Kaizen Events: How and when to use them

Written by

Erik Hansen

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Kaizen Events – A fast way to execute changes

So by now you should know and understand that Kaizen is not a one time thing. It is something that we need to do every day, all the time everywhere. There is always room for improvement anywhere! Probably one of the first times you heard the word Kaizen was in connection with the term “event” or “blitz”. And this is a great way to make larger concentrated improvements. That is: using Kaizen events or Kaizen Blitz. I have even been trained in using Kaizen weeks.

Whatever the word or the term the concept is the same. In 3-5 days you analyze current practices, come up with new ideas on how to solve the issues, draw up a future state practice and begin implementing. The focal area of Kaizen and Kaizen events is on execution! Therefore there exists a rule of thumb: during the Kaizen event you need to implement at least 80% of the actions listed. The last 20% is typically things that are not so easy to implement. These could be organizational changes, technological changes, physical changes to buildings etc.

But then again if you have planned your event well you could very well do a lot of these things during the event. For instance you could already have booked the IT department to make changes in the system during the event. You could have spoken to HR and the participants on the event around organizational changes. You could also have contracted builders to make physical changes to your buildings.

So it all depends on the level of commitment and the willingness to cope with changes. But of course there is a time constraint so typically there are some actions that will have to wait. But again with the concentration on execution the last actions should be finished in no later than 3 months. So even if we are talking major changes it should be finished fast.

Kaizen events are a fast way to execute changes and improvements. They can be used to solve singular selected problems, for instance if you need to reduce your change over time. They can be used if you need to lift the OEE on a machine or a line or if you need to create a new route for a water spider. Or whatever the issue you are facing might be. Typically you would have an issue that you can’t find a way to solve and you don’t seem to find the time in the daily work to work on. Then a Kaizen event can be a great way to work concentrated on that particular issue activating the right resources.

Kaizen events used as catalyzer in larger projects

Another way to use a Kaizen event is when you are implementing a larger project. And perhaps this project is loosing a bit of momentum then you can use a Kaizen event as a booster. The beauty of Kaizen events is that it energises people, it makes it fun to work with other people and creates and immense amount of positive energy and creativity. So next time your project kind of stalls – think if perhaps one of your actions on the project plan could be executed as a Kaizen event.

An example of this could be that you are running a larger Lean project like implementing the future state in a Value Stream. One of the actions identified is that the up time on the machine or line is low, say 60% and that of course lowers the overall OEE. And to increase the up time to the wanted 80% you need to identify the major stoppages on the line and remove or at least reduce them.