The Kaizen workshop
This topic gives you the complete method to scope, run and follow up a one- to three-day Kaizen workshop on a line or a workstation, along with the pitfalls that cause most first workshops to fail.
This course is intended for team leaders, shop floor managers, methods technicians and continuous improvement facilitators who need to launch a first Kaizen workshop within their area, or who have taken part in one without seeing its effects last.
By the end, you will know how to define a scope that fits within a few days, build a cross-functional team including fresh eyes, set measurable objectives, run the intensive days between the meeting room and the shop floor, and organize the follow-up that makes the difference between a successful workshop and a forgotten action list. Each step is based on a quantified shop floor example and points out the most common mistake at that point in the method.
What you will be able to do
- Distinguish a Kaizen workshop from an ordinary improvement meeting and choose a subject that can be handled in one to three days
- Prepare a workshop in one day: scope, team, SMART objectives, indicators, room, roles of facilitator, leader and timekeeper
- Analyze the starting situation on the shop floor with a process map, a spaghetti diagram and the 5 Whys to identify Muda
- Build an action plan, complete as many actions as possible during the workshop and set provisional standards
- Manage the follow-up over several weeks: checking actions, training colleagues who were absent from the workshop, final visuals and communicating results
The path
- A Kaizen event, not one more meeting 4 min
- The preparation day: scope, team, objectives, roles 5 min
- Seeing the process as it is: shop floor, mapping, Muda 5 min
- Doing it while the team is there: action plan and provisional standards 5 min
- The weeks after: the follow-up that makes the gains hold 5 min
Prerequisites
No methodological prerequisites. It is useful to have already heard about waste (Muda) and to know one performance indicator for your line, for example OEE or the scrap rate.
The closing quiz
The topic ends with a 7-question quiz, and a certificate is issued on success.