Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

11. GEMBA KAIZEN

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

11. UNDERSTANDING KAIZEN:

11.1 KAIZEN is a Commonsense Approach to Low Cost Management.

KAI: CHANGE

ZEN: FOR THE BETTER

Its one focus is on elimination of MUDA.

Kaizen can be defined as

• The systematic,
• Organized improvement of processes,
• By those who operate them,
• Using straightforward methods of analysis.

Kaizen has its origin in Japan but it is practiced all over the world.

As related to the workplace, Kaizen means continuing improvement involving

managers and employees and workers customers and suppliers alike.

Quality is anything that can be improved

Masaaki Imai introduced the concept to America in 1986 in his landmark book,
Kaizen - The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success.

Imai, a graduate of Tokyo University in American Studies, lived in the United

States for five years during the 1950s, working for the Japanese Productivity
Center in Washington, DC.

His main responsibility then was to escort Japanese businessmen

through major American plants so they could learn about “the secret of American
productivity.”

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

From this work he compared the methods used by American and Japanese
firms to increase productivity.

The American or Western approach The Japanese way was to involve

was to seek a major improvement both employees and managers in
through innovation using: making:

* High technology * Small, low-cost improvements in

the way work is done.
* Massive capital investment
* Both management and
* Highly trained engineers. employees find room for
improvement every day.

BREAKTHROUGH IMPROVEMENT CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT

11.2 Kaizen typically starts with studying the way people perform
their jobs.

The aim of this analysis is to develop people to recognize and make incremental
improvements that could be made on a daily basis by those involved with the
operational processes.

It is based on seeking the wisdom of 10 people

rather than the knowledge of one.

Imai identified three building blocks for the Kaizen process:

a) Elimination of waste,

b) Good housekeeping,

c) Standardization of procedures.

Companies that have embraced Kaizen as a way of life have found dramatic
improvements in quality, delivery, cost, morale, safety and productivity.
This improvement in performance is the reason to establish and maintain the
continual improvement program.

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

11.3 Some typical misconceptions on Kaizen:

• Kaizen is for the Lower Levels, It is not for managers,

• Kaizen is only a sort of implemented-suggestion scheme,

• Any implemented improvement is Kaizen.

When does it become KAIZEN?

• Small (and some large) improvements are made

• Small time and small money is used

• Bottleneck problem is attacked

• Process observation is used

• Management support is guaranteed.

11.4 What is Gemba?

Gemba - Real place - (i.e. the Work Place),

Gembutsu - tangible objects found at the Gemba.

Gemba is where Value Is Added

(The Manager’s cabin is not a Gemba !)

What is Gemba Kaizen?

Originally considered a process of Continuously

• Identifying
• Reducing
• Eliminating

Muda from our Gemba.

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

11.5 Gemba kaizen Redefined……

A process of Continuously

• Identifying

• Reducing

• Eliminating

All 3 Ms - Muda, Mura , Muri from our Gemba.

HOW TO OBSERVE?

• Go to the Gemba,

• Discuss in Team,

• Look first for Muda,

• Then look for Mura,

• Finally look for Muri.

11.6 Implementation of GEMBA KAIZEN involves:

• Focused Improvement

• Setting up of Cross-functional teams

• A KAIZEN Time slot

• Applying 5 golden rules of Gemba management

• Avoid spending money (no investment)

• Working in PDCA cycle.

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

11.7 Five Golden Rules Of Gemba Kaizen:

a) Go to the Gemba

b) Check Gembutsu - (items at Gemba)

c) Take Temporary Measures on the spot

d) Find root cause & kill

e) Standardize to Prevent Recurrence

11.8 Some key benefits of Kaizen:

• Process Improvement,

• Reduction in costs due to elimination of waste, defects, re-work.

• Savings in idle – time,

• Reduces physical strain for people,

• Increases Customer Satisfaction,

• Development of the employees,

• Profits for the organization.

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

THE 10-COMMANDMENTS OF IMPROVEMENT

THROUGH KAIZEN

1) Abandon fixed ideas.

2) Think of ways to “make it possible”. Don’t look for excuses.

3) Don’t hide mistakes or defects.

4) Discuss openly and find the root cause(s).

5) Build “poke-yoke” to kill the root cause(s) forever.

6) Go for the simple solution, not the perfect one.

7) Use your wits, not your wallet.

8) See problems as opportunities for improvement.

9) Seek ideas from many people – use wisdom of ten.

10) There is no end to improvement. It is an un-ending cycle.

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

KAIZEN: SELF- READING

The Japanese word "kaizen" means simply "improvement," with no inherent

meaning of either "continuous" or "Japanese philosophy"; the word refers to any
improvement, one-time or continuous, large or small, in the same sense as the
mundane English word "improvement".

Kaizen is a daily activity, the purpose of which goes beyond simple productivity
improvement. It is also a process that, humanizes the workplace, eliminates
physical strain and teaches people how to perform experiments on their work and
how to learn to spot and eliminate waste in business processes.

The philosophy can be defined as bringing back the thought process into the
automated production environment dominated by repetitive tasks that
traditionally required little mental participation from the employees.

People at all levels of an organization can participate in kaizen, from the CEO
down, as well as external stakeholders. The format for kaizen can be individual,
suggestion system, small group, or large group.

At Toyota, it is usually a local improvement within a workstation or local area and

involves a small group in improving their own work environment and productivity.
This group is often guided through the kaizen process by a line supervisor;
sometimes this is the line supervisor's key role.

Kaizen on a broad, cross-departmental scale in companies, generates total

quality management, and frees human efforts through improving productivity
using machines and computing power.

While kaizen (at Toyota) usually delivers small improvements, the culture of
continual aligned small improvements and standardization yields large results in
the form of compound productivity improvement.

Kaizen methodology includes making changes and monitoring results, then

adjusting. Large-scale pre-planning and extensive project scheduling are
replaced by smaller experiments, which can be rapidly adapted as new
improvements are suggested.

In modern usage, a focused kaizen that is designed to address a particular

issue over the course of a week is referred to as a "kaizen blitz" or "kaizen
event". These are limited in scope, and issues that arise from them are
typically used in later blitzes.

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

KAIZEN Principles:

The three principles upon which KAIZEN thinking and organizational

culture are based.

a) Process and Results: The old approach to management is to focus on

results. It ignores the way in which things are done and so misses any
opportunity for improvement in the process.

In contrast, KAIZEN ensures that people focus on improving the process

by building the poka yoke / mistake-proofing.

b) Systemic Thinking: Looking at all activities as processes and putting

together the processes in the right sequence, such that they result in
consistent output i.e. right first time, and right every time.

c) Non-Blaming Approach to problem-solving: The traditional tendency is to

find whom to blame for a problem / mistake.

In Kaizen, the focus is not on blaming people.

Instead, people work jointly to find a solution to the problem such that
same mistake must not occur again. In this approach, the focus is to
understand how things work and how they can be improved, instead of judging
whether things already done are good or bad, right or wrong.

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

GETTING STARTED WITH KAIZEN: SELF- READING

1. For most organizations, Kaizen involves a significant change in the

corporate culture. This is key.

The attitudes of employees - from top management down to new hires

will need to change. Kaizen needs to become something all employees
do because they want to, and because they know it is good for them
and the company. It cannot be something employees do because
management dictates that it be done.

It means that, if the managers are not ready to lead by example,

Kaizen will not get off the ground. For example, a manager spending a
week on the shop floor, working with employees to help and encourage
them to develop suggestions will be of great help.

2. Employee training and communication is important.

a) The manager spending a week on the shop-floor should also ensure

that the employees see their suggestions acted on--immediately.
Suggestions should not be implemented next month or next week--but
today.

In some cases, a suggestion submitted in the morning can be

implemented that afternoon, or sooner.

b) Keep employees informed about what happens with their

suggestions. Don't let suggestions disappear into a management
"black hole."

3. To get Kaizen started it can be helpful to bring in outside experts. They

can work in your facility identifying problems that those close to the work
may not see. This serves as a "seed" allowing employees to see how
Kaizen works and to experience the benefits of Kaizen.

4. A significant obstacle to Kaizen in many organizations is that problems are

seen as negatives. We don't like problems. Someone who is associated
with a problem is likely to be negatively impacted (a lower raise, missed
promotion, or even fired).

In Kaizen, problems are seen as opportunities for improvement. With

Kaizen we want to find, report and fix problems. Kaizen encourages and
rewards the identification of problems by all employees.

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Certified Lean Practitioner Course Material Section 13 – GEMBA KAIZEN

5. To encourage the submission of suggestions, a part of each supervisor's

assessment can be based on the number of suggestions submitted by
those they supervise.

6. We need not evaluate employees on the number of suggestions they

submit. We need to evaluate the supervisors and managers and how well
they are doing at getting those who work for them to actively participate in
Kaizen.

7. Managers can also develop methods to help create suggestions and

increase the number of suggestions.

For example, they can set up teams of 5 to 10 people to evaluate work-

areas, processes, quality, productivity, and equipment availability
/ reliability. The team then makes suggestions for improvements, and they
may even implement those improvements.

8. Employees need to be trained in using Kaizen tools such as 5S, Visual

Factory, Kanban, Poka-yoke, TPM, Standard Work and Line Balancing.
___________________________________________________________________________

Keep in mind that Kaizen is about action:

* Taking action to generate suggestions.

* Taking action to implement those suggestions immediately.

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