Kaizen Event - a managerial tool for problem-solving

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Summary: A Kaizen Event represents the idea of an event in an organization where management invites employees to work together in cross-functional teams to identify and solve a problem in a short period of time. Kaizen events are different from other kinds of “collaborative workshops” since it is centered on a Lean thinking approach and uses general lean tools. This article looks into how Kaizen Events can be used as a managerial tool for problem-solving processes in a project. It will thereby go into the category of Project Management. The article will introduce the term Kaizen Events relative to general Lean principles and the Kaizen concept in Lean thinking. The article will then give an overview of and a Guide to how a Kaizen Event should be carried out and what important things to consider when doing so. The article states that Kaizen Events can be used as a bottom-up approach for rapid improvement and problem-solving beyond the context of lean manufacturing. It also states that a core benefit from carrying out Kaizen Events is creating motivation and problem-solving capabilities for the individual employees that will benefit the organization as a whole.


Contents

Keywords 

Kaizen, Kaizen Event, Lean Thinking, Problem-solving, Cross-functional teams, Project Management, Lean Project Management.

Introduction to Kaizen Event

Kaizen vs. Kaizen Event in Lean thinking

Lean thinking a business strategy that aims for achieving a lean enterprise, meaning that an organization should strive to reduce waste and non-value-adding effort through the 5 basic lean principles (See section “Kaizen Events and Lean Principles”). Kaizen can however be defined as a way of achieving this.

According to Lean thinking does the term Kaizen represent continuous incremental improvement, and it refers to a general way of thinking and behaving. Kaizen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen) should be practiced on a daily basis and it is about empowering and unleashing the creative power of people who actually do the work, in order to design more effective and efficient processes. This in order to spread lean thinking throughout the organization and teach the employees how to effectively solve problems as they arise (top-down approach). A Kaizen Event, on the other hand, are a formalized activity that an organization uses to achieve rapid and dramatic improvements (Kaikadu) and progressively shift the culture in an organization. Kaizen Events create a structured environment in which teams learn how to identify waste and apply specific lean tools to eliminate it. In this “learn-by-doing” environment, the teams become more comfortable with their authority to make improvements, and its therefore referred to a bottom-up approach for making changes. Under the guidance of a skilled facilitator, a Kaizen Event can generate rapid results. This is however relying on the creative power of cross-functional team to design and implement innovative ways to perform work [1].

Kaizen Event definition

A Kaizen Event can be defined as:

"A focused and structured improvement project, using a dedicated cross-functional team to improve a targeted work area, with specific goals, in an accelerated timeframe." [2]

This definition can however be rather abstract and in the context of this article is a good reference the term “workshop” that can is defined as:

”A brief, intensive course of education for a small group, emphasizing interaction and practical problem solving.”
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/workshop)

Therefore are Kaizen Events are also referred to as Kaizen workshops (or Kaizen Blitz or blitzen). This article will use the term Kaizen Event representing a five-day event that focuses on problem solving using the Lean thinking approach [3].

All the activities involved in conducting a Kaizen Event will in this article be referred to as the Kaizen Event Process.

Kaizen Event & Lean principles

Table 1: Lean principles and their relationship to Kaizen Events

The five main Lean principles are:

  1. Specify value.
  2. Identify the value stream.
  3. Create flow.
  4. Pull from customer.
  5. Seek (continuous) perfection.

The Kaizen concept belongs to the Seek perfection lean-principle because the idea of achieving perfection is an on-going process that involves continuous improvements. Whereas In a Kaizen Event focus on a problem in all or one part of the other four lean principles [1]. The relationship between the 5 lean principles and Kaizen Event is explained in Table 1.












Increasing use of Kaizen Events

Kaizen Events are often associated with lean production and lean manufacturing [4], where Kaizen Events can result in improvements in technical system outcomes, such as lead time, work-in-process inventory, and productivity. It has however also gained a reputation for providing social system outcomes, such as helping employees develop new problem-solving capabilities and increased motivation to participate in future improvement activities [5]. Given this potential of Kaizen Events for producing rapid improvement in both technical and social system outcomes, many organizations appear to be increasing their use of Kaizen Events [6]. Kaizen Events are an increasingly common organizational improvement mechanism aimed at work area transformation and employee development [2] and it is therefore also seen as managerial tool. This increased focus has also resulted in an expansion of the use of Kaizen Events. Several companies has also started using the frame of the Kaizen Event as a problem-solving tool for concrete problems related to other areas in the company such as the R&D department focusing on product development.

Imai Masaaki and Kaizen as a problem-solving process

According to one of the formulators of the Kaizen concept, Masaaki Imai, is the problem-solving capability one of its core elements:

”The starting point for improvement is to recognize the need. This comes from recognition of a problem. If no problem is recognized, there is no recognition of the need for improvement [..] Therefore, Kaizen emphasizes problem-awareness and provides clues for identifying problems” [7]

Masaaki claims that once a problem has been identified it must be solved and therefore does the concept of Kaizen also contain various problem-solving tools. Another core idea of the Kaizen concept is that all employees in the organization have the capability and the will to contribute to the continuous refinement and betterment of the existing activities [8]. Instead of seeking to control and measure the activities of the employee, the managers should act as coaches, supporting the improvement activities carried out by the employees in the kaizen teams. This behaviour is facilitated in order to support a bottom-up approach where the individual employee has a say in the way problems are solved [8].

In his book “Kaizen - The Key to Japan’s Competitive Succes” from 1986 Massaki provides both analytical problem-solving tools based on attainable data, and more collaborative problem-solving tools based on verbal data. Today these methods are still valid and well recognized. They are used frequently in Kaizen Event in companies around the world, but should be carefully selected relative to the scope of the Kaizen event. See section "Kaizen Event Tools" for further elaboration.

Masaaki also introduces the general lean principle tool called Quality Circles, that he also elaborates on. He calls his elaboration of this principle PDCA-circles, which is a common approach used in the context of Kaizen Events [9].


PDCA and Kaizen Events

Table 2: Macro and micro level of the PDCA

Kaizen Events use the scientific approach of plan-do-check-act (PDCA), one of the cornerstones of the Toyota Production System. The PDCA improvement cycle focus on seeking perfection rather than waiting for perfection. The PDCA cycle is present at two levels a Kaizen Event. The three phases of a Kaizen Event – planning, execution and follow-up (macro-level). During the Event itself (the execution phase) lies a micro PDCA cycle [1].

This PDCA cycle provides iterative loops in the Kaizen Event which makes the participants go over a improvement solution several times. This forces the participants to think all the way to the implementation phase and think beyond the working function of the solutions. This iterative process is one of the forces in a Kaizen Event and the quick loops in a accelerated timeframe is what differentiates Kaizen Events form other workshops types.




















Guide for a Kaizen Event process

Table 3: Important things to consider in the PLANNING phase

Basic on a literature study a generic framework for a Kaizen Event process is outlined and includes the following steps:

  • Planning (“Plan”)
  • Executing (“Do” & “Check” and iterative circles of PDCA)
  • Follow-up & Implementation plan (“Act”)

PLANNING

To plan a Kaizen Event the following activities should be done [1]:

  • Select Kaizen Event facilitator – will you use and internal or external consultant?
  • Communicate the plans for the Kaizen Event to the entire organization
  • Select area of investigation (scope of the Kaizen Event)
  • Select problem for improvement
  • Select team member, define the team and team leader
  • Prepare the area/scope
    • Gather needed supplies and equipment
    • Gather data and background information needed
  • Schedule the workshop

What important things to consider in the different steps in the PLANNING phase are listed in Table 3.

Table 3: Important things to consider in the PLANNING phase

Since a Kaizen Event is dependent on the people participating in it is the role of the Kaizen Event facilitator and the way the Kaizen Team is chosen and put together especially important.

Kaizen Event Facilitator (sensei)

Through the process of a Kaizen Event, the facilitator teaches the team members how to think in lean terms and how to use the lean tools selected for the event. The role of the facilitator is to keep the team on track from a time perspective, help maintain momentum and assist the team in overcoming obstacles [1].






Kaizen Team formation

A Kaizen Event team represents a specific type of team—a short-duration dedicated project team [10]. The composition of a Kaizen Event team must therefore be structured to achieve the following desired outcomes [1]:

  • Short-term performance improvements results
  • Long-term improvement of cultural transformation
  • Teamwork critical elements in creating a continuous-improvement culture.
  • Good mix of individual from across functional units in the organization.

The above should be considered relative the scope of the Kaizen Event – including the context of the problem that should solved.

A different core idea of the Kaizen concept is that many problem-solving situations call for collaboration among people from different departments. When doing a Kaizen Event it is therefore believed that an important feature of the design approach is to involve people from different backgrounds because it will make it more effective to solve cross-functional problems [7].

KAIZEN EXECUTION

Table 4: Example of Generic five-day Kaizen Event agenda for a complex improvement

To execute a Kaizen Event the following activities should be done [1] [6].: :


  • 0. Orientation
    • Introduce the team and assign roles
    • Introduce the workshop objectives and procedures
    • Distribute team supply kits and resources
    • Conduct needed training and set ground rules
  • 1. Understand the current situation
    • If possible, observe the selected area and gather data
    • Review the value stream map
    • Set up areas for improvements
  • 2. Make improvements
    • Documentation and understanding of the current state
    • Identification of opportunities for improvement
    • Improvement selection & prioritizing;
    • Develop improvements ideas
    • Test ideas and implement the new plan
  • 3. Follow-up preparation
  • Results presentation
  • Documentation of an action item list for follow-up activities





Kaizen Event tools

The tools selected for a Kaizen Event should be carefully selected relative the desired outcome of the Kaizen event and the teams participating in it. Moreover should the tools be selected to both help understanding Current state and identify problems thereof and they should support the process of coming up with future improvements.

Current State Analysis: This part of the Kaizen Event is about understanding the “Current State”. There are several ways of identifying and selecting what problem(s) to improve in a Kaizen Event. Often will the problem area for the current analysis be defined prior the execution of the event. The main idea in conducting the current state analysis in cross-functional teams is to understand the root-causes of the selected problem area. Tools from categories of analytical- and collaborative problem-solving can be used to understand the current state.

Analytical problem-solving tools:

Collaborative problem-solving tools:

The above represents the "traditional" lean tools that also includes the lean production tools, such as standardwork, 5S (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5S_(methodology)). In recent literature are Value Stream Mapping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_stream_mapping) and Cause-and-effect diagram referred to as the main fundamental tools for the Root-Cause-Analysis – RCA tools [3]: Value Stream Mapping is used to identify all relevant functions and individuals, to understand about the process flow and to document the current process of performance. On the other hand does a Cause-and-effect diagram identify the characteristics of a process or a problem according to the factors that contribute to them. It also serves as a visual tool that supports brainstorming and document potential causes and sub-causes for an undesired effect or outcome. In this way does it provide a structure to a teams brainstorming [3].

Make improvements: This part of the Kaizen Event focuses the process of generating aggressive outcomes:

  1. Start by reviewing the Current State Analysis
  2. Stimulate innovative thinking (initiated by “ice breaker” exercise)
  3. Provide improvement tools training
  4. Conduct brainstorming session to generate improvement ideas
  5. Evaluate and Prioritize improvement options
  6. Test ideas, iterate and implement the new plan
  7. (Develop new standards)
  • The brainstorm session: There are several ways to conduct brainstorming. The most important thing is to set up common rules in the team, to avoid judgement, and to make team members confident to suggest wild ideas and make it okay to build on ideas from others. Principles of various other fields can be applied in this section, and should be chosen relative to the scope of the Kaizen.
  • Affinity diagram: It is a tool commonly used to sort a large numbers of ideas stemming from brainstorming into groups, based on their natural relationships.
  • Quick prototyping: The ideas from the brainstorming should be tested by doing simple prototypes that could be made within a couple of hours with simple materials, such as cardboard. This is done to quickly test, verify and iterate on the ideas. In the context of manufacturing this could be done by outlining the new layout of the workshop with duct tape and in product development this could be done by building simple models from cardboard.


FOLLOW-UP & IMPLEMENTING IMPROVEMENTS

Sum up of what to consider in the follow-up phase [3]:

  • 1. Present the results of the Kaizen Event
    • Prepare presentation
    • Present the results and display results in a central area for people to read
    • Celebrate the completion of the workshop
  • 2. Follow-up
    • Assign follow-up tasks and make sure they are completed.
    • Prepare and conduct training
    • Document and continue to tracks results.
    • Consider next steps.

They key question that the Kaizen team must answer when considering its implementation strategy is what key tasks should be set up and to whom. Also it is important to consider the impact of change and how many people will be affected of the desired changes. [3].

Sum up of factors to consider during the Kaizen Event process

Table 6: Critical factors to consider during the Kaizen Event process

Even though the use of Kaizen Events are increasing does organizations currently lack guidelines for how to organize knowledge related to Kaizen Events in order to better understand recommended practices and to evaluate current practice [11] Critical factors of what to consider throughout the Kaizen Event process can be useful in order to achieve full potential of the time spend on the Events write [2] .


The scope and goal clarity of the Kaizen Event is key for a successful outcome. Also should the tools used should fit to the scope of the Event. It can seem obvious but since the Kaizen Event evolves around empowering the people in the company do preparation and understanding team dynamics have a high impact on the outcome. To obtain maximum impact on both employee attitude and problem-solving ability organizations should seek to maintain a high level of positive internal team dynamics, through the use of structured mechanisms (e.g., team ground rules, ice breakers, training, charters) and facilitator coaching. To increase team problem-solving capability teams should be allowed a high degree of autonomy and that the organization should use mechanisms designed to increase participant buy-in for the event. This could for example be from clearly describing the reasons for the event, and thereby demonstrating how the event will positively impact both individual and organizational interests write [10]. Furthermore is support from the top management essential, since it will help create a culture around rapid improvement changes and also is key for getting the right amount of resources to go through with the improvement activities.


Benefits & Challenges

Benefits

Kaizen Events have the potential to provide the following benefits to the organization:

  • Understanding of the Current Value Stream
  • Cross-functional team work
  • Accelerated timeframe with 100 % focus (employees are relieved from their normal duties)
  • Workforce development (motivation and learning capabilities)
  • Training of collaborative skills (for both managers and workers)
  • Structured improvement around specific goals
  • Creativity before capital
  • Aggressive objectives
  • Rapid decisions and real-time buy-in

This article also stresses these non-measurable benefits from cross-functional team work:

  • Motivation and Enhanced job satisfaction (meaningful work).
  • Enhanced problem-solving capabilities.
  • Better work relationships between individuals, since employees work together to solve problems.

The setup of cross-functional teams supports the positive attitude among the employees. Through a Kaizen Event, cross-functional teams learn how to make improvements in a methodological way. They learn how to apply specific improvement tools. Most importantly they learn how to work with one another to solve problems rapidly and in a highly effective way [1].

The overall process of a Kaizen Event enable the managers to solve problems in the organization by empowering their employees the ability to be the ones that provide the solutions.



Challenges

Kaizen Events require experience: Impressive outcomes of Kaizen do not magically appear. Kaizen Events in development settings require more planning, skillful execution and follow-up than their manufacturing counter-parts. There is therefore a need for a skilled facilitator to run the event, and these facilitators are often chosen as external consultants. They can be good at running the event but may lack knowledge of understanding the current state in the company.

Goal clarification & Problem selection: Problems chosen for Kaizen Events should be ones that cause significant pain to the organization, but can addressed successfully in a five-day workshop with follow-up activities [1]. It should therefore be selected carefully prior the event so that a success outcome of the event is possible. The complexity of the problem identified for improvement during the event can change the scope of the event. A skilled facilitator that can help the team adapt and stay on the right track is therefore essential.

Selection of tools: The tools used for creative problem solving should be chosen relative to the scope of the Kaizen Event and the Kaizen team. This can be a difficult task since it what methods are best suited changes with the complexity of the problem.

Importance of team dynamics, motivation and autonomy: The team dynamics is of high importance in a Kaizen Event, but it can be difficult predict how people work together in teams. A skilled facilitator can however help to ensure that the teams stay in the right track. The team dynamics is dependent on a long range of factors that are not easy to predict.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Karen Martin; Mike Osterling (October 5, 2007). The Kaizen Event Planner. Productivity Press. p. 240. ISBN 1563273519.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jennifer A. Farrisa, Eileen M. Van Akenb, Toni L. Doolenc, June Worleyc, 2009. Critical success factors for human resource outcomes in Kaizen events: An empirical study. International Journal of Production Economics. Volume 117, Issue 1, January 2009, Pages 42–65.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Thomas L. Jackson, Kaizen workshops for Lean Healthcare, Rona Consulting Group & Productivity Press. ISBN 978-1-4398-4152-5.
  4. ↑ Womack, J., Jones, D. and Roos, D. (1990), The Machine that Changed the World, Harper Collins-Rawson Associates, New York, NY. Yin, R. (1994), Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
  5. ↑ Drickhamer, D. (2004), ““Just-in-time training”, Industry Week, Vol. 253 No. 7, p. 69. EFQM (2010), Assessing for Excellence, European Foundation for Quality Management, Brussels.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Melnyk, S., Calantone, R., Montabon, F. and Smith, R. (1998), “Short-term action in pursuit of long-term improvements: introducing Kaizen events”, Production & Inventory Management Journal, Vol. 39 No. 4, pp. 69-76.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Masaaki, Imai, 1986. KAIZEN – The Key to Japan’s Competitive Succes. ISBN-10: 007554332X.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Styhre, Alexander, 2001. Kaizen, ethics and care of the operations management after empowerment. Journal of Management Studies 38:6 September 2001.
  9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ref9
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Jennifer A. Farris, Texas Tech, Eileen M. Van Aken, Virginia Tech, Toni L. Doolen, Oregon State University, June Worley, Oregon State University, 2008. Learning From Less Successful Kaizen Events: A Case Study. Engineering Management Journal 20, p. 10-20.
  11. ↑ Eileen M. Van Aken, Jennifer A. Farris, Wiljeana J. Glover, Geert Letens, A framework for designing, managing, and improving Kaizen event programs, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 59 No. 7. 2010, pp. 641-667.

See Also

  1. Kaizen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen)
  2. Lean Thinking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Thinking)
  3. Lean Manufacturing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing)
  4. Toyota Production System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System)
  5. A3 Problem Solving (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A3_Problem_Solving)
  6. 5S_(methodology) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5S_(methodology))
  7. Ishikawa diagram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishikawa_diagram)
  8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Management_and_Planning_Tools
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