures, organizations can boost efficiency while maintaining consistent performance.

This balance is crucial, as it enables innovation and growth without sacrificing the core elements that ensure long-term success. As a result, quality becomes an essential part of operational excellence, ensuring that progress fosters sustainable development rather than introducing vulnerabilities into the workflow.

Maintenance or Technical Support

Maintenance teams play a key role by:

• Addressing equipment reliability and downtime causes
• Providing insight into recurring technical failures
• Supporting improvements that improve uptime and maintainability
• Communicating the restrictions of relocating or installing new equipment in your business

Without maintenance, PIT Crews often design processes that might face equipment limitations and cannot be included in the process.

Scheduling / Planning / Logistics

These roles are included because they:

• Controls how work is released into the process
• Influence workload balance and priority changes based on production rules
• Directly affect delivery performance and flow

Improving a process without planning input often shifts bottlenecks rather than eliminating them.

Human Resources (HR)

HR participation is essential for sustaining improvement because HR:

• Supports training and skill development
• Helps align job roles, expectations, and progression
• Ensures positive communication of changes and improvements to affected staff.

I have previously highlighted that improvement efforts fail when people, systems, and processes fall behind process changes.

Management / Leadership Representative

Leadership involvement provides:

• Alignment with business priorities
• Authority to remove systemic barriers
• Reinforcement that improvement work matters and is important in the business

Leaders in the PIT Crew serve as enablers rather than solution owners, ensuring that teams can execute effectively.

Why This Team Structure Works

Each role in the PIT Crew represents a lever in the system:

• Supervisors sustain
• Operators validate reality
• Engineers document changes for future improvements
• Quality stabilizes
• Maintenance supports reliability
• Planning protects flow
• HR builds morale and support
• Leadership removes barriers

Missing even one of these roles introduces blind spots that undermine improvement.

Final Thoughts: Improvement Is a Team Sport

The PIT Crew is the backbone of every successful improvement effort in the book. Tools matter, data matters, and metrics matter — but teams make improvement real.

By intentionally creating PIT Crews with specific roles and engaging the entire system, organizations progress from isolated solutions to lasting, repeatable improvements.

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