Purpose of Kaizen Events

Kaizen Events are bursts of improvement activity, where typically employees from different departments participate in a one- or multiday workshop to solve a business problem.

In my experience, the purpose of these events is not limited to just solving a problem. By solving a problem together we also aim at building capabilities and trust.

What capabilities are we developping during Kaizen Events?

First, we develop process understanding; i.e. understand how my work relates to that of my colleagues and eventually to the customer.

Second, we train people in problem solving methods and lean practices such as A3, fishbone, process mapping, 5 why's.

Why and how do we develop trust and relationships during Kaizen Events?

Cooperation and trust between people (esp. from different departments) are at the foundation of continuous improvement. Without trust and teamwork, there can be no autonomous kaizen. In my experience, people who have solved a problem together during a Kaizen Event have build relationships. They have a betting understanding of eachother's work and concerns. Consequently, I find that whenever a new problem occurs, they'll contact eachother much easier.

Go See - understand the process at the gemba

Here are some tips that can help you work towards this purpose of Kaizen Events:

• Plan time to train employees in problem solving tools, before applying them
• Allow time for participants to share views and opinions. The benefit is in the dialogue, not in rushing to the solution.

Taking time to reflect with the team

It wasn't until reviewing this article, that I realised the summary of this article is the same as my slogan "Improving Performance, Growing Together": improve your process and business while developping people and fostering teamwork.

Characteristics of work instructions

Have a look at these work instructions posted at a work station in the picking area.
What stories about standards does it tell us ?

Here's what I found interesting :

- they are posted at the workstation and visible for all, not filed away in a folder.

- work instructions (left) are supported with pictures

- employees working at the station must sign for accepting the new standards (right)

- work instructions have a limited validity (on the picture 17-8-2010) and must be reviewed by the station owner at fixed intervals.

- should the work instruction be removed, the label above signals the missing document

Use problem solving boards to monitor Lean culture

Recently, I visited the Scandinavian Solar subsidiaries and came across an interesting way to monitor the progress of lean culture throughout the company.

Traditionally, the adoption of the Solar Lean Way is measured in the annual employee survey. The survey measures the Lean awareness and employees' belief that the Solar Lean way contributes to serving the customers better and achieving the company's goals. Furthermore the survey includes questions on the lean leadership style of management. These are great measures at the start of a lean journey. However, these measures do not reflect the extend to which improvement activities are taking place throughout the company.

Let me describe how Solar is tracking the amount of continuous improvement activities as a proxy for "lean culture". Incremental improvements or point-kaizens take place on the gemba during meetings at the "lean problem solving boards". Here, teams discuss performance gaps and improvement opportunities on a weekly basis. Performance is measured and compared against goals. Any deviation from target (1) is addressed with rootcause problem finding and/or improvement suggestions (2). As the problem solving progresses (3,4,5), the boards keep track of the number of improvement actions in progress and the number of improvement actions closed (6,7).
( The number between brackets, refer to the numbers on the image below )

On a monthly basis, the number of improvement actions implemented (6) across all departments are aggregated on the regional lean board or country management lean board. Thus, an overview of the overall continuous improvement realisation is made visible and compared to target. On the image below, the red indicates that the continuous improvement goals within a particular location are not met. Hence, they are subject of a problem solving cycle on this board.

I'd love to hear if you have similar or other examples on how continuous improvement culture is tracked.

How to use influence to get things done

I enjoyed reading this article by Strategy+Business on how to use influence to get things done.
http://www.strategy-business.com/media/file/sb62_11104.pdf

Here are the five factors to use influence well:
1. Build up the courage to raise difficult problems
2. Leave your personal agenda at the door
3. Rise above the game, but don't ignore it
4. Engage the group using emotional intelligence
5. Be tenacious, because decisions do not guarantee actions

Closed Loop Corrective Action

Q: What do you do when something goes (seriously) wrong in your day to day operations?

A: Use a standard Closed Loop Corrective Action (CLCA) process. CLCA characterizes the problem, contains the problem, implements corrective action, identifies and addresses root cause, and verifies problem resolution.

In times when things in my operations don't go as expected, I rely on this standard approach for reacting fast and effectively. This CLCA process is part of my standard work as a manager and an add-on to standard A3 problem solving. The attached image includes a simple CLCA template. Here are the "5C" steps in the CLCA process:

1. Characterise the problem and get the right team together
To start with, establish a small group of people with the process and/or product knowledge, allocated time, authority, and skills to address the issue.
Now the problem or issue needs to be carefully defined and bounded by describing the issue and its impact. Tips for describing the problem are: analyse existing data, observe the place where the problem occurred (gemba), establish an operational definition, use 5WH (who, what, when, where, why, how), be specific, establish the extend of the problem (measurable).

Example 1: You have suffered a severe sun burn
Example 2: A number of PC's with a wrong configuration has been shipped to customers

2. Contain the issue
Once a problem becomes apparent there has already been some loss suffered, either by a customer or internally by one or more departments. Immediate action needs to be taken to 1) prevent harm (economic or physical) to additional customers or departments and 2) correct the mistakes that have been made. Containment action planning must begin as soon as a problem becomes known.

Example 1: Getting out of the hot sun and going to the doctor for treatment of a severe sun burn, and cool the skin with water.
Example 2: Stop shipping more PC's with incorrect configuration and ensure the impacted customers will receive the correct PC.

3. Identify the Root Cause
While it's desirable that corrective action be taken as quickly as possible, it's just as important that the true root cause of the problem is identified and fixed. Sufficient time should be spent in causal analysis so that the problem is fixed once, and stays fixed.

Example 1: Extended exposure to direct sun light caused severe sun burn
Example 2: The PC product configuration information on marketing material and on the online store feed from different data sources which are manually synchronized. The manual work is prone to error.

4. Corrective and preventive action
In this phase, interim and permanent actions are taken to deal with all of the problems that a) have occurred and b) similar problems that can be prevented. Corrective action is the implementation of a solution believed to eliminate the root cause of an observed problem, defect or failure. Preventive action means applying the solution to prevent a similar problem from happening in similar processes and products. In cases where the problem impact is high and the permanent solution complex, a Kaizen event or BPI project can be initiated.

Example 1: Putting on sun screen on yourself to prevent sun burn and putting on sunscreen on your children.
Example 2: Use one source for product configuration data to feed the marketing material and webstore.

5. Closure
Closure means verifying by means of data and observations that the problem has been solved and improvement are standardized and sustainable.

Four step check-list to enable behavioural change

I use this powerful four item check-list whenever challenged with changing people's behaviour.

1. Do people understand what is expected of them and why the change is necessary ?

2. Does the manager lead by example and demonstrate the new behaviour?

3. Do people have the capabilities required for the new behaviour?

4. Are structures and systems supporting the new behaviour.
E.g. Processes and procedures, compensation plans, KPI's, IT systems