In my article, “Building the Kaizen Pipeline: Where do Continuous Improvement Ideas Come From?” I promised to share some thoughts and tips for managing the Kaizen Pipeline and Kaizen Calendar. When used correctly, these tools can help you capture your improvement ideas, select the highest priority opportunities, manage activities, and provide information that will keep your Continuous Improvement program on track...
As a lean practitioner, I often get asked…
“How can I get more done?”
My answer sometimes surprises folks who expect me to give a long explanation of how they should incorporate lean tools and techniques into every aspect of their lives complete with their own personal version of the Toyota Production System House.
In my blog post, “It's Day Two of Kaizen Week: Time to Start Grasping the Current Situation” I presented the key aspects of data and fact gathering and analysis to help the kaizen team understand the target process before making improvements. This is the third article in the Kaizen Event Leadership series, and it is focused on how to enable a successful Day 3 of making improvements during “Classic Shop Floor” Kaizen event.
In my article, “It's Day One of Kaizen Week: Kicking off Your Kaizen Event for Great Results” I shared some tips on creating a high energy event kickoff to get your event started on the right (kicking!) foot. This second article in the Kaizen Event Leadership series will focus on how to enable a successful Day 2 of grasping the current situation for the “Classic Shop Floor” Kaizen event.
In my blog post, “Countdown to Kaizen: the Kaizen Event Planning Process” I promised to cover the Kaizen Event Leadership process. Becoming a skilled Kaizen Event Facilitator does not happen overnight - it takes years of practice to perfect the tools, techniques and leadership style necessary to step in and lead any and all event types successfully...
In my article, “Driving Results from the Kaizen Pipeline and Kaizen Calendar” I promised to cover the Kaizen Event Planning Process. This will be an overview of some of the high points of the Planning Process, with tips on setting the Scope and Objectives, selection of the team, and prework to ensure you are prepared for your event...
I was recently asked, “where do you get your Kaizen ideas from?”
Good question. Over the years, I have developed a system in which I maintain a Kaizen Calendar of upcoming events planned three to six months ahead with firm dates, and a full Kaizen Pipeline of ideas that haven’t made it to the calendar stage yet. To some people, it must look like the calendar and pipeline magically fill themselves with the next great opportunity. And, once key portions of the lean management system are working, it is almost magical how easy it is to continually populate the calendar with meaningful, impactful events and projects.
I’ve seen a lot of kaizen “event” bashing recently. I understand it, I really do. Let’s face it: the problem with the way most organizations “do” kaizen - it is purely event based, often consultant- or specialist-lead, and too few and too far between. And it stays this way, forever.
Lean purists tell everyone, “everyone is responsible for kaizen” and “kaizen happens continuously, on the gemba, don’t wait for an event.”
When I hear this, I envision an ideal state: where we walk to the gemba, and see workers experimenting with their processes, improving them and their products on the spot. Engineering, Quality and Management personnel are there to help remove barriers for the workers to achieve the next level of performance. Everyone knows that it is not just “ok to stop the line” and fix the problem right now... its expected. After all, identifying the root cause of problems, and preventing recurrence, and learning from it to bring more perfect value to our customers is the most important thing to do right now.
