The Kaizen Event Planner

Kaizen Events are an effective way to train organizations to break unproductive habits and adopt a continuous improvement philosophy while, at the same time, achieve breakthrough performance-level results. Through Kaizen Events, cross-functional teams learn how to make improvements in a methodological way. They learn how to quickly study a process,

Process Kaizen is a quick and easy to use how-to guide and reference book designed to supplement and reinforce best practices and standard work for Kaizen Event facilitators and project team members. Thousands of Kaizen Event team members have utilized the information in this book to support their training, learning, implementation, and facilitation of Kaizen Events. Process Kaizen is intended to assist continuous improvement professionals and leadership within the business areas of manufacturing, service, and knowledge-worker environments. Using the material in this book, any project team should be able to effectively scope the opportunity, engage the right people, and facilitate Kaizen Events with measurable results. The clear, concise presentations, process documentation, templates and examples allow beginners and experienced practitioners alike to succeed at implementing and facilitating Kaizen Events within any organization and targeting any process. The purposes of this book are to: 1.Act as an easy to use Kaizen Event reference guide - usable by anyone and easy to understand at a glance 2.Act as a Kaizen Event Planner for any process and for any opportunity identified or problem encountered 3.Act as a single source of truth for learning the principles and completing the deliverables of Kaizen Events Although not exhaustively comprehensive, Process Kaizen should enable readers to identify opportunities, baseline performance data, charter projects, plan and facilitate Kaizen Events, track benefits and report results. You will find every Kaizen Event process, activity and deliverable broken out in detail so you have a clear understanding of the activities and deliverables. Examples are provided so you can see how each deliverable is completed and how they fit together to improve a process.

Kaizen event effectiveness is a prerequisite for lean transformation success. It provides the necessary transformational jump-start, momentum, organizational learning and engagement, and sustainable, step-function improvements. The systemic use of kaizen events establishes the technical and cultural foundation for principle-driven kaizen -- the powerful combination of kaizen events and daily kaizen activities. The Kaizen Event Fieldbook brings this all together as an indispensable reference for lean leaders and implementers within any industry and for use at any stage within the lean implementation journey. One of lean's defining characteristics is learning by seeing, doing, and studying. In context with lean theory and lean leadership principles, readers will gain an understanding of the essential "whys" and "hows" of kaizen event standard work and event management, as well as a proven means to sustain the gains. The Fieldbook's multi-phase approach addresses strategy, pre-event planning, execution, and follow-through. Practical examples, over a hundred figures and tables, and many real-life "Gemba Tales" provide for an enriched learning experience. Also included is a chapter on the deployment of a kaizen promotion office, a glossary, and two appendices, which offer blank forms and an overview of daily kaizen.

This book reports a literature review on kaizen, its industrial applications, critical success factors, benefits gained, journals that publish about it, main authors (research groups) and universities. Kaizen is treated in this book in three stages: planning, implementation and control. The authors provide a questionnaire designed with activities in every stage, highlighting the benefits gained in each stage. The study has been applied to more than 400 managers and leaders in continuous improvement in Mexican maquiladoras. A univariate analysis is provided to the activities in every stage. Moreover, structural equation models associating those activities with the benefits gained are presented for a statistical validation. Such a relationship between activities and benefits helps managers to identify the most important factor affecting their benefits and financial income.

Metrics-Based Process Mapping (MBPM) is a tactical-level, visual mapping approach that enables improvement teams to make effective, data-based decisions regarding waste elimination and measure ongoing process performance. The mapping technique, often used to drill down from a value stream map, integrates the functional orientation of traditional swim-lane process maps with time and quality metrics that are essential for designing improved processes. Building on the success of its popular predecessor, Metrics-Based Process Mapping: An Excel-Based Solution, this book takes readers to the next level in understanding processes and process improvement. Included with the book is an interactive macro-driven Excel tool, which allows users to electronically capture their current and future state maps. The tool also audits the maps for completeness, summarizes the metrics, and auto-calculates the improvements. Improvements to this version include: Foundational content about processes—what they are and how they vary A description of the difference between value-stream and process-level maps New content about how to bridge the gap between your current state and your desired future state Tips for effective team formation and mapping facilitation An implementation plan for those using the mapping methodology as a standalone tool and not part of a Kaizen Event The Excel-based tool included on the accompanying CD provides readers with a user-friendly way to electronically archive manually created maps in team settings for easier storage and distribution across your entire organization. While current and future state MBPMs are initially created during team-based activities using butcher paper and post-its, the electronic maps serve as standard work documentation for the improved process, enabling training, communication, and process monitoring activities. This flexible, user-friendly tool includes: A custom toolbar that simplifies map creation and editing Automated calculation of key metrics An audit feature to prevent mapping errors The ability to simulate how improvements will impact staffing requirements System Requirements: The tool is intended for use on PCs using Excel 2003 or later—it will NOT function with earlier versions of Excel, or on Macintosh computers. View a demo of the Excel tool at: www.mbpmapping.com

This informative volume explores the roots of high-performance materials management, and enables supply managers to make the right choice of process control at the right time.

This book is not about debits, credits, or accounting theory. It’s about how a chief financial officer (CFO) becomes a Lean CFO to lead the transformation of a company’s management accounting system into a lean management accounting system. It’s been well established in lean companies that traditional management accounting systems do not provide relevant and reliable information to decision makers. The CFO, as steward of a company’s management accounting system, must provide the leadership to improve the quality of the information produced by a company’s management accounting system so it is aligned with a company’s lean strategy, lean operations, and continuous improvement. The integration of a lean management accounting system with a company’s lean strategy will lead to improved decision making by all users and drive long-term financial success. Lean management accounting helps all users, from executives to line managers, better understand the relationships between lean operating performance and financial performance. Written in the style of a practice guide, The Lean CFO is written not just for CFOs, but for all stakeholders of a company’s management accounting system, such as executives and owners, lean leaders, functional managers, and accounting professionals.

Healthcare Kaizen focuses on the principles and methods of daily continuous improvement, or Kaizen, for healthcare professionals and organizations. Kaizen is a Japanese word that means "change for the better," as popularized by Masaaki Imai in his 1986 book Kaizen: The Key to Japan‘s Competitive Success and through the books of Norman Bodek, both o