Point Kaizen

Point Kaizen describes improvement actions concentrated on one workstation = on the spot.

In general, all lean activities are striving to increase the output of your processes by simultaneously increasing the level of quality by shorten lead times and using less resources. But not all lean initiatives are reaching these targets. Typically the cause lies in the lack of clear targets by the management combined with a misinterpretation of kaizen activities and organizational change.

Kaizen is the Japanese term for “change for the better” on a continuous matter. Point Kaizen refers to a compressed focus on one workstation and improvement actions during a few days, where e.g. in the end the station is no more the bottleneck of the line/cell. For many people this is considered as “Lean”, but it is only a small part of the journey to real operational excellence.

As mentioned Point Kaizen is a scheduled event. When you have an own Lean Management Team or Kaizen Manager these are the guys who are in charge for the upcoming days. Once the team is gathered the action starts.

5S all over: Yes! Let’s start! Use the euphoria and sort out, get rid of all unwanted objects. Clean-up and proper arrange tools needed. Install e.g. flow racks following the 2 bin principle to ensure straight material flow. The Kanban System and FIFO can’t be skipped. Once the workstation is transformed - everybody is proud to have been part this lean activity and communicates the success story.

If you continue with Point Kaizen activities you will reach a better performance on each isolated workstation and probably everybody thinks that you have a great lean initiative. But the real long term results are missing out. So why to continue with lean activities?

Take a step back and see what you have so far. With the improvement actions on each workstation you have raised the efficiency of all single steps but didn’t consider the flow of material in between. It might be tiring to put all this effort in and then the management comes along and sees no obvious progress. This is the point when you move from Point Kaizen action to a systematical organizational change. This process is focusing on the underlying targets of the organization, such as raising performance, decreasing lead times, improving quality and making more profit.

The A3 format comes back in the game. Not only the A3-report and A3 problem solving but more the target setting on an A3 format that tells the story of how the targets can be reached by preset measures. Combined with the future state Value Stream Map showing all Kaizen Bursts each representing a Point Kaizen activity. All those measures lead to a future state of material and information flow that drives your organization into new spheres. In the future with the new Value Stream your bottlenecks will shift along this stream and always creating new point kaizen starting points. Bottlenecks by this can be either stocks of material, high process times or a lack of information. All Kaizen activities, no matter concerning material or information flow, are implemented following a prioritized list. You not only will have to reallocate resources, but also actively participate on the process of organizational change. You and your mid-management are in the driving seat, you have to know where your organization is heading, so make sure that you and your management are participating on Kaizen activities.

Point Kaizen is the first brick of the foundation for organizational change. With the systematic identification of bottlenecks, Point Kaizen activities can be planned and conducted. To have quick changes but is still able to deliver, one bottleneck after the other is worked on. Each Point Kaizen delivers one piece of improvement for the overall improvement needed. These superordinate targets are an increased output, reduction of lead times by simultaneously achieving Zero Defects Policy and all this combined with lower labor costs.

DMAIC

Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. Incremental process improvement using Six Sigma methodology.

DMAIC can bee seen as a data-driven improvement strategy and for sure is part, or will be a part, of your organizations SIX SIGMA quality initiative. DMAIC is an acronym for: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.

DMAIC is a cyclical process such as the PDCA is. The reason to go for the DMAIC is to strive for the best result possible with a structured approach.

These process steps are:

DEFINE: the customers and their CTQ (Critical to Quality) and the core process involved.

• Who are your customers?

  • What are their requirements for products or services?

  • What are their expectations?

• Go for a value stream and map the process flow through the complete business process

MEASURE:

• Define a plan on how to collect data from your core process

• Go for different sources of data in order to be as specific as possible on defects and metrics

ANALYZE:

• While analyzing the data along the process map make sure to identify the real root cause of defects and

• point out opportunities for improvement

• Compare shortfalls with the results of customer surveys

• Determine gaps between targeted performance and current performance

• Prioritize potential improvement measures

• Identify variation and their source

IMPROVE:

• Gemba Walks

• Improvement Kata

• Kaizen Workshops

• Target is to improve the current process in a simple and effective way

• Develop a prioritized action plan

• Do it!

If you want a structured approach, just read our PDCA article.

CONTROL:

• Stay tuned on your process improvement measures

• Make sure that they stay on track

• Prevent falling back to the “old way”

In the end, when you are in charge, require the full documentation. Make sure that everything implemented is well documented and a clear monitoring is installed that deviation can be fast identified.

Having or installing a sustainable problem solving culture in your organization will be key for the future. Make sure to institutionalize problem solving or a kaizen culture through training, training and more training.