Key Features Of Kaizen Techniques
Kaizen is a management philosophy with roots in both US and Japanese management practices
. Two renowned American statisticians and quality experts, W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, spent several years helping the Japanese rebuild their manufacturing industry after World War II by educating them in statistical quality control and quality management techniques. The Japanese took this education to heart and went on to develop the concept of total quality management, commonly known as TQM. The philosophy of TQM goes beyond quality on the shop floor to embrace quality throughout the entire enterprise, including manufacturing, engineering, marketing, administration, sales, after-sales support, procurement, and, most importantly, business planning. The foundation for their TQM strategy was a concept called kaizen.
Kaizen comes from two words: kai, which means "to change," and zen, which means "good or for the better." Together, the words mean continuous change for the better, which many readers will recognize as continuous improvement.
1. Setup Reduction Kaizen
Setup Reduction Kaizen events concentrate on reducing the overall setup time for a family of parts or work centers. The entire setup to achieve dramatic reductions in overall setup time. Typical follow-on activities include batch size reduction efforts (and the associated WIP inventory and manufacturing cycle time improvements) that are allowed by the capacity freed-up.
2. Defect Prevention Kaizen
Defect prevention at the bottleneck operation is critical for success because scrap and rework have a non-linear impact on cycle time and throughput in the process. This is because scrap/rework at the bottleneck consumes production time as well as capacity. In batch processes, a 10% increase in scrap can increase batch size requirements by as much as 50%! For these reasons, defect prevention Kaizens can have very dramatic impacts on the process and profitability. Participants learn to apply mistake-proofing techniques such as poka-yoke, design for manufacture, source inspection, and adaptive control.
3. Process Flow Improvement Kaizen
Process flow improvement can be applied to all processes within a company, including business processes such as order entry, customer service, and warranty claims, etc. A process flow improvement Kaizen strives to understand the current complexity of the flow of parts/product/paperwork through a process and how to dramatically simplify the travel time, distance, and path. It involves measure and analyze processes through Value Stream Mapping, and then apply techniques to provide balanced work content, implement work cells, and streamline process flow. Visual control tools such as tart boards are used to control and sustain the improvements. In practice, Kaizen can be implemented in corporations by improving every aspect of a business process in a step-by-step approach, while gradually developing employee skills through training education and increased involvement.
4. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Kaizen
OEE Kaizens focus on improving overall "up time" on bottleneck workstations and equipment. OEE Kaizen efforts teach process participants how to analyze and improve OEE components using root cause analysis, fishbone diagrams, pareto charts, cause and effect matrices, and other data-driven tools. Operator movements are mapped from setup to process to teardown and all wasted movements and steps are eliminated. OEE Kaizen workshops can also include 5-S and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) efforts to organize and maintain the workspace and reduce startup, breakdown, material and scheduling losses.
5. Product Cost Reduction Kaizen
In industrial businesses, the biggest levers on the income statement are revenue and direct material. We have developed a Kaizen methodology to attack a product's material and labor costs while improving a product's performance and quality to better satisfy customer needs. While these events typically require a greater amount of follow-up to realize benefits, the results are often many factors higher than other Kaizens.It involves cross-functional team setting, such as Requirements Definition, Value Analysis/Value Engineering, Design for Assembly, and Design for Manufacture.
6. Kanban / Pull System Kaizen
Kanban Kaizens are focused on making rapid improvements in both process cycle time and on-time delivery. Results are realized through the implementation of generic pull systems to control manufacturing cycle times and/or the elimination of part shortages via replenishment pull systems. These kanban systems rely on highly visual factory control tools, which are both easy to understand and operate, allowing shop floor employees to quickly take ownership of and maintain/update the systems.
7. Diagnostic Kaizen
A Diagnostic Kaizen analyzes a process, cell or manufacturing line using Supply Chain Accelerator (SCA) software. Interfacing with legacy systems or ERP systems, SCA downloads the necessary data such as part information, bill of materials, routers, and workstation data. SCA then develops a process model, analyzes where the constraint is, and performs "what if" analyses to determine which type of improvement will have the biggest impact - Setup Reduction, Defect Prevention, and Total Productive Maintenance. In addition, SCA will calculate the optimal batch sizes to meet customer demand. Thus, not only is the right problem attacked, but the right tool is used.
8. Kaizen Events
Kaizen Events - also referred to as Kaizen Blitzes - are three- to five-day focused events during which a cross-functional team studies a process to identify waste and implements improvements to eliminate the root cause of the waste, generating rapid and often far more dramatic results than those typically obtained from traditional improvement methods. While originally embraced by manufacturing, Kaizen Events are now being used by industries of all types, and in organizations of all sizes to implement rapid change.
by: jamesmiller
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