Kaizen is a business philosophy focused on the idea of achieving significant improvements by making small, incremental changes to processes, products or services. This philosophy revolves around the idea of making continuous improvement. Kaizen events or kaizen studies are a way to focus on how an existing and inefficient process can be improved. In Kaizen workshops, experienced teams come together and develop solutions to the problem and implement improvements. In this blog post, we talked about the characteristics of Kaizen and Kaizen events.
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Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement in operational processes, but advocates making these improvements through small, incremental changes. It advocates that employees at all levels of the business proactively participate in regular and incremental improvements and share their ideas.
Small changes in kaizen include just-in-time production, quality control, efficient use of equipment, and elimination of waste. Small improvements made on these factors create big impacts over time.
Briefly, the basis of Kaizen is as follows:
Kaizen event, also known as Kaizen attacks, is a brainstorming session that focuses on finding effective and short-term solutions to improve the operational process. All frontline employees and management should be involved in the process and together should focus on running the process efficiently.
Kaizen events are guided by a facilitator. The facilitator brings the team together to work on improvement by considering a specific process. The team comes together to brainstorm on issues such as mapping the current process, eliminating problems, reducing waste, and streamlining the flow. After this exchange of ideas, the ideas that will provide improvement are implemented.
According to the Kaizen Institute, Kaizen events consist of three steps: Preparation, Implementation, and Follow-up.
The reasons for Kaizen events vary from business to business. In general, if a process is not working as it should if it does not add value to the customer or if there is any waste, a Kaizen event is needed.
The main reasons why a business should organize a Kaizen event are as follows:
In creating a Kaizen culture, it is mandatory for every employee of a business to apply Kaizen principles consistently in daily processes. However, planned Kaizen events are needed to address and solve more important challenges effectively. Kaizen events help solve the root causes of problems before they escalate.
In order to implement Kaizen event in the most efficient and effective way, it is necessary to pay attention to some rules.
Kaizen event provides advantages in issues such as quality, cost, motivation, growth, and productivity. For example, with kaizen activities, results such as 30% productivity increase, 50% quality improvement, 70% stock reduction are achieved.
Process improvement activities help eliminate waste.
It is necessary to make preliminary preparations before the Kaizen event. In this preliminary preparation, the purpose of the kaizen activity, the targeted process, the people who need to participate in the activity and the expected result of the event are determined. Afterward, important steps need to be taken to plan the kaizen work. These steps are as follows:
The facilitator should be someone who is trained in lean manufacturing and techniques, is willing to create positive change, and has the ability to motivate the team throughout the process. You can train a team leader for the facilitator role or get support from a consultant.
In the success of Kaizen initiatives, it is very important for leaders to be aware that Kaizen efforts will provide many benefits to the business. The leader's commitment and support to the process also positively affects the approach and participation of the employees.
Define a precise scope for the Kaizen event and focus primarily on a specific area or process characterized by inefficiencies that directly impact customer value. You can narrow this focus through a comprehensive review of key performance indicators (KPIs), root cause analysis, and various Lean tools.
The team to be established in the Kaizen event should consist of 6 or 10 people and should be selected strategically. Team members who will participate in the Kaizen event must have certain characteristics. These features are as follows:
- Team members should be regularly doing the work related to the process planned to be improved,
-Employees from different departments who can contribute to the process that needs to be improved should be selected,
-People who provide input and output to the current process should be included,
You should develop a program that outlines the intended results of the Kaizen event and communicate these goals to team members. The program should include sequential steps to be performed each day throughout the event.
Kaizen events are usually completed within a week. During this time, the team analyses the inefficient process, develops a solution, and implements and tests it.
The following steps should be followed in a five-day Kaizen event:
Provide team members with training on Lean Manufacturing. After training, identify areas of waste in a process with the team and collect data.
Brainstorm to find the root causes of inefficiencies and develop solutions. Identify the improvement idea to be implemented from the emerging ideas and develop a plan.
Implement the developed improvement plan.
Test how the plan improves. Measure the results of improvement efforts and make necessary corrections.
Communicate to management the effects of improvements made and celebrate the success of the work completed.
Continuous Improvement Software is a digital platform that combines Kaizen, Suggestion System, 5S Audit Management, Near-Miss Reporting, Lessons Learned, Action Management, A3 Problem Solving, Customer Request Management, and Digital Audit Management modules. The solution is the best and easiest way to collect feedback from employees, evaluate ideas, measure Kaizen applications, conduct 5S audits, in short, manage continuous improvement processes.
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