| What is Kaizen | | | | whole. Leadership has managed to see that |
| "Kaizen," a Japanese word meaning "continual | | | | these events seamlessly and quickly fit into lean |
| improvement," is often heard in a professional context | | | | production methods using what is called PDCA (Plan, |
| where it refers to a team-based project that is | | | | Do, Check, Act). After the initial implementation of lean |
| focused on swift, constant improvement. | | | | production in a company's operations, more events |
| Kaizen Events | | | | occur in order to identify and remove any inefficient |
| Kaizen-focused events are a common part of lean | | | | practices and replace them with more valuable |
| production methods. They can occur in many ways, | | | | systems. |
| but typically begin with specific missions or objectives. | | | | There are ways of using these events aside from the |
| For instance, in a store, "to make sure there are never | | | | traditional ones. For instance, six sigma applies a very |
| more than 3 people in line at any one register," or "to | | | | methodical approach to the continual improvement of |
| increase sales of hair accessories by 10%" or other | | | | a company using statistics and design experiments. |
| meaningful kaizen metrics. | | | | During such a project, kaizen events are often used. |
| The objectives in these examples are clearly defined. | | | | Take as an example, a bank that is attempting to |
| Notice that they aren't things like, "reduce the amount | | | | increase drive-up volume and percentage. Using design |
| of people standing in line" or "increase sales." In addition | | | | and statistical methods, they may be able to determine |
| to a clearly defined objective, there is a set beginning | | | | various possible reasons why current drive-up traffic is |
| and ending point, for example from Monday to Friday. | | | | below the expectation. Perhaps they will discover that |
| The projects related to these events are never | | | | the actual drive-up location is inconvenient to clients. |
| especially long. It is common to see them referred to | | | | Kaizen events could be used to swiftly compensate |
| as blitzes, for the very reason that the targeted period | | | | for the disadvantage of the location. Perhaps signage |
| of improvement is very short. Looking at the previous | | | | and lighting could be improved. Maybe they will offer |
| example, the store could dedicate 3-5 employees who | | | | free checking accounts or an incentive for opening |
| spend all of their time over a five-day period trying to | | | | new accounts. The week-long event could see |
| solve the line length problem, and on the final day the | | | | several different things attempted. At the end of the |
| hope is that the goal has been reached. | | | | period, the team reports to their superiors who then |
| There are companies that do these kinds of events | | | | decide on what to do next. |
| on a one-at-a-time basis. What this means is that there | | | | The combination of this technique with lean production |
| is no lean production or other similar program. Instead, | | | | can maximize improvement, and is often referred to |
| kaizen is used as simply a continual business | | | | as "lean six sigma." This necessitates a high degree of |
| improvement technique. | | | | expertise because the separate disciplines both need |
| Practically every lean production initiative has these | | | | to be mastered. |
| types of events as an integral part of a | | | | |