How to Run a Successful

Kaizen Event

Sam Darwin, P.E.

Project Manager

GaMEP at Georgia Tech

Kaizen = Change For The Better

“ Kaizen is about deliberately constructing an

environment conducive to having ‘ordinary’

people creating and rapidly implementing ideas

in order to resolve critical business issues in a

sustainable way” Stuart Ross, Ross International

AnalyzeAnalysis Team

Analyze

RecommendAnalysis Team

Implement Kaizen

Blitz

Decide Management Run Trials Team

ImplementImplememntation

TeamMake Standard

Charge Employees

Traditional Method

Slow But Sure

Mo

nth

sKaizen Method

Just Do It!

3 t

o 1

0 D

ays

Approach Comparisons

4

Benefits of Kaizen Blitz

Create Rapid Results

Powerful way that people can make a difference and generate quick victories

Shows that Leaders value input of everyone

Great way to attack low-hanging fruit

Great way to get improvements done that the employees have been wanting to do for a long time

Radical and completely re-engineered processes have come from Kaizen Blitz efforts

Can be applied to any almost any process (Mfg or Non-Mfg)

Invaluable in helping kick start a Lean Journey

5

Kaizen Process

1 Identification of Improvement Opportunity Prior to Project

2 Establish Objectives & Goals for the Team

3 Select the Team (cross functional team)

4 Training up front on process/tools to be used to attack the “WASTE”

During Project

5 Improvement work (the project)

6 Process check w/ management team to discuss status and teams direction

7 Test Improvements (possibly more than once)

8 Management Presentation (Results achieved)

9 Homework items to be completed

Post Project

10 Results monitored & Standardize

11 Repeat the process

Plan

Do

Check

Act

6

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

INTRODUCTIONS & LEAN & Kaizen TRAINING

ASSESSMENT

PRIORITIZATION / ACTION PLAN

CONTINUE IMPLEMENTATION

PREPARE PRESENTATION

11:00 - 11:30 Management Update Meeting

PRESENTATION

DISCOVERY DATA GATHERING

BRAINSTORMING 12:00 - 5:00 BEGIN IMPLEMENTATION

EVALUATION / TRAINING / METRICS

Typically Longest Day

Project Week

At the end of each day update Decision Maker(s) of team’s progress

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Kaizen Event Charter

Project Description, Goals and Objective Metrics?

Boundaries – what is off limits

Logistics – forget it and suffer!

Team Members Proper choices

Give notice

Agenda

Facilitator Prep - research the current state and have a back pocket solution

Train the Team

Lean Introduction

Airplane Exercise

Specific tools that you founds useful for the event

Goal is to educate but also to ‘friend-raise’

What is Lean?

Value Added (VA)

Those activities that transform

material/information into a finished

product

Non Value Added (NVA)

All other activities in a process

Most activity is NVA

What is Lean?

Focus on the Timeline

Product Leadtime

95% 5%

Traditional Focus

Lean Focus

Value Adding activities Non-Value Adding activities

What is Lean?

Eight Types of waste

Inventory

Motion

Transportation

Overproducing

Extra Processing

Rework

Unused employee Ideas

Waiting

Types of Kaizen Events Problem/Target

Format/Training Tool

Setup reduction SMED

5S 5S

Manufacturing process flow VSM/process flow map and airplane simulation

Admin or pre-production process VSM/process flow map & airplane simulation

Layout Process flow map/spaghetti diagram/5S/airplane simulation/relationship diagram

Lead-time reduction VSM and airplane simulation

On-time delivery VSM and/or “forensic” review of several past late orders

Miscellaneous Invent every time (discovery of current state, understanding of need)

Other Tools

Process mapping

Detailed walk through of the process

Discussion of observations

List similarities to the Airplane exercise

Waste ID exercise – Post-Its

Key – ask questions to get them to look . . . and see what you see . . . without you pointing it out!

Brainstorming & Prioritization

Members with equal chance to participate

Each member offers one idea at a time

No criticism or evaluation of ideas

No idea should be treated as insignificant

One conversation at a time

Informal environment

Think creatively

Record all ideas

Brainstorming & Prioritization

Impact

Probability of success

Ease of implementation

Cost

Quality issues

Management Update Meeting

30 minutes – 1 hour (informal)

Present findings and recommendations

Time for management to ask questions, give

direction and the team to get approval to go

forward

Role of RPI Champion – update decision maker

prior to meeting

Implementation

Divide team into work groups

Develop action plan (milestones)

Regular communication with work groups –

Where are you at?

Watch for “flounderers”

Gap fillers

SOPs, Creating documents / forms, etc.

Report Out

Team gives presentation

Practice – at least one dry run

Format Introductions, Team Picture, Goals & Objectives

Findings (Data Analysis, etc)

Brainstorming Results

Implementation & New Procedures

Goal of the team is to accomplish as much as possible during the week!!

Minimize follow-up items

Results & 30 Day Follow-up Action Items

Recommendations

Presentation should follow week’s agenda!

Keys to Failure

Poor team selection

Facilitator not prepared

Brainstorming before they truly SEE the waste

and potential solutions – judgement call

Lack of follow-up, no support for action item

accomplishment

Improper scope

Getting off course, sideline discussions