How to do Kaizen: Getting started!

Kaizen is known as continuous improvement. But as you can read in another article Kaizen can be interpreted as “Self disciplined obtainment of perfection”. So Kaizen is so much more than just “continuous improvement”. But how do you do Kaizen? What is the Methodology to do Kaizen?

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Methodology to do Kaizen

Well the way to do Kaizen depends on each organization and their methodology. But there is a general way or pattern to do Kaizen. The methodology consists of 7 steps:

Step 1. Train the employee in the standard. “Without standard there can be no Kaizen”. So to make sure you are actually making improvements you need to have a standard and train your employees in that standard. Working after a particular standard makes you aware of where it might be lacking. The same goes for anyone outside the process looking for improvements: if the process is performed after a standard and the same way every time its easier to find improvements. If its done differently every time it’s much harder to identify where the potential is.

Step 2. Identify your improvement potential: In my last article I spoke of how to spot waste and get rid of it. And this is exactly the improvement potential we are talking about. Identifying all the waste in the processes and defining the potential for improvement. So first step is concentrated on helping individuals learning how to see waste, problems and inefficiencies and discover areas for improvement.

Step 3. Analyze the current processes: When analyzing current processes we are talking about analyzing the current way of working. That means the current working process, the current level of equipment performance etc. There are a lot of different methods to do this work. These methods covers Waste analysis, Process Mapping, OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency) analysis amongst others. But I would say that first step is to write down or map each process step, dig deep into the way things are done today to discover the waste or the inefficiencies.

Step 4. Brainstorm to find countermeasures: So how do you get started on that? Well in my article about 7+1 wastes I touched on the ECRS (Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange and Simplify) tool. This is a way to challenge the status quo and think of new ways. Another way to get inspired is using the concept of motion economy. In this method you kind of attach a price for each kind of movement. You could for instance say that each motion costs a dollar or you could say that it costs a dollar for each minute you move. You could also say that to search for something costs 50 cent, to move costs a dollar, to carry something 2 dollars, to carry something heavier could then cost 5 dollars etc.

A way to promote some of these tools is to use silent brainstorming. That is a 5 min. silent session where the participants writes down suggestions and afterwards present them on a board to each other. Of course the usual brainstorming rules applies: no judging or negative comments, get inspired by other suggestions and create a creative atmosphere. Of course there are a lot of other tools and methods for idea generation. But this should get you started.

Step 5. Build an Implementation Plan: At least for the larger Kaizens or when you have to test a lot of countermeasures it is advisable to build an implementation plan. This could be the countermeasures coming from the application of ECRS or perhaps the application of Motion Economy or any of the other ideas and countermeasures created in step 4.

Typically you will build the plan in some kind of Gantt Chart with listed activities, who’s responsible, deadlines and milestones etc. There are a lot of different tools and ways of building it. But one that I would recommend looking into is the Tactical Implementation Plan. Typically the TIP isn’t that much different from a normal Gantt Chart though it does contain some information that is not usually depicted in the Gantt Chart. For instance the TIP lists up goals for the overall area or activity. That means that while you follow up on progress you can follow up on your targets as well.

Tactical Implementation Plan (TIP)

Step 6. Execute on your Implementation Plan: When you execute your Implementation Plan you need to do a thorough follow up. You can do the general follow up through registering the percentage of completion. A good way to control your implementation is by follow up on last weeks progress and plan execution for this week. If you are using a TIP to control your implementation you use a line to show you’re on target, a triangular parenthesis to the left to show your delayed and a triangular parenthesis to the right to show you are before schedule. The trick is to make sure you note any delays and then register them. This registration contains a description of the problem, countermeasure, who’s responsible for the countermeasure and finally PDCA follow up. In this way you are always in control of your plan and there’s no delays that you don’t know of or can’t explain.

Step 7. Follow up on your countermeasures: In this step you try to get an answer to the question “did it work?”. In evaluating the method you should compare the status to your target. You should have a target that you want to reach, e.g. in your implementation plan. You have to follow up on if you reached the target, if the improvement has created the wanted and expected result. This can be shown visually either in the form of pictures or diagrams etc. If the new method is a success and you’ve reached your target you should standardize the new process or method. This is done in some sort of standardization document, SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), Job instruction etc. It is important to document the improvement but even more important is to train your people in the new standard. In this way you can be certain that your improvement target will be reached and maintained.

The PDCA circle and the 7 step Kaizen model

Apparently it looks like the process of Kaizen is very linear. But that is far from the truth. In fact the process of Kaizen and finding and testing different hypotheses is much more circular. Just like the PDCA circle. This circle goes through four phases: the plan, the do, the check and the act:

Plan: In this phase you plan what it is you want to investigate and find a solution for, obtaining data, setting up experiments, and identifying how results are verified. The last part is imperative since if you don’t know how to measure the result how will you know if you have reached your target or your goal?

Do: In this phase you carry out the experiment or the activity. It is of the utmost importance that you ensure that the experiment or the activity is carried out as planned. If you make last minute changes how will you know that your countermeasure really works as planned. Stick to your original plan and if after the follow up you want to change something: do another experiment!