Kaizen Blitz: Significantly Improving Performance in a Week or Less

Owners and managers are constantly searching for production improvement applications. A Kaizen Event, when properly planned, coordinated, and executed, can increase performance, with little or no capital expense, in seven significant ways:

• Increased productivity;
• Reduced inventory;
• Lower setup times;
• Less waste;
• Space use reductions;
• Quality improvement; and/or
• Order-to-delivery time improvement.

To attain improved performance, management must commit to and support the outcome of an event, which is loosely described as the application of Lean using a prescribed methodology in a concentrated area of operations in a short period of time. That methodology is described in this report and includes steps to successfully managing a Kaizen Blitz, a quick review of Lean concepts, a sample time schedule for an event, sample forms for use in conducting an event, and finally a review of the pilot event in a case study format.
 

Published: 2009
Size: 10 pages