Organizations embarking on Enterprise Lean Transformations use "Lean Techniques" as vehicles to accomplish specific breakthrough Business Strategies and Objectives. An inflection point in the organization's collective learning curve occurs when its members become "believers" and gain competence with the basic Lean tools through repeated successful applications. A key component of this enabling competence for transforming an organization is the 5-day Kaizen or rapid improvement event.

Leveraging the skills and experience our experts, the Lean Enterprise Platform provides the basis to effectively support 3-5 simultaneous teams. The team's objectives, goals, and deliverables are identified during a preparation process between the LVSI and the Lean core teams. The experts teaches the required tools, guides their application, and coaches and mentors teams and management to accomplish changes necessary to achieve the "future state" vision defined by the initial VSA.

A standard event is 5 days of rapid, focused, team action where the deliverable is a changed, more effective process that yields immediate improvements. Key to the kaizen process is to ensure the work areas are re-configured and fully operational by the week's end to allow the organization to enjoy the results and gain the return on investment of resources made during the event. The kaizen daily pace is summarized as follows:

Day 1 Study current conditions:
The kaizen week begins with an official kick off by senior leadership that defines the teams' goals and objectives, team makeup, and approach for the week "empowering" teams to implement break-through changes during the kaizen week. The kaizen teams receive an overview of Lean principles and basic Lean tools from the sensei. They validate the current conditions "As-Is" in each event team's area, identifying wastes inherent in processes and gathering data.

Day 2 Implement major changes:
The kaizen teams begin to make changes that must take place (including equipment moves), and track specific achievable benefits and associated metrics. Teams ensure the work areas are re-configured and fully operational by the week's end.

Day 3 Try-out and Debug:
The kaizen teams will spend the majority of the day supporting the newly configured work area, assessing progress on moves and key items needed for completion. This is a critical day to ensure significant progress is made in meeting objectives by week's end.

Day 4 Standard work and Redeploy:
The kaizen teams document standard work for "new processes" to ensure procedures are followed by work members. Establishing "standard work" is the heart and soul of the Lean transformation process and ensures that the "normal" condition is established. Also, appropriate staffing levels are put in place with product flowing by days end validating the new process. The teams, along with the leadership, will need to re-deploy employees in certain instances to ensure that the savings are realized.

Day 5 Presentation of Results and Recognition:
The event week culminates with a "Celebration" out brief attended by all the senior leaders and key customers and suppliers. The ultimate deliverable is a changed, more effective process that yields immediate improvements.

Common Kaizen Events

Standard Work - The most powerful tool within the Toyota Production System Methodology. Learn how to flow work, operators and machines to TAKT time and develop a stable and predictable process.

Cellular Manufacturing - Understand the concepts and implement the change in your organization from batch processing to 1-piece flow while reducing labor, inventory and increasing quality.

Set-up Reduction - Take machine set-up times from hours to minutes to seconds! Learn how to combine the resources of the floor, tool room and support groups in identifying waste in set-ups.

Visual Factory - Increase productivity by making your factory easy for you and your employees to navigate and improve the flow of vital communication to the floor!

Total Preventive Maintenance (TPM) - A one-week workshop that is comprised of operators, maintenance personnel and supervisors to implement a total productive manufacturing system for increased machine capacity and up-time.

Quality Control Process Charting - A highly powerful but simple technique used to identify and quantify all those informal rework & reprocessing activities that fly under the radar of standard quality systems.

Variation Reduction Kaizen (VRK) -  Statistical problem solving and process control in a 5-day kaizen format. Use VRK while executing your kaizen roadmap when a more sophisticated & comprehensive “green belt or black belt” project is not necessary.

Root Cause Problem Solving – Get to true root cause(s) of problems through basic, practical problem solving techniques. Utilize lean/sigma tools to resolve and control to prevent recurrence.