Kaizen and Kaizen Event

Implementation
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Kaizen and Kaizen
Event Implementation

Chris A. Ortiz

Upper Saddle River, NJ • Boston • Indianapolis • San Francisco

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ortiz, Chris A.
Kaizen and kaizen event implementation / Chris A. Ortiz.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-13-158456-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Total quality management. 2. Organizational change. I. Title.
HD62.15.O75 2009
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ISBN-13: 978-0-13-158456-3
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First printing, April 2009
 Contents

Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
About the Author xvii
Introduction xix

Part I Kaizen Basics 1

1 Kaizen and Kaizen Events 3

Kaizen 4
People of Kaizen 5
Leaders of Kaizen 5
Benefits of Kaizen 7
Kaizen Events 8
Common Mistakes Made in Kaizen Events 9
Metrics 12

2 The Company Kaizen Program 17

Kaizen Event Steering Committee 18
Plant or General Management 19
Manufacturing Engineering Management 19
Quality Management 20
Operations or Production Management 21
Human Resource Management 21
Maintenance or Facilities Management 22
Purchasing or Materials Management 23
v
vi

Production Supervisor 23
Contents

Operator Representative 24
Introducing the Kaizen Champion 24
Tracking 25
Kaizen Event Selection 26
Date and Length 28
Kaizen Event Team Leader 28
Kaizen Team Members 28
Preplanning and Preplanning Responsibility 29
Pre-event Goals 30
Actual Results 30
Event Budget and Event Spending 30
Action Items, Responsibility, and Status 31
Kaizen Communication 33
Kaizen Communication Boards 34
Kaizen Newsletter 34
Kaizen Suggestion Box 35

3 The Kaizen Champion 39

Why a Kaizen Champion? 40
Kaizen Champion Skill Sets 41
The Seven Wastes 41
Lean as a Business Model 42
5S and the Visual Workplace 42
Kaizen and Kaizen Events 43
Data Collection 43
Setup Reduction and Quick Changeover 45
Line Design and Work Flow 46
Material Replenishment 46
Project Management 47
Choosing the Kaizen Champion 47
Internal Option 48
External Option 48
Cost of a Kaizen Champion 49
 vii

Kaizen Champion Responsibilities 50

Contents
Training 50
Kaizen Monthly Meeting 51
Communication Boards 51
Kaizen Newsletter 51
Kaizen Suggestion Box 52
Kaizen Event Tracking Worksheet 52
Team Leadership 52
Action Item Follow-up 52
Monitoring Other Lean Initiatives 53
Alternatives 53
Why a Kaizen Champion? 54

4 Kaizen Event Scheduling 55

Four Weeks Before the Kaizen Event 56
Select the Process/Department/Work Area 56
Make a Tentative List of Kaizen Team Members 57
Select the Kaizen Event Team Leader 58
Establish Team Goals 59
Estimate Event Spending 59
Order Supplies 60
Update the Kaizen Communication System 61
Schedule Outside Assistance 61
Conduct Waste Analysis of the Area 61
Two Weeks Before the Kaizen Event 62
Finalize the Kaizen Team Members 62
Get an Update on Supplies and Outside Resources 63
Ask Team Members to Walk Through the Chosen Area 63
Pick a Room Where the Team Can Gather 63
Analyze the Collected Data and Start Coming Up
with Design Ideas 64
One Week Before the Kaizen Event 64
Gather Current State Information 64
Meet with the Kaizen Team Members 65
Place All Supplies in the Team’s Gathering Space 65
viii

Meet with the Plant or General Manager 65

Contents

Make Food Preparations 66

Final Thoughts on the Timeline 66

Part II Kaizen Events 67

5 5S Kaizen Events 69
Four Weeks to Go 70
Select the Area 70
Select the Team Leader 70
Tentatively Select the Team Members 71
Establish Goals 71
Event Spending and Supplies 71
Update the Kaizen Communication System 72
Identify the Kaizen Team Meeting Space 72
Schedule Outside Assistance 72
Two Weeks to Go 72
Finalize Kaizen Team Members 72
Get an Update on Supplies and Outside Resources 72
Ask Team Members to Walk Through the Selected Area 73
One Week to Go 73
Gather Current State Information 73
Meet with the Kaizen Team Members 73
Place All Supplies in the Team’s Meeting Room 74
Meet with the Plant or General Manager 74
Let It Begin! 74
Day One: Sort 74
Day Two and Day Three: Set in Order and Scrub 79
Day Four: Standardize 83
Day Five 84
Maintenance 5S Events 84
Day One: Sort 85
Day Two and Day Three: Set in Order and Scrub 86
Day Four: Keep Going 87
Day Five 87
 ix

5S Sustaining Tips 87

Contents
Create an End-of-Day Cleanup Procedure 88
Conduct a Daily/Shift Walk-through 88
Establish a 5S Audit Sheet 88
Create and Maintain a 5S Tracking Sheet 89
Develop a 5S Incentive Program 90

6 Standard Work Kaizen Event 91

Preplanning 92
Effective Time 92
Volume Requirements 92
Takt Time 92
Process Analysis 93
Day One 98
Red-Tag Team 99
Review the Line Balancing Information 100
Completing the Red-Tag Event 101
End-of-Day Meeting 102
Day Two 102
Line Design 102
Midday Meeting 103
Scrub/Shine 104
Maintenance and Machine Shop Projects 104
Tool Presentation 104
Shadow Boards 105
Subassemblies 105
Day Three 106
Day Four 106
Creating Workstation and Parts Rack Signs 107
Floor Taping and Designations 108
Determining Subassembly Build Levels 108
Installing Shadow Boards and Tower Lights 109
Day Five 110
x

7 Case Study: Samson Rope Technologies, Inc. 111

Contents

January 2007 112

Kaizen and Kaizen Event Implementation Training 113
The Return Visit 114
Lean Assessment and Strategy Sessions 115
Samson Rope’s Kaizen Program 116
Kaizen Steering Committee 116
Communication 116
Kaizen Event Supply Box 117
Monthly Meeting 117
Kaizen Event 1, May 7–11, 2007: Cell 5, Cell 8, and Splicing 117
5S Continued 120
Kaizen Event 2, September 24–28, 2007: Maintenance 120
Completing 5S 122
Kaizen Event 3, December 3–7, 2007: Coating 123
2007 Complete 124
Lafayette, LA: Lean Assessment 124
Kaizen Event 1, February 20–22, 2008: Large Rope 901 125
Kaizen Event 2, April 7–11, 2008: Area G, Area D, Area B 127
Samson Rope Progress: Ferndale and Lafayette 128
Other Samson Rope Employees to Recognize 129

8 Conclusion 131

Index 133
 Preface

How long do new ideas, once implemented, last? Many of you may
have embarked on lean manufacturing journeys over the years, imple-
menting 5S, single-piece flow, standard work, kanban, or something
else, but you find that nothing seems to “stick.” Let me illustrate a
familiar manufacturing situation.

It is business as usual at the Company A production facility. The manu-

facturing supervisor is walking back and forth, watching the interac-
tions between people and product like a general assessing his troops
before battle. A constant sense of urgency forces workers to ignore stan-
dard operating procedures and critical quality responsibilities.

Poorly designed workstations do not adhere to any ergonomic or safety

criteria. Work content is severely imbalanced, forcing operators to stand
around looking for something to do rather than working. Parts and
material presented to each workstation are poorly organized, so opera-
tors are walking around searching for items essential to performing
their work.

Crisis management and volume are typical preoccupations; people

resolve issues as they arise rather than finding long-term solutions. The
day ends with the usual production meeting with its semiheated
exchange of problems and quick fixes.

Does this sound like your company?

A company I worked for years ago had a similar culture. Resolution

efforts were disorganized. Too many people were involved, and they
worked with little direction. Small, separate teams were created to
focus on various problems and areas simultaneously. There were a lot
of them: a continuous improvement team, a process engineering team,
a quality engineering team, a 5S team, and a lean engineering team.
xi
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Each team was assigned tasks the company deemed important to imple-
P re f a c e

menting lean. Each team met regularly to discuss its projects and possi-
ble improvements, not knowing what the other groups were addressing.

Team members had to juggle their usual day-to-day responsibilities with

the team’s assigned improvement efforts. With no clear vision or goals,
teams worked for months on end, never resolving anything. The out-
come was inconsistent participation, tension, low morale—and, worst
of all, no results.

It is pretty clear that a company like this needs better ways of imple-
menting lean manufacturing processes. Yet implementation of lean does
not necessarily guarantee success if there is no support from top man-
agement. Without that support and a foundation for change, new ideas
will fall by the wayside. There has to be focus, dedication, and commit-
ment to making and sustaining long-term improvements.

The philosophy of kaizen, which means continuous improvement, can

create that foundation. Here is how a company kaizen program can help
a company like Company A:

1. Create a kaizen committee.

Not just another team, this is a group of upper-management leaders
who oversee all kaizen-event-related activities. They are in charge of
scheduling kaizen events, selecting team members, and keeping
everyone accountable for completing projects on time. A kaizen
committee can determine the lean initiatives and select team mem-
bers from the various engineering groups to implement lean on the
factory floor.
With this leadership committee in place, there would be no more
misconceptions about what to do and when to do it. With manage-
ment support, team members could dedicate 100 percent of their
time to the kaizen event, and their usual day-to-day responsibilities
would be given to others until after the event.
2. Create a champion.
Company A needs an employee who is totally dedicated to driving
the continuous improvement efforts in the organization. The only
thing on a kaizen champion’s mind is lean. He or she can help train
employees on the fundamentals of lean and kaizen. The kaizen
champion is responsible for monitoring the changes made through
kaizen events and keeps employees aware of upcoming events.
 xiii

3. Train employees.

P re f a c e
Employees in Company A, including operators, need to understand
fundamental lean and kaizen concepts such as 5S, standard work,
visual management, waste reduction, and takt time. As time goes on,
more and more employees will begin to understand the importance
of lean and kaizen, and a culture of change agents is created.
4. Hold monthly meetings.
Company A’s kaizen committee should meet once a month and
schedule kaizen events. All kaizen events should be scheduled four
weeks in advance for planning purposes. Team members should be
selected two weeks in advance, to allow them to plan accordingly
and so that their managers can prepare for their absence. Vacation
time can be verified to ensure that team members are available for
the event. This two-week time frame allows the team members to
make arrangements at home if the team is to work an off shift.
5. Conduct kaizen events.
Kaizen events are used to implement continuous improvement on
the factory floor. Holding an event every month will help the organi-
zation’s culture evolve into one of continuous improvement. Before
anyone can go back to the old ways of working, another kaizen event
is going on. Over time, new standards and procedures will be cre-
ated and resisting change will become harder.
6. Develop vision and focus.
The keys to implementing lean are vision and focus. Company A
had some vision, but no focus. Permanent changes will not happen
if a company simply “grazes” along with improvement initiatives. A
company can be staffed with the best lean talent, but without the
infrastructure to encourage and sustain improvements, the grazing
will continue. Developing a company kaizen program to act on this
vision and focus is essential to lean success.

Kaizen and Kaizen Event Implementation was designed to serve two

purposes. First, it is a valuable book for plant managers and middle
managers who are relatively new to lean and are looking for guidelines
to create an infrastructure for continuous improvement. Second, it can
be used in organizations that have just started their lean journeys and
need new ideas to accelerate their programs. Plant managers, engineer-
ing managers, lean champions, and even directors can use Kaizen and
Kaizen Event Implementation to jump-start lean in their organizations.
xiv

Kaizen and Kaizen Event Implementation is an essential tool for your

P re f a c e

company and can be used to develop a powerful and long-lasting con-

tinuous improvement journey for all readers. It is my hope that you find
tremendous value in this book and will use it as your field guide for
implementations for the life of your organization.
 Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I thank my family: my wife, Pavlina, and my two

sons, Sebastian and Samuel. Without their support and encouragement,
it would have been nearly impossible to devote the time to this book
that I did. All of my professional efforts are to ensure our success
together.

Second, I want to thank the staff at Prentice Hall who first took interest
in this book for their professional approach to making it become a
reality. I want to acknowledge my editor, Bernard Goodwin, for his
passion for lean manufacturing and for taking on my project.

Third, I would like to thank all the employees of Samson Rope

Technologies in the Ferndale, WA, and Lafayette, LA, facilities. The
relationship we have developed in the two years we have been working
together has been professional and highly enjoyable. Thank you for
allowing me to use your story in this book.

It is important also to recognize the countless manufacturing profession-

als I have had the luxury of working with over the years. My clients are
the true experts; I learn from them, and the relationships I have devel-
oped with them are critical to my company’s success.

xv
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 About the Author

Chris Ortiz is the president and executive lean consultant of Kaizen

Assembly. He has spent the majority of his professional career working
for Fortune 500 companies, teaching and guiding them to become more
efficient. Chris has also led more than 150 kaizen events around the
country. His company’s clientele includes Samson Rope Technologies,
Wood Stone, Hexcel Corporation, Messier-Bugatti, Engineered
Solutions, Prince Castle, Bellingham Cold Storage, Absorption Corp.,
Erin Baker’s Wholesome Baked Goods, Trans-Ocean, and IKO Pacific
Inc., to name just a few.

Chris is the author of the book Kaizen Assembly: Designing,

Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line (CRC Press) and
Lessons from a Lean Consultant: Avoiding Lean Implementation Failure
on the Shop Floor (Prentice Hall). His lean implementation techniques
have been featured in a variety of trade magazines, newspapers, and
corporate newsletters, such as Industrial Engineer, Industrial
Management, Process Cleaning Magazine, and many other trade publi-
cations. He is an active speaker at engineering conferences and expos
around the country.

Chris Ortiz can be reached by e-mail at [email protected],

or go to his Web site, www.kaizenassembly.com.

xvii
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 Introduction

Lean is not a “program”-based concept. This makes understanding lean

difficult for many professionals because we all like nice step-by-step
guidelines. In its simplest form, lean is about removing waste or non-
value-added effort in a company. Removing or reducing this waste is a
never-ending battle. By continually focusing on waste reduction, a com-
pany can react better to the needs of its customers and also operate at
more efficient performance levels. To understand the phenomenon of
lean, one must learn the tools within the philosophy and see how they
are intertwined. Kaizen is one of those tools. Kaizen and lean are often
confused; many people think that kaizen is lean, but it is only a part of
the lean philosophy.

The most commonly used lean tools are

• Kaizen
• 5S
• Standard work
• Setup reduction and quick changeover
• Kanban
• Quality at the source
• Total productive maintenance (TPM)

Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese word for “continuous improvement.” Kaizen
involves all employees in a company focusing on process improvements.
This first piece of the lean journey is often confused with lean itself, but
xix
xx

kaizen is not lean. Lean is about removing waste; kaizen is about contin-
I n t ro d u c t i o n

uous improvements. Kaizen is part of lean. This book focuses on kaizen

and the use of kaizen (continuous improvement) events.

5S and the Visual Workplace

5S is a methodology of organizing, cleaning, developing, and sustaining
a productive work environment. The 5Ss are

• Sort: the act of removing all unnecessary items from the work area
• Straighten: organizing what is needed so everything has a home and
its identity and location are clearly marked
• Scrub: cleaning everything
• Standardize: maintaining consistency in the visual workplace
• Sustain: maintaining improvements and continually improving
upon them

A visual workplace is one with no clutter and better visibility of prob-

lems so that employees can be more proactive. Items such as tools,
parts, documentation, and supplies can be easily located for quicker
access. 5S alone is an extremely powerful improvement tool for produc-
tivity, quality, and safety, but also for general appearance and increased
morale. Like kaizen, 5S is just part of lean.

Standard Work
Another powerful improvement tool is standard work. Standard work is
essentially “best practice.” It is an agreed-upon set of work procedures
that establishes the most efficient, most reliable, and safest methods and
sequences for each process and each worker. In a standard work envi-
ronment everyone has clear roles and responsibilities. More important,
people and machines are used to their fullest potential, and workloads
are evenly spread out. For instance, work content required in each
workstation on an assembly line should be outlined in detail, and
cycle times should be as even as possible. This allows for better flow,
and it places the same workload on each individual. If one operator
has 5 minutes’ worth of work in a workstation and another one has
31⁄2 minutes, then they are not evenly balanced; either the person with
5 minutes of work is overloaded, or the operator with 31⁄2 minutes of
 xxi

work is underloaded, depending on the flow requirements. The time of

I n t ro d u c t i o n
the person with 31⁄2 minutes of work is not maximized; hence the com-
pany is less productive.

Material handlers should have specific routes and routines and assigned
areas of responsibility. A person operating a piece of equipment should
follow certain setup and machine-run tasks, and this work should be
associated with a time standard. To ensure higher productivity and bet-
ter use of time, the machine operator needs to follow this standard
work. Standard work is supported through the proper documentation of
work instructions that outline the requirements of the work. These
instructions could be in the form of assembly instructions, setup
instructions, changeover instructions, material handling maps and
routes, cleanup procedures, and start-up procedures. The list can go on
and on. Standard work is an integral part of lean and must be incorpo-
rated at some point.

Setup Reduction and Quick Changeover

Reducing setups and the time associated with changeover is an absolute
must in a lean environment. Setup by definition is non-value-added.
The customer is not willing to pay for the extra time or cost your organ-
ization incurs performing it. Changeover is the process of setting up a
machine, equipment, or a production line for another process or prod-
uct. This time is downtime during which no value-added work is being
performed. Many factories have excessive setup times when machines
or processes are not operating. Companies can create a lot of problems
with long setup times.

Excessive work in process (WIP) and finished goods can accumulate.

Rather than changing over more frequently, the manufacturer simply
builds more than is needed, knowing that the downtime will be signifi-
cant. This is a “what if” scenario in that there is anticipation of orders
or of future need for the part or product. The problem is not output; it is
the long changeover time. Extra inventory can add to the internal cost
of the organization. The cost of added inventory is not simply the cost
of the parts; an entire infrastructure is required to maintain and control
it. It requires people, floor space, racks and shelving, software, forklifts,
paperwork, and computers. Inventory can get damaged while in stock,
or entire lots can be manufactured incorrectly and the problem may not
surface for months, when the item is pulled to place an order—when
xxii

it’s too late. So reducing the time associated with setups and
I n t ro d u c t i o n

changeovers is extremely important in a lean journey.

Kanban
Kanban is a material replenishment system that incorporates signals,
pull instructions, visual cues, bins, carts, containers, etc., to help coor-
dinate material and parts transactions throughout the factory and with
suppliers. Material and parts are kept in specified quantities and con-
tainers when needed. Implementing a kanban system will help your
company reduce the amount of inventory and help predict better flow
of material. It will help simplify scheduling and improve productivity.

The amount of material or parts for each kanban item depends on prod-
uct volume, size of the part, lead time from the stockroom, supplier
lead times, supplier quantities, market trends, and variations in your
model mix. Each kanban system, like all lean systems, must be tailored
to each business model and structure. There is no “one size fits all.”

Quality at the Source

Quality at the source is an approach to quality that places the responsi-
bility for catching errors in the hands of the operator, or at the point of
build. Successful implementation of this lean tool requires a major shift
in how supervisors and operators look at quality. Quality is not just the
responsibility of the quality control department. The process in which
the product is manufactured must be set up to allow production line
workers to recognize errors before they become defects. The develop-
ment of a proactive culture is needed in quality at the source, and a
mind-set of error prevention rather than reaction to problems should
be taught.

Line workers should be required to perform specified incoming and out-

going checks on every unit or with reasonable frequency. The produc-
tion line or work area should have the proper quality-check tools as
well. When operators check their work and their coworkers’ work, the
chances of a defect occurring diminish rapidly. Once the product
reaches a midline or final inspection point, it should pass with no
issues. It will take some time to change the mind-set of the workers who
 xxiii

may have just relied on end-of-line checks to ensure quality. In this lean

I n t ro d u c t i o n
system, quality is everyone’s job.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

If you have a factory that uses machines and equipment, TPM will be a
very valuable lean tool. TPM is a preventive maintenance (PM)
approach that creates employee ownership and encompasses proactive
machine upkeep. First of all, machines, tools, and fixtures should be set
up for fast changeovers, easy operations, and preventive maintenance.
You have to train your operators properly in setup, changeover, and
running the equipment, including the necessary safety and cleanup pro-
cedures. Avoid purchasing cheap and potentially unreliable equipment.
Although there is a short-term cost savings, in the long run the initial
savings will be lost to downtime, poor quality, and missed delivery
dates, and the equipment could jeopardize worker safety.

A TPM program should have three levels. The first level is the TPM
required by the machine operator. These tasks include daily cleanup
and checking operating conditions such as fluid levels, heat, and power.
First-level TPM is relatively simple and should be performed daily. The
second level of TPM is the work performed by a maintenance depart-
ment less frequently, maybe once a week or month, depending on the
machine’s use. Sometimes second-level TPM requires a total or partial
teardown of the machine for repairs or replacing parts. The third level
of TPM is the work performed by the manufacturer of the machine.
This may be done once or twice a year. All levels of this TPM program
are worth the investment in time and money to ensure that your equip-
ment can operate at optimum productive levels and last the length of its
life cycle.

The Seven Wastes

The purpose of a kaizen event is actually quite simple: to remove or
reduce waste. I say reduce because there is no such thing as a waste-free
workplace. With what has already been mentioned in this introduction,
you can probably put some of the pieces together. The concepts dis-
cussed are implemented to reduce waste, and can be done through
kaizen events or any other kaizen-related activities. Let’s go over the
xxiv

seven wastes, as they are the focal point of all improvement initiatives
I n t ro d u c t i o n

and the reason this book was written.

• Overproduction: The act of producing more than is needed, before it

is needed, and faster than is necessary. Overproduction is by far the
most common type of waste in an organization, and it can breed
other wastes.
• Overprocessing: This occurs when it is hard to see when something
is complete. For instance, grinding, sanding, and polishing can be
overdone, because a sense of completion is hard to gauge from one
person to the next. Redundant effort or steps, and excessive check-
ing and verifying, are examples of overprocessing. If operators need
to unpackage parts from suppliers on the production line before
installing those parts, they are overprocessing.
• Motion: Unnecessary movement of people in the plant or in the gen-
eral work area, such as looking for parts and tools, leaving the work
area for any reason, and physically moving products and parts.
Motion is probably the second most common waste.
• Waiting: When manufacturing and operational process are out of
synchronization, people and machines are idle.
• Transportation: Movement of material (raw material, WIP, and
finished goods).
• Inventory: Excessive levels of raw material, WIP, and finished goods
in correlation to throughput time and delivery requirements.
• Defect/rework: Quality errors that have become costly and were not
prevented.

In the course of your lean journey, you will learn of other lean philoso-
phies and tools that can be used to reduce waste.

How you use and mix these tools depends on your culture, company,
and processes. More important, they are all simply part of the lean phi-
losophy. This book is dedicated to teaching you about kaizen and
kaizen events. The first chapter will outline a company’s struggle with
how lean is applied in its organization. As employees juggle multiple
projects, deal with day-to-day issues, and are asked to wear many hats,
finding time for lean is difficult. The chapter will then dive into the fine
detail of kaizen and kaizen events, comparing the two and showing you
common mistakes made in developing a kaizen program.
 xxv

The concept of a company kaizen program is then described in Chapter

I n t ro d u c t i o n
2. Topics will include the kaizen event steering committee and a kaizen
champion who is 100 percent dedicated to continuous improvement.
It will also discuss tracking and scheduling kaizen events as well as
kaizen communication. This chapter will give you information on how
to piece together the program that will embrace ongoing change.

The next chapter is entirely dedicated to discussing the kaizen cham-

pion. A kaizen champion is essentially the lean torchbearer and is in
place to help drive all lean and kaizen initiatives. The selection or
recruitment of this person should not be undertaken lightly. It is a high-
profile position, and the person in it can make the difference between
having a moderately successful lean journey or a very successful one.

Chapter 4 is dedicated to kaizen event preparation, including event

timelines, team selection, team leader selection, team objectives, and
kaizen event supplies.

The first four chapters lay the groundwork for the remainder of the
book. Chapters 5 and 6 will describe how to use kaizen events for the
implementation of 5S, standard work, kanban, and a new line design.
They will help you see how kaizen events are used for implementation
and ongoing improvements to your organization. Each kaizen event con-
cludes with a formal presentation, called a report out, and a tour. It is
important to invite as many employees in the company as possible to
this report-out session so that the team can discuss their accomplish-
ments and how they improved the performance and culture of the busi-
ness. Chapter 6 will conclude with this information.

Finally, Chapter 7 is dedicated to a case study from a company called

Samson Rope Technologies located in Ferndale, WA, and Lafayette, LA,
which used the information from this book to begin a lean journey.
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Part I
Kaizen Basics

The first part of this book is intended to outline the fundamental

aspects of a company kaizen program. I will describe the difference
between kaizen as a philosophy and kaizen events, the implementation
mechanism for many lean initiatives. The kaizen champion, the kaizen
steering committee, communication, meetings, the kaizen event supply
box, and the important steps in planning events will all be discussed.

1
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 1 o n

Kaizen and Kaizen Events

e

When companies make the decision to embark on a lean journey, they

frequently have a few misconceptions about the endeavor. First of all,
some believe that lean is a program with definable starting and ending
criteria. In addition, this “program” is supposed to have clear direction
and paths that dictate what to do and when to do it. If lean is incorpo-
rated with this mind-set, the chances of failure are very high. The con-
cepts of lean and kaizen are incorporated into business in a manner that
is right for the company. If I compared how each of my clients has
adopted lean, I would find one definable similarity: They started. Once
a lean journey begins, who knows where it will go? In lean, there is no
fixed path or one-for-all guideline.

I am not implying that lean journeys do not involve setting goals for
improvement such as increasing productivity, reducing scrap, improv-
ing on-time delivery, reducing inventory, or decreasing throughput time,
for example; but how each company works to accomplish these types of
metrics is different. You cannot adopt one organization’s practices and
apply them to your own organization in exactly the same way. I often
see this confusion when teaching the “phenomenon” of lean. People
struggle to connect the dots and see how it will work in their organiza-
tion. It is this first misconception I would like to discuss in this chapter.

3
4

Kaizen
Chapter 1: Kaizen and Kaizen Events

Kaizen is a Japanese word for “continuous improvement and incremen-

tal change.” The philosophy of kaizen is about involving everyone in
the organization to focus on overall organizational improvements. The
cornerstone of lean manufacturing is removing waste to better respond
to the needs of the customer in regard to on-time delivery, competitive
cost, and better quality. More important, kaizen emphasizes developing
a process-oriented culture that is driven to improve the way a company
operates. Think of the number of processes that exist in a company.
A process generally has a starting point and an ending point. To clarify,
the process of manufacturing and assembling a product starts with fab-
ricating and processing parts from raw material; then those parts are
fitted together to make the final product. This is a simple and crude
example, but my point is that the process by which these products are
built ends at some point, or else there would be nothing tangible
remaining. Let’s apply this concept to an administrative/office environ-
ment. There is a process by which a purchase order is created or a con-
tract is generated. Both processes have a start and an end, when the
purchase is completed and sent to the warehouse or production floor,
or when the contract is signed by both parties.

By removing waste, an organization becomes more productive, ensuring

that it is serving the customer’s needs. This will bring a financial gain to
the organization, but you cannot sell lean to a culture if you are only
promoting its cost savings. Let’s be honest; reduced cost, better quality,
and on-time delivery will not encourage all employees to change the
way they think. The philosophy of kaizen brings much more to the
table. Changing company culture is an ongoing battle, and you want to
address issues that may arise early on. So in essence, kaizen is about
coaching and mentoring people to become better at what they do in all
aspects of their work. Buying expensive pieces of equipment or soft-
ware will not bring the cultural change you need to make lean success-
ful. These types of expenditures usually create a one-time improvement
with minimal effort. By no means does this imply that there is no need
for capital expenditures, but kaizen does not mean spending a lot of
money.

So to refer back to what I previously wrote, there is no perfect road map

for dealing with company culture, and it is this culture that will deter-
mine your level of success and distinguish your company from other
organizations.
 5

People of Kaizen

Kaizen
Some companies place the responsibility for process improvements on
manufacturing engineers and managers. These individuals generally
come up with the initial ideas to improve a work area, conduct the
analysis and preplanning, and then implement the change. Production
workers feel that the new process is being “pushed” on them because
they were not given the opportunity to suggest improvements. This is
not the case across all spectrums, but it is still a very common practice.
In kaizen-based organizations, process improvements involve everyone
from executive leadership down to the entry-level production worker.
This includes the creation of the improvement idea, process analysis,
preparation phases, implementation, and training. The kaizen philoso-
phy not only encourages production workers to suggest improvements
but requires that they do so. This can be difficult for some leaders to
swallow because it essentially means relinquishing some of their
authority in the improvement process. I have come across many plant
and other upper managers who find it difficult to delegate decision
making for the company. The most successful lean journeys occur, how-
ever, when upper and even executive managers back off and provide an
environment that fosters change. When people are allowed to speak
openly and make changes from their own perspectives, the possibilities
are endless. Managers who allow and encourage this behavior will see
far more progress in their organization’s lean journey than those who
tend to make all the decisions themselves.

Leaders of Kaizen

How do kaizen and lean fit into a company’s vision? A common illusion

that business leaders have is that lean is the one and only business
strategy for the company. Lean is indeed a business strategy, but it
should not be the all-encompassing focus. As organizations develop
their overall vision and focus, lean has to be a major role player. Again,
the concepts of lean and kaizen, when all is said and done, deliver
value to the customer in terms of cost, quality, and delivery. A com-
pany’s culture must be driven to continuous improvement because it
benefits the customer. Delivering that value is difficult because each
customer is different and expectations are always changing. Lean trans-
formation is one tool for achieving better customer relations, but there
are other tools in a company’s strategy, such as improving supplier rela-
tions, training and mentoring employees, adding product lines, and
6

capturing new markets and business segments. These are examples of

Chapter 1: Kaizen and Kaizen Events

possible “pillars” that would be part of a larger strategy. One of those

pillars is lean/kaizen.

Becoming a leader of kaizen takes time because leaders are part of com-
pany culture just like engineers, maintenance personnel, and produc-
tion workers. Transformation into a kaizen leader does not happen
overnight. As I mentioned in the preceding section, kaizen leaders must
learn to release some of their hold on authority and give it to everyone
in the company so that change and improvements can spread through
the organization. Next, kaizen leaders must not focus on the financial
gain from lean but rather on using kaizen to help develop their people.

In my previous book, Lessons from a Lean Consultant, I wrote an entire

chapter called Lean Leadership Made Simple. The mentality of com-
pany leaders who practice negative management techniques—working
their people long hours and using them as cogs in the wheel—is devas-
tating to the lean journey. Allow me to summarize from that chapter.

My personal experiences in the lean field have taught me a lot of valu-

able things, especially how to treat people. The companies I have
assisted quickly realized that a new approach to leadership was needed
to ensure success in their lean endeavors. I was by no means a perfect
employee in the years leading up to starting Kaizen Assembly, and in
fact I was a bit resistant to lean as well. However, I always maintained
the belief that my resistance was normal and appreciated my great lean
leaders. How we treat people in our lean journeys is the cornerstone of
lean leadership.

I took all that I learned from my experiences and use it now to lead
companies in a manner that seems fair and just. Organizations embark-
ing on lean need effective leaders who understand the importance of
employee contributions and how much their efforts and attitudes affect
the success or failure of a company. Certain corporate leaders need to
realize that although aggressive practices may result in short-term finan-
cial success, they also place the company on the path toward a precari-
ous future.

Lean leaders are only human beings; therefore, they typically conduct
themselves in a manner that reflects their personality. If individuals are
generally grumpy and negative to change, their management techniques
will reflect those characteristics, and they will affect the morale of oth-
ers through their body language as well as their words. Individuals who
 7

are happy and positive tend to lead in the same manner. Lean leaders

Kaizen
who do not let negativity influence their actions will create a following
of positive thinkers.

Management techniques reflecting personalities can be categorized in

the following ways. Poor lean leadership definitely results in lack of
motivation, poor performance, high absenteeism, and, ultimately, high
employee turnover. Poor lean leaders are easily recognizable because
they have some or all of the following characteristics: They are focused
on their own personal needs rather than the professional needs of their
team; they are pessimistic rather than positive; they are poor listeners;
they are lazy or lack motivation; they are stubborn or closed to new
ideas; they are slow to adapt to change; they are blamers rather than
responsibility takers; they provide bad or unclear direction; they have
no idea who their people are; they are secretive; they are never avail-
able; their doors are always closed; they fear failure; they do not stand
behind their people; they have difficulty developing their employees;
they exercise leadership by control, manipulation, and coercion. None
of these qualities is helpful in successfully engaging people in lean.

Effective lean leadership is not based on control, coercion, and manipu-

lation. Lean leaders are focused on the future rather than the past. They
gain respect by their ability to inspire others to work toward specific
goals. Effective lean leaders help others to become better people; they
create workplaces that attract good individuals, and they keep their
workers happy, motivated to pursue excellence, and focused on contin-
uous improvement.

Kaizen is simply a mind-set and philosophy of ongoing change and

improvement. As a lean practitioner I am often asked how to deal with
resistance to change. There is no perfect template or guideline for deal-
ing with people. You and your company have to work continually with
your employees and provide the support and accountability they need
to mold them into your own change agents.

Benefits of Kaizen

Kaizen teams are created to provide a quick and positive impact on the
organization. Each team member is handpicked according to his or her
ability to make both measurable and nonmeasurable improvements.
Kaizen events teach people the concepts of teamwork, meeting dead-
lines, interacting with different personalities, and pursuing excellence
8

as a whole, and they open up employees’ creativity. Professional and

Chapter 1: Kaizen and Kaizen Events

personal relationships are developed during kaizen events that continue

after the events are over. These are examples of nonmeasurable benefits
that allow the organization to develop a culture driven toward continu-
ous improvement. The other side to kaizen events is more measurable:
Teams make improvements to key metrics that not only benefit the com-
pany from a performance perspective, but ultimately improve the rela-
tionship with the customer in regard to better cost, on-time delivery,
and improved quality.

Kaizen Events
Learning the theory behind kaizen is important as you begin your lean
journey. Now let’s talk about how to turn that philosophy into action.
Often called a rapid improvement project, a kaizen event is a set time
frame that is scheduled to allow a group of employees to come to
together and implement lean and remove waste. The core of this book
outlines how to create a company kaizen program and, more impor-
tantly, how to schedule, conduct, and follow up on kaizen events.

Kaizen events are structured time-wise and are very project-based.

However, companies can get into a mode where they only wait for the
kaizen events to make improvements. This is called event-lean. Kaizen
events allow for the “shock and awe” effect and can positively impact
company performance, but the test of an organization’s ability to keep
the momentum going is to identify waste removal opportunities in
between kaizen events.

Ideally, a company should try to get to the point where it can conduct
kaizen events every month. Don’t expect to do this in the first year.
Maybe scheduling kaizen events once a quarter or every other month is
best in the beginning. It depends on your culture, production schedules,
and what other important projects and activities are going on in the
company. My job in this book is to provide you with information that
will allow you to schedule monthly kaizen events. As time goes on, you
will become better at planning and conducting them.

Many organizations use kaizen events but still cannot create a culture
that embraces change, and many improvement efforts fall short of their
cultural and financial goals. The reason behind this is that the company
did not have the infrastructure in place to keep everyone involved,
 9

motivated, and, more important, wanting more. Kaizen events can

Kaizen Events
become annoying to some if the events are disorganized and under
management that does not support the efforts. Management must set
clear direction on why kaizen events are important and place specific
goals in front of each team. I will outline these important ingredients of
the program in this book.

Common Mistakes Made in Kaizen Events

Kaizen events require focus and solid up-front planning. A company

will have to allocate resources and invest time and money in the pro-
gram. Kaizen and kaizen events do not require a lot of money, but in all
honesty, money will be spent. However, the rate of return will be phe-
nomenal. Kaizen teams also need goals placed before them to provide
challenge and excitement. Never walk into a kaizen event without team
goals at some level. Here are some common mistakes made in planning
and conducting kaizen events:

• Lack of communication
• Lack of planning
• Poor team selection
• No goals

Lack of Communication

Communication will be addressed in greater detail in Chapter 3, but

allow me to describe it a little here. The mistake that organizations
make is not communicating to all employees that lean and kaizen are
going to be a way of life. As kaizen events are scheduled, they must be
made known and their importance understood. Everyone should know
when the events are to take place, who is on the team, who the team
leader is, what area has been selected, and the goals and objectives for
the team. This way the factory will know who will be relieved of their
normal responsibilities to focus on the kaizen event. Ongoing communi-
cation about lean projects shows commitment from leadership, and that
kaizen events will not go away.

A couple of years ago I was discussing a potential partnership with the

manager of a plant that manufactures lighting fixtures. This organization
had been conducting kaizen events and was three years into its lean
10

journey. The conversation led to the importance of ongoing events and

Chapter 1: Kaizen and Kaizen Events

communication. The manager believed in basically saturating his peo-

ple with information about kaizen events, and regardless of other orga-
nizational activities, an improvement project was always scheduled. In
his words, “hell or high water, we are having a kaizen event.” Before
the culture could revert to established routines and business as usual,
another kaizen event was coming. Ongoing information about the
progress of the lean journey is essential to keeping the lean fire lit.

Lack of Planning

Solid up-front planning is critical to the success of kaizen events. When

I was a young industrial engineer learning about lean, I came into con-
tact with many consultants and trainers. Some of the earlier kaizen
event teachings did not emphasize the need for preplanning. The leader
was supposed to walk into day one of a kaizen event and do the train-
ing and analysis on that day. Very little preparation was done, and as I
used this philosophy, I saw how it negatively affected the results of the
project. Some kaizen events require very little preparation and others
involve prior analysis. In Chapter 4 I will break down the key tasks that
should be completed prior to kaizen events, starting at four weeks
ahead all the way down to the day before the event.

The number of preplanning activities will vary depending on the kaizen

event. Analyzing waste, conducting time studies or process mapping,
and analyzing flow may be necessary to establish a current state.
Supplies such as floor tape, bins, racks, signs, paint, and labels may
need to be ordered. Maybe the company wants to bring in employees
from sister plants or from suppliers to be part of the event. Tools and
equipment might need to be reserved or rented. It is important to think
about these things ahead of time to ensure that everything is ready for
the event.

Poor Team Selection

Selecting the right employees to participate in a kaizen event—gather-

ing a good mix of talents and disciplines—is the single most important
aspect of any event. As previously mentioned in this chapter, lean and
kaizen involve everyone, so your kaizen teams will be different every
time. A mistake that is often made when putting together kaizen teams
is not selecting people from the production line. Operators and
 11

frontline personnel possess intimate knowledge of the process and

Kaizen Events
product, and creating their early buy-in is a key ingredient to sustaining
improvements. Each team will need a maintenance person, line opera-
tors, engineers, managers, material handlers (if applicable), and maybe
another office employee. The number of team members will depend on
the complexity of the kaizen event and what needs to be accomplished;
I will discuss this in greater detail in Chapter 3. By having a diverse
kaizen team, you enable the group to come up with a greater variety of
improvement ideas than would probably come from a team consisting
of just managers and engineers.

No Goals

A company kaizen program is established and in place to act as a foun-

dation for making and maintaining improvements. Part of this founda-
tion is creating goals. Kaizen teams need clear goals and objectives from
the company. The ultimate goal of lean is to fulfill the needs of the cus-
tomer. Outside of developing positive and healthy relationships, the
customer’s expectations come in the form of the three business drivers:
cost, quality, and delivery. The job of an organization is to find the com-
petitive balance among the three. If an organization is meeting or
exceeding the expectations of on-time delivery, the cost of products and
services, and the quality of services for its customers, then it is focusing
on the right things. So how is lean connected to cost, quality, and deliv-
ery? And with respect to kaizen team goals, what type of metrics should
be improved? Figure 1-1 illustrates the connection between improving
metrics and improving the customer’s expectations. All of the metrics
can negatively or positively affect cost, quality, and delivery. The goals
for each kaizen team should focus on at least two of these metrics since
they are directly connected to the customer.

Cost Delivery Quality

Improvement Improvement

Inventory/ Floor Work Travel

Productivity WIP Quality
Space Stations Distance

Figure 1-1 Metric connection

12

Metrics
Chapter 1: Kaizen and Kaizen Events

Productivity

Productivity is improved when more products are made and more serv-
ices are provided with less effort. The less material, parts, manpower,
time, utilities, paperwork, processes, and steps that are needed, the
more costs can be reduced. Quality is improved because the opportuni-
ties for error are decreased. Fewer steps mean faster throughput and
better delivery. Kaizen teams should always pursue productivity
improvement goals.

Inventory/WIP

There are essentially three types of material: raw material, partially fin-
ished goods, and 100 percent finished goods. Sheet metal, the raw mate-
rial, can be cut into small pieces such as brackets, plates, or covers.
These parts then become work in process (WIP) and can be placed into
a product and moved on to another processing step. Partially completed
products move through various stages of assembly or processing until
they become a finished product ready for sale. Regardless of the stage
that this material is in, it costs money. Inventory should be kept at a
minimum throughout the plant regardless of its phase in manufacturing.
Manufacturing processes should be short with minimal steps so that
unnecessary WIP does not build up. WIP can hide quality errors that
may eventually lead to rework. Kaizen teams can focus their efforts on
reducing inventory levels and WIP. Obviously a lower level of inventory
can reduce cost, but it can also improve quality by creating better visi-
bility of problems that can potentially hide in excess WIP. And large
clumps of WIP are stopping points or slow-moving points that can
adversely affect delivery.

Quality

Improving quality is essential to maintaining and acquiring customers.

The last thing you need is to be known as a supplier of poor products
and services. I feel that people in general are loyal to quality over any-
thing else. A small percentage is looking for the cheapest deal, but
when it comes down to it, quality prevails.
 13

Quality starts with the culture an organization has developed, particu-

Kaizen Events
larly a mind-set of proactive error prevention rather than reactively
dealing with problems. Errors will occur if human beings are part of the
manufacturing process. Even in highly automated environments,
machines and equipment require human interaction such as setup,
maintenance, programming, cleanup, and changeover. An automated
process’s output is only as good as the human input.

The concept of quality at the source is an effective lean approach to

quality that places the responsibility for checking and rechecking the
product at the point of build. Frontline production workers need to
check the product at various stages of manufacturing to ensure that
errors are being caught. Errors are cheap; defects are not. Operators
must perform certain incoming and outgoing checks throughout the
process. They should check work done in the previous process, or by a
previous worker, then perform their own task, and then perform a qual-
ity check on the work they just did. Quality at the source results in a
tremendous improvement in overall quality. When checks are per-
formed throughout the process, multiple eyes are on the product. This
results in a product that is virtually error-free by the time it reaches a
more formalized inspection point at the end of the line. Self- and
successive checks are very common in a lean journey, but only correct
implementation of these checks will ensure that they are performed.
Kaizen team goals for quality could be to reduce scrap costs, rework
hours, and testing errors, for example. These measures will definitely
reduce costs, the end product will be of better quality, and with fewer
mistakes and rework, promised delivery dates are attainable.

Floor Space

Manufacturing companies often overuse their existing floor space as

unneeded items begin to accumulate. Also, processes themselves are too
long and too wide, which results in longer paths for parts and products.
Over time, less space is available for production and growth. Sometimes
manufacturers come up with plans to physically expand the existing
building to accommodate new product lines and products. I say you
should “lean it out first before adding.” Kaizen teams can focus on
reducing the amount of floor space being used for current processes.
Once space is better used, new product implementations or capacity
14

increases can take place. When floor space use is reduced, cost is
Chapter 1: Kaizen and Kaizen Events

reduced because companies begin to take proactive approaches to buy-

ing items for the production floor, purchasing only when something is
really needed. Quality is improved because less clutter means less
chance for part damage. Better use of floor space means smaller and
simpler processes that will help in meeting delivery requirements.
Fewer complications, less distance, and fewer physical obstacles equal
on-time delivery.

Workstations

Depending on the type of operation, companies may use a traditional

manual assembly line with workstations. If you are a machine shop,
you could have computer numerical control (CNC) machines, mills,
drill presses, and other types of computer-controlled equipment. Maybe
your process includes work areas where production workers simply
have a place to work. Regardless of the type of work area on the factory
floor, the right numbers of people, machines, and stations are essential
for better performance. Sometimes it is simply a question of creating a
better ratio of people to machines, more efficient equipment utilization,
or increased uptime. That right mix needs to be effectively associated
with demand.

Station reduction or better use of stations goes hand in hand with floor
space use and productivity. Having fewer stations means less “stuff”—
fewer workbenches, parts, shelves, tools, paperwork, fixtures, lights, etc.
Using the appropriate number of workstations limits the number of peo-
ple in the process and therefore decreases the opportunity for error.
Again, I am not implying job loss, just smarter use of people and the
work they perform. Kaizen teams can have a goal of reducing the num-
ber of workstations, consolidating processes, or coming up with a more
balanced workload among operators. Reducing the number of worksta-
tions reduces the cost associated with extra items and too much labor.
Quality is improved and work content among workers is balanced and
better defined, so work areas can be better used. Fewer stations and
processes required to complete products mean faster delivery.

Travel Distance

Longer than needed processes generate plenty of waste. Longer produc-

tion lines and part flow paths require more people, extend lead times,
 15

and add inventory. Travel distance is 100 percent linked to delivery. It

Kaizen Events
takes more time for something to travel 300 feet than 30 feet. The longer
a product is in the building, the more money it costs. As an example, I
led a kaizen event where the team was required to reduce travel dis-
tance by 30 percent. It was a reasonable goal, and the team focused their
waste reduction efforts on achieving that goal. After they calculated the
correct number of workstations for the assembly line, balanced the work
between stations, and converted to single-piece flow, travel distance
went from 350 feet to 50 feet. By eliminating 300 feet of travel distance,
the team reduced the throughput time by 82 percent, from 11 hours to
2 hours. Think about the customers waiting for their products on these
lines . . . delivery, delivery, delivery!

So, kaizen teams can have travel distance reduction goals based on the
respective product line. Cost is reduced simply because it requires less
effort to complete the product. Quality is improved because there is less
distance to travel and fewer chances for error. And delivery—well, I
think I have said enough about that.
This page intentionally left blank
 2 t w

The Company Kaizen

Program
o

A company kaizen program acts as the organizational policy for lean

and continuous improvement. Like any other operational policy, this
program is in place to ensure that improvements are made and that
management is behind the efforts. In the early stages of a lean manufac-
turing journey, companies are faced with a variety of challenges and
obstacles that impede how effectively and quickly new lean processes
are implemented.

Manufacturing engineers, as an example, have a collection of responsi-

bilities that require them to deal with day-to-day problems, write proce-
dures, update bills of materials, and train production personnel.
Managers are even busier, as they have authority over multiple people,
attend countless meetings, and participate in decision-making
processes. And let’s not forget the floor supervisors who run the pro-
duction lines and processes every day, interacting with operators and
line leads, putting out fires, and managing hour-by-hour crises. When
do they all have time to “do lean”?

How can lean be implemented in a manner that is organized, smart, and

effective? Often missing from a company’s lean manufacturing journey
is a foundation that embraces continuous improvement. This founda-
tion is a company kaizen program.

17
18

This chapter will be dedicated to describing the elements of the com-

C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

pany kaizen program:

• Kaizen event steering committee

• Kaizen champion
• Tracking
• Kaizen communication

I will then address how to customize the program for your organization.

Kaizen Event Steering Committee

The first element of the kaizen program that should be implemented is
a governing body of key decision makers in the company who schedule
and watch over all lean- and kaizen-related activities. This committee
provides the required resources and time to the rest of the employees to
ensure that progress is being made in the lean journey and that kaizen
teams are supported. The kaizen event steering committee is responsi-
ble for a variety of tasks and initiatives, and it is their support that will
help slowly change and engage the culture in continuous improvement.

Organizational structures vary in size and in the titles they use for dif-
ferent positions, so there is no perfect committee structure that can be
used in every company. However, certain disciplines and areas of
responsibility need to be accounted for on the committee. So before I
can outline the requirements of the committee, here is a list of titles and
why the people who have these titles should be members. Again, look
at why each position is on the committee and decide who in your
organization can fulfill that role.

• Plant or general management

• Manufacturing engineering management
• Quality management
• Operations or production management
• Human resource management
• Maintenance or facilities management
• Purchasing or materials management
 19

• Production supervisor

Kaizen Event Steering Committee

• Operator representative

Plant or General Management

Most manufacturers have an individual who watches over the entire

plant floor. Often called a plant manager or general manager, this person
should be part of the kaizen event steering committee. First and fore-
most, the plant manager is one of the key decision makers in the com-
pany as well as an influence in setting goals for the company and
driving lean from a “captain’s” perspective—basically, one of the origi-
nal lean vision setters. The plant manager will approve budgets for the
kaizen program and each kaizen event. Each member of the committee
essentially reports to the plant manager, so this person is there to keep
all upper and middle managers on the committee accountable for pro-
viding the appropriate people and help for each kaizen event. However,
the plant manager does not make the final call on what is involved in
the lean journey; the committee as a whole makes that decision.

All lean projects and initiatives being conducted throughout each year
must fall in line with your company’s lean strategy. This lean strategy is
based on measurable results that were discussed in Chapter 1; produc-
tivity, quality, throughput time, floor space, inventory, and workstation
quantity are all metrics that, when improved, can make positive
changes to on-time delivery, cost, and overall quality for your cus-
tomers. A lean strategy outlines the lean goals for the company, and all
efforts at continuous improvement should be directed to those goals.
Don’t forget that the committee will also track and monitor the smaller
projects outside of structured kaizen events as well. So the plant man-
ager’s job is to ensure that whatever is planned by the kaizen event
steering committee is driven by the strategy.

Manufacturing Engineering Management

Engineering departments can be extremely different from one company

to the next. Smaller companies may not even have a “department” but
may have an individual who provides the appropriate technical support
to the manufacturing processes. If you do not have a manager per se,
then someone who works in the overall manufacturing process is fine.
Manufacturing engineering or even industrial engineering departments
20

and people provide a number of services to the company. These depart-

C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

ments are in charge of line layout, equipment optimization, collecting

data, making work instructions, troubleshooting on the line, training
production workers, and making engineering changes to products.
They may provide testing and quality support as well.

The manufacturing engineering managers must be on the committee.

Kaizen teams and other smaller, lower-profile teams will be making
process improvements that could involve new line configurations,
changing work content, modifying testing and inspection procedures,
shortening lines, developing new changeover procedures, and many
other “process”-oriented modifications. It is essential that the manufac-
turing engineering manager provide the required resources from his or
her department to guide the kaizen team as needed. There may also be
some additional support for conducting observations and analysis of the
prospective process to be used for improvement. This department can
help collect this information and provide it to the kaizen team or who-
ever needs the data (I will describe data collection in later chapters).

Quality Management

The quality manager can provide a lot of information during the pre-
planning phase. Kaizen teams will need information about internal and
external quality on each product and process. Internal quality data such
as rework, scrap, defect rates, first-pass yield, and reject rates is valu-
able information to gather so that the teams can make improvements to
these metrics. Also, information collected from customers can poten-
tially be used. The number of complaints, on-site technical service
calls, and warranty claims, for example, can help kaizen and kaizen-
event-related efforts. Not all quality issues in the field or with the cus-
tomers are directly related to the factory, but external data can still play
a role in improving quality.

Like all the other managers on the kaizen event steering committee, the
quality manager must provide the right people from his or her depart-
ment to assist the team in developing new work instructions and testing
and inspection procedures. The quality manager can also provide ade-
quate support to guide the team in the correct approach to part protec-
tion when constructing new workstations or work cells.
 21

Operations or Production Management

Kaizen Event Steering Committee

The individual in your organizational structure who is responsible for
the production workers, line leads, and supervisors at your facility
should be on the committee. The success of any improvements made,
regardless of how small or large in scale they are, depends on those
frontline workers who participate directly in the process. The produc-
tion manager can help create the vision and address the accountability
required to sustain improvements. Production workers and line leads
will be the first to resist, and the production manager must be strong
and assertive in leading people in the new lean process.

Kaizen events are scheduled in advance so that the managers on the

committee can make the appropriate preparations. Kaizen events will
have a short-lived negative impact on the prospective process as
changes are being made. The production manager can prepare the oper-
ators and make adjustments in the schedule as needed. Workers may
need to move to a second shift during the kaizen event; overtime may
be needed to build up product in preparation for downtime or simply to
provide added resources for the process during the event to support the
production workers.

Kaizen events will use production workers, and the production manager
will have to adjust his or her workforce during the kaizen event. Like
all other managers, the production manager is responsible for training
employees at some level. As changes are made to the line or process,
new training will be needed, and the production manager can allocate
the resources to help. The main reason the production manager is on
the kaizen event steering committee is that he or she will make or break
the improvements that are implemented. The people who report to the
production manager must know that their leader is behind the changes
100 percent.

Human Resource Management

The human resources (HR) department plays a vital role in the continu-
ous improvement efforts in the company. The obvious reason is that HR
is responsible for all the employees, including the plant manager, and
has information about each employee specifically. For instance, during
22

kaizen events, participation must be 100 percent, and as team members

C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

are selected, HR can verify vacation schedules. More important, HR

should know which employees are on light duty or have other work-
related restrictions. Maybe the employees being selected for the kaizen
event are already committed to other training during that week or will
be out of the plant.

As companies develop a stronger kaizen program, ongoing training will

become important. Training of new employees is critical because each
new person should be made aware of the importance of lean. HR will
have to modify the new-employee orientation program at the company
and set up introductory lean and kaizen curriculums. The HR depart-
ment should be fully engaged in and fully supportive of lean efforts.

Maintenance or Facilities Management

Depending on the needs of the organization for better flow of products,

parts, and information, changes to the plant layout and all the produc-
tion processes may be needed. Either through kaizen events or from
gradual changes over time, the maintenance department is extremely
important in moving equipment and lines. It can be very time-
consuming to disconnect and reconnect air and electrical lines. There
may be network drops and the electrical lines could be of varying volt-
ages. The time associated with some of these moves can be long. Your
organization is going to be using this department on every kaizen event.
The maintenance manager must provide the right person from his or her
department to support the kaizen team. More important, as assembly
lines, work cells, and equipment are moved around, they all have to be
operational for the production workers when the moves are complete.

Maintenance personnel are also very good at designing and building

customized shelves, fixtures, toolholders, and other great knickknacks
for the workstations. In just about every kaizen event I have seen, the
maintenance team member was busy welding, cutting, sawing, sanding,
and painting something for the team. Maintenance people are very cre-
ative and can come up with great ideas for the presentation of tools,
parts, testing devices, lights, and documentation. I realize, however, that
not all companies have the luxury of a fully staffed maintenance depart-
ment with ample welders, drill presses, cutting ability, and other great
resources. As you develop a lean structure, you may want to consider
having the resources at some level to support these needs.
 23

Purchasing or Materials Management

Kaizen Event Steering Committee

As physical changes are made to the production process, material and
parts will be moved. Some of the material may be big and bulky, requir-
ing pallets to hold it. Some parts may be in larger totes or other contain-
ers requiring a forklift. The purchasing manager can allocate the right
person with a forklift certification. A kaizen event can quickly come to
an end if there is no forklift support.

There may also be a need to remove items from the stockroom that are
stored up high. If the team decides to move large equipment around, a
forklift is most likely needed. The purchasing or materials manager may
be the one kaizen event steering committee member responsible for
ordering supplies for the kaizen team. After the area has been selected
and goals are established, this person can begin the preplanning work
for purchasing.

Production Supervisor

The committee members described so far have all been managers. In

years past I recommended that my clients have only managers on the
committee. I have developed and changed the company kaizen program
over time, and I now suggest that certain nonmanagerial employees be
placed on the kaizen committee. Production supervisors bring a wealth
of knowledge and experience from the production floor’s “front line.”
Also, when a company is implementing lean and making improve-
ments, production supervisors will be the ones who motivate and
encourage the production workers. You can select one production
supervisor or rotate supervisors every quarter. This could be a good
approach to ensuring that all supervisors are part of the early planning
and decision-making process.

A word of caution: When employees enter the kaizen event steering

committee meeting (which I will discuss shortly), all titles go out the
window. Regardless of who sits on this committee, the group as a whole
is making decisions to help the continuous improvement program.
Leave other subjects and topics for a later time. This also means, for
example, that the production manager cannot treat the production
supervisors, who may report to him or her, like subordinates.
24

Operator Representative
C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

Over time, as I have worked with several companies of varying struc-

tures, some have opted to add operators to their committee. Generally
the operators selected for the committee are veteran long-term employ-
ees who have a lot of knowledge of the company. These individuals
basically represent the production workers’ needs and speak on their
behalf. It may be good to rotate an operator representative every quarter
to get a nice mix of ideas and perceptions. Production workers are typi-
cally used to being given direction by a supervisor or manager.
However, on this committee the operator representative has equal say in
the improvement efforts. You will also find that some of the best ideas
will come from this operator representative, and as you begin to use
production workers from the early stages of idea creation all the way to
the sustaining phase, your frontline culture will become more and more
excited and engaged in the lean initiatives.

The kaizen event steering committee is a vital part of the lean journey.
It is a great outlet for gathering ideas and developing a culture of team
players. As the company moves toward an overall approach to making
decisions, the lean journey is strengthened and accelerated. With my
clients, this committee is created very quickly and early in the process.
I encourage you to put together your committee soon after reading this
book to get things moving.

Introducing the Kaizen Champion

Embarking on a lean journey does take time and resources. Although
lean is a way of thinking, it also requires training, implementation, plan-
ning, and constant focus on improvements. Companies quickly begin to
see that employees’ roles and responsibilities begin to change. The lean
effort is a company-wide effort. As your company begins to learn the
fundamentals of lean, such as 5S, standard work, setup reduction, and
kanban, one or more people will have to lead the charge. This is where
someone who is totally dedicated to lean and kaizen can make a world
of difference. We call this person a kaizen champion. This is not an
industry term, as the title could be lean champion, lean engineer, or lean
liaison. It really does not matter; what does not change is the role of this
person in the company. Pure and simple, it’s 100 percent lean!
 25

Once the kaizen champion has been identified, he or she becomes the

Tr a c k i n g
leader of the kaizen steering committee and runs all the meetings. It is
the job of the champion to ask the committee for assistance and to keep
the members accountable for contributing. The kaizen champion should
have a high level of authority, being able to go directly to the plant man-
ager to get what is needed. It is a kind of gray position, since the kaizen
champion is not a manager but has the “pull” of an upper manager.
This type of authority is needed to keep management committed to the
lean journey.

The kaizen champion is the “torchbearer” of lean and drives all kaizen-
related initiatives. He or she essentially is the director of the lean pro-
gram. This position is so important that I dedicate an entire chapter
(Chapter 3) to it. However, please remember that it is not a requirement
to have a champion; some companies cannot justify the new position or
the added salary regardless of the cost savings and other improvements
that will result. Chapter 3 will also provide alternatives to a kaizen
champion for companies that need another option. Either way, lean
needs resources and people to make it happen. I will show you how to
allocate the time and delegate accordingly.

Tracking
A lot of effort and time will be put into kaizen events, and it is impor-
tant to track progress and the effects on the company. This fundamental
aspect of project management falls on many people. I recommend that
you put together a kaizen event tracking worksheet that can be used to
measure event success. Remember that this tracking worksheet is to be
used to measure kaizen event results, not the overall lean journey. As I
mentioned in Chapter 1, it is important to encourage and allow people
to improve the company all the time, outside of kaizen events. This is
an event tracker only.

The kaizen event tracking worksheet has a lot of categories, and it is

best to create it in Microsoft Excel. Some organizations use different
software and make it available on a company intranet, visible only to
employees. Either way, this tracking sheet is a live document, and
everyone should have access to it to see what types of kaizen events
are being conducted and how they are improving the performance of
the organization. Figure 2-1 is an example of a kaizen event tracking
26

worksheet. Customize the information in this worksheet for your com-

C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

pany. Here are the categories I recommend:

Kaizen event selection Actual results

Date and length Event budget
Kaizen event team leader Event spending
Kaizen team members Action items
Preplanning Responsibility
Responsibility Status
Pre-event goals

Kaizen Event Selection

One of the main responsibilities of the committee is to select the areas

for the kaizen event. It could be assembly lines, machine work cells,
maintenance, shipping/receiving, the office, or R&D, for example. There
are a lot of factors to consider when selecting the area. First, look at
how the process is organized and how it performs. When looking at
production areas, evaluate current productivity, quality, on-time

Figure 2-1 Kaizen event tracking worksheet

 27

delivery, floor space use, and possibly travel distance. How much over-

Tr a c k i n g
time is being worked? Do operators leave their workstations a lot? Is
there excessive inventory or WIP piled up? Is the work area cluttered
and unorganized (5S)?

If you select the maintenance department, the choice should be based

on general organization. Are tools hidden in cabinets and toolboxes
unaccounted for and disorganized? How much reactive work and “fire-
fighting” is going on as opposed to proactive ways of working, like
doing preventive maintenance? How cross-trained are the maintenance
staff, and can they perform multiple jobs?

If the committee is looking to schedule a kaizen event in the office,

some of the same guidelines apply. What is the level of 5S and office
organization? Is the supply cabinet or room cluttered? Does paperwork
such as work orders, estimates, and contracts pile up between office
processes? Does the production floor constantly wait on the administra-
tive functions to finish processing a work order or router? Often compa-
nies are looking for that golden wand that will tell them exactly where
to start. You can simply look at organization, or lack thereof, and per-
formance. Try to schedule kaizen events at least four weeks in advance.
28

Date and Length

C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

The traditional kaizen event is about five days long, but events can last
from four hours to four weeks. It depends on the work area, goals, the
product, floor space, and the level of waste. Simply place in this cate-
gory of the tracking worksheet the day and week or weeks when the
event will be held. It is also good to write in the hours that will be
worked: 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m., and so on.

Kaizen Event Team Leader

Effectively leading a kaizen team takes experience. Any first kaizen

event will be a learning experience for everyone, including the team
leader. However, you have to simply pick your first team leader and go
with your choice. A kaizen champion is the ideal candidate, but as I
said earlier, a lot of companies do not have a champion. As a guideline,
make sure the team leader is somewhat familiar with the work area. He
or she should have a good understanding of waste and how to remove
it. Most important, a team leader needs good project management skills
and to work well with people under pressure. It is smart to develop
team leader criteria to be used by the committee when making this
important decision. Try also to select the kaizen team leader at least
four weeks in advance.

Kaizen Team Members

Team members should be from varying disciplines and backgrounds to

ensure that a good mix of ideas will be generated. Every potential team
member reports to someone on the kaizen event steering committee;
since the committee is responsible for selecting team members, the
result should be a team with the right talents. Here are my recommen-
dations for team members:

• Two operators or people who work in the process

• Maintenance employee
• Material handler
• Line engineer
• Quality technician
• Office personnel
 29

• Forklift driver

Tr a c k i n g
• Shipping employee
• Manager

Every company is different, so base your team member criteria on your

organizational chart to ensure that all the right people are on the kaizen
team. Make a tentative list of team members at least four weeks before
the event, and then finalize the list with about two weeks to go. This
allows the company time to verify vacation schedules, those on light
duty, or if the prospective team member has other scheduling conflicts.

Preplanning and Preplanning Responsibility

Traditional kaizen training typically teaches people to perform every

single task of the event, from the beginning until the end. Although this
makes the event action-packed, experience has demonstrated that trying
to accomplish too much can have a destructive result, often placing
kaizen teams in unsolvable situations. To avoid these potential pitfalls, I
recommend that several preplanning activities take place four weeks
prior to a kaizen event. During the preplanning activities, the target area
is selected, as well as the team leader and a tentative list of members;
therefore, specific planning projects can begin as well.

Preplanning involves a variety of items and activities. Contractors may

need to be reserved; supplies and equipment may need to be ordered
for the team; specialized tools and machinery may need to be pur-
chased or rented; waste analysis and time and motion studies can be
conducted. The number and type of preplanning activities will vary
depending upon the type of event and the specific goals established
for it. Solid preplanning ensures that the kaizen teams are positioned
successfully.

Each kaizen event will require some level of preplanning, which is usu-
ally the responsibility of the kaizen event steering committee. A multi-
tude of tasks need to be completed prior to the kaizen event. Special
tools may need to be reserved. Employees from sister plants can be
invited. Adjusting production schedules and people to accommodate
the event time frame will have to be addressed. Conducting an evalua-
tion of the work area in order to assess current state performance may
be needed. During kaizen events the teams will need certain supplies
such as bins, racks, shelves, tape measures, paint, and floor tape. These
30

should be ordered ahead of time so that they are available on day one of
C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

the event. All preplanning items should be worked on at least four

weeks in advance. The kaizen event steering committee members are
the ones who are assigned the preplanning tasks and must dedicate
time and resources to ensure that they are completed.

Pre-event Goals

During the early planning phase of any project, generating goals can be
difficult. Forecasting, in any form, can be lucky or lousy. It is important
that each kaizen team be faced with some moderate challenges. These
events are being conducted to improve your business, so don’t be afraid
to set those goals! It is best practice to refer back to the established shop
floor metrics, as discussed in Chapter 1, as a guide for improvements.
Be sure to establish realistic goals, as unattainable goal setting will only
serve to destroy the effort. An attainable goal might be improving pro-
ductivity 20 percent by reducing waste in a line or a process. Yet there
is no real guide for establishing your team goals. Simply set goals that
you feel are realistic and attainable, and make sure that you plan ade-
quately to ensure success.

Actual Results

After the kaizen event is complete and the workers go back to their nor-
mal jobs, the company should immediately begin to monitor progress to
see how quickly the goals are achieved. This column in the tracking
worksheet may not get filled in until the process or work area has con-
sistently met the expected goals. Are the new output requirements
being met? How are productivity and WIP levels? Is quality improving?
Did the team save the proposed amount of floor space and reduce
throughput time? It is important to realize that even if certain goals are
not met, the team did not fail. As your organization becomes more
experienced at kaizen and kaizen events, you will become better at esti-
mating metric and performance improvements.

Event Budget and Event Spending

One of the fundamental elements of kaizen is that improvements should

be made with little or no expense. This is true, but keep in mind that
each company will have to dedicate some money for continuous
 31

improvement, and each kaizen team will need access to these funds

Tr a c k i n g
during the event. Spending for most kaizen events ranges from $0 to
$1,000, depending on what is necessary. Just allocate some money to a
kaizen budget. The rate of return will be great, and any money spent
will be quickly recouped from the improvements.

Action Items, Responsibility, and Status

These last three columns in the tracking worksheet are used to monitor
any unfinished work from the kaizen event. Rarely does a kaizen team
finish every task during the kaizen event. Minor disruptions during the
project will make the team change course a little. Team members will
come up with many improvement ideas along the way, and not all of
them may be finished. All action items should be completed within
30 days of kaizen event completion; this is called the 30-day mandate.
The kaizen event steering committee can discuss this issue during their
monthly meeting.

The kaizen champion is the person who is in control of the information

in the tracking worksheet, but there are other people involved. First of
all, each team leader is responsible for the success of his or her team
and must report this information to the kaizen event steering commit-
tee. The forum in which everyone meets is called the kaizen monthly
meeting.

The kaizen monthly meeting is scheduled, obviously, once a month to

discuss the continuous improvement program and usually takes about
an hour. I am not a fan of meetings, especially meetings that go long
and accomplish nothing. To be honest, meetings are very anti-lean in
my opinion. They take time away from value-added work and are often
in place because people are not allowed to make decisions on their
own. However, lean is a team effort, so it is good to meet to discuss the
kaizen events and how they are affecting the company. Structure is the
key here, so keep the meeting simple and to the point. To maintain sim-
plicity in your kaizen meeting, break it down into three parts. The
kaizen event tracking worksheet should be displayed during the meet-
ing and used as a guideline for all discussions. The three parts are:

• Part 1: Previous event’s results

• Part 2: Open action items from the event
• Part 3: Planning and scheduling the next kaizen event
32

Part 1: Previous Event’s Results

C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

Try to schedule the kaizen monthly meeting between kaizen events or

just after one. As the new lean process is running, the operators will go
through a learning curve. This learning curve will vary between events
but it is a good time for the committee to discuss progress of the line
and how the workers are adjusting. During the first part of the meeting,
the committee should also evaluate how the event improved the com-
pany. Every kaizen team should have certain goals to improve metrics
such as productivity, quality, throughput time, setup reduction, and
floor space reduction. So at this point the committee should discuss
how close the team came to achieving their goals.

The workers in the process will be the ones most affected by the
improvements, as they will have to adjust to a new way of working.
As waste is reduced, new ways of working have to be implemented to
ensure that the “lean process” will meet their output and quality expec-
tations. The committee needs to invite the previous team leader to the
meeting and have a discussion on progress. Once the update is com-
plete, the team leader can leave and the second phase of the meeting
can begin.

Part 2: Open Action Items from the Event

Regardless of how much is completed during kaizen events, there will

always be unfinished projects. Kaizen teams generate very good ideas
during kaizen events to further the process at hand. Problems are pre-
sented to team members during the kaizen event, and when you put
people together to create solutions, amazing things can happen.
However, sometimes these ideas will take longer to implement than
the time allocated for the event. These unfinished items will go on an
action item list. The second part of the meeting is spent on getting a
status report on these items.

All action items from an event must be completed within 30 days. Each
item needs a person assigned to it and a firm deadline for completion.
To ensure that the new process can produce the required results, these
action items have to be completed on time. The team members who
have responsibility for action items should now be invited into the
meeting to discuss their progress. It is the job of the kaizen event steer-
ing committee to clear any obstacles that impede the completion of the
 33

action items and provide any support necessary. Once all action item

Kaizen Communication
issues have been updated, the team members can leave and the commit-
tee can begin the last part of the meeting: planning future kaizen events
and other lean projects.

Part 3: Planning and Scheduling the Next Kaizen Event

The kaizen event tracking worksheet is the only document needed for
the monthly meeting. During this last part of the meeting, the commit-
tee can discuss and possibly begin planning future kaizen events. As I
mentioned earlier, try to schedule kaizen events at least four weeks in
advance to allow for team selection and for the various preplanning
items to be completed. However, it is perfectly healthy to discuss events
two, three, and four months away. Just make sure, when your commit-
tee is planning future events and filling in the tracking worksheet, that
if any kaizen event already scheduled is coming up on its four-week
window, to start picking the teams and working on preplanning issues
at that point.

Kaizen Communication
Kaizen- and lean-related activities should be continually communicated
to the entire organization. As your culture slowly becomes more aware
that lean is a way of thinking and working, you have to learn how to
keep the momentum going. Develop what I call a kaizen communica-
tion system that works as an information delivery apparatus for your
company. Often when I conduct lean assessments of organizations I find
that general communication is lacking between departments. There is a
clear division between the operations/manufacturing side and the
administrative side. This gap in information and communication needs
to be bridged to ensure that everyone knows what is going on every-
where. Your company as a whole needs to realize that it wins or loses
as a team, and each department must contribute to team-based activities
to improve the operation. In regard to kaizen communication, I recom-
mend three items you can put in place:

• Kaizen communication boards

• Kaizen newsletter
• Kaizen suggestion box
34

Kaizen Communication Boards

C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

I wrote about communication boards in my first book, Kaizen Assembly:

Designing, Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line.1 My
clients have found these boards to be a very effective part of their ongo-
ing lean communication. Simply purchase a two-sided dry-erase board
on wheels. It is essentially shaped like a triangle, and it can be moved
around to various places in the company.

Kaizen communication boards can be placed anywhere in the company

where there is high people traffic—at employee entrances, in meeting
rooms and lunchrooms, at the front entrance, or at various places
throughout the factory. Depending on the size of the facility, you may
have to purchase a few of them. The point is saturation of lean informa-
tion so that everyone can read about upcoming projects. These commu-
nication boards contain the following information about a kaizen event:

• Area selected
• Date and length
• Kaizen team leader
• Kaizen team members
• Team goals and objectives

Kaizen Newsletter

Developing and circulating a company newsletter is a very good prac-

tice and is essential if you are embarking on a lean journey. A kaizen
newsletter is devoted to the subject of continuous improvement. It can
be a separate newsletter, or you can simply make space in an existing
newsletter for the information needed. The key to a good newsletter is
that the information relates to your specific plant. General corporate
information, such as stockholder information, words from the CEO, or
the acquisition of a Chinese facility, does not speak to continuous
improvement. Although this information is nice, to be honest, most
employees really don’t care. Again, I am not trying to be negative; I just
want to make the point that the newsletter should be about activities
going on in your plant.

1. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor and Francis, 2006.

 35

The kaizen newsletter should contain information similar to what is on

Kaizen Communication
the communication boards: areas, team leaders, team members, etc.
More important, it should feature pictures of the team working, as well
as write-ups of individual accomplishments and how their efforts are
helping the plant. One unique approach to the kaizen newsletter is to
allow previous kaizen team members to write about their successes.
This will help further engage your people, as those who read the
newsletter will read about their buddy or colleague who works with
them. This is very powerful and it will speak volumes to the employees.

The kaizen newsletter should be issued monthly or bimonthly and

attached to paychecks or placed in break rooms and even at the front
entrance so that important visitors can read about the continuous
improvement efforts going on in the plant they are about to tour.

Kaizen Suggestion Box

As a lean leader you have to encourage the production workers to tell

you what needs to be improved. To help garner ideas from the floor,
develop a suggestion system that allows them to provide feedback on
improvements that have been made and recommend future opportuni-
ties. See Figure 2-2.

Line operators are often left out of the design and planning phase of
kaizen events. I have discussed the importance of placing operators on
kaizen teams, and it is my opinion that they should be involved with
deciding what area is scheduled for a kaizen event. Operators are usu-
ally confined to their workstations or areas on the production floor and
typically have little or no contact with management or engineers. Any
contact that occurs is usually initiated by the support staff in the work
area. How can you get operators and other floor employees involved

Figure 2-2 Kaizen suggestion box

36

in the decision-making process and get their input for continuous

C h a p t e r 2 : T h e C o m p a n y K a i z e n P ro g r a m

improvement? The employee suggestion box allows operators to give

input on future improvements.

Much like a voting box, where ballots are submitted, the employee sug-
gestion box is used to collect ideas coming from the floor, ideas that can
be considered for future kaizen events. The box should be placed near
the communication boards or in operator break rooms for easy access. A
simple suggestion form should be placed near the box; see Figure 2-3
for an example.

When using any suggestion system, the company must develop a way to
communicate back to the workers about whose ideas are being selected
for a kaizen event, which ideas have been passed on to engineering,
maintenance, or purchasing, for example, and which ideas will be
addressed later. As this system becomes more and more popular, you
will get flooded with suggestions, especially when the workers see their
ideas actually being implemented. People by nature like information
even if it is not what they want to see or hear. Don’t leave employees in
the dark. Let them know if their idea is a go or not.

Kaizen Event Suggestion Form

Employee Date

Department

Improvement Idea

W o u l d Yo u I m p l e m e n t ? Ye s No

Thank you for your suggestion.

You will be contacted as soon as this suggestion is reviewed.

Figure 2-3 Kaizen event suggestion form

 37

Developing the individual attributes of the company kaizen program is

Kaizen Communication
not difficult, but it will take some time. It also has to be made to fit the
culture you have to ensure that lean and kaizen will thrive. Remember
the following key points:

1. Every successful kaizen program requires a firm foundation, one that

allows a company to allocate the appropriate resources and make
time to implement the lean initiative.
2. Establish an effective communication system that will ensure buy-
in, participation, and awareness.
3. Allow every employee to have an opportunity to participate in a
kaizen event and to offer input and suggestions.

Creating a foundation for change is the key. Once it is in place, go rid

that waste from your operations.
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 3 t h

The Kaizen Champion

r e e

The word champion, at least in my opinion, means an individual who

has the expertise to teach and guide others in the elements of a given
philosophy. In sports it is basically the best of the best or the number-
one team standing at the end of a season. In Chapter 2 I introduced to
you the kaizen champion. This employee is dedicated 100 percent to
continuous improvement and acts as the lead for the company’s lean
initiatives. Your organization does not necessarily have to call this per-
son a kaizen champion. The title could be lean champion, lean engi-
neer, continuous improvement manager—it does not matter. Before
starting Kaizen Assembly, one of my titles was lean champion and the
role was exactly the same as that of the kaizen champion I will describe
in this chapter. I use the term kaizen champion in my teachings, so that
is what I will use here.

The kaizen champion’s role is a full-time job requiring a solid back-

ground, an understanding of lean manufacturing principles, and an abil-
ity to communicate and teach these principles to the entire
organization. In this chapter I will cover the following aspects of the
kaizen champion:

• Why a kaizen champion?

• Kaizen champion skill sets
39
40

• Choosing the kaizen champion

Chapter 3: The Kaizen Champion

• Cost of a kaizen champion

• Kaizen champion responsibilities
• Alternatives

Why a Kaizen Champion?

My job as a consultant and author is to recommend what I think is the
best approach to a successful lean journey. Although lean journeys dif-
fer from one company to the next, all of them require a significant
amount of work, from training and up-front planning to implementa-
tions, follow-up, and continuous improvement. Lean journeys need
fewer leaders and more doers. A good kaizen champion knows when
to lead and, more important, when to get down and dirty to get the
work done.

A kaizen champion is essential to a company because of the time com-

mitment required to make lean a business model. Employees are busy
with day-to-day issues in their department and are always juggling
numerous projects and initiatives. Their current positions exist because
their work is required to keep the company moving. Accountants and
controllers are in place to handle the financial side of the business; mar-
keting and sales people are required to keep business coming into the
company and to generate new ideas for future business. Operations
managers work day in and day out with production workers, produc-
tion schedules, vacation approvals, delivery dates, and/or all the ele-
ments of running a production floor. I could go on and on. When
day-to-day issues come first, and people are juggling numerous tasks,
when do they have time to take up the full-time responsibilities of lean?
Well, they don’t. Now I am in no way implying that just because a
kaizen champion is in place, everyone else in the organization can
divorce themselves from continuous improvement. Lean is a company-
wide effort. But there needs to be a guiding individual who can direct
the efforts and bring in resources from other departments and functions
as necessary. This guide is the kaizen champion.

With this said, I am also aware that not all companies can afford to cre-
ate a new position for a kaizen champion. A good kaizen champion
who can produce results is not cheap, even if the return on investment
 41

is well worth the new addition. There are alternatives, which I will dis-

Kaizen Champion Skill Sets

cuss later in this chapter.

Kaizen Champion Skill Sets

As a business leader you always want to try to arm yourself with the
best employees you can. Choosing a kaizen champion is no different,
and you want to make sure you pick the right person to fill this posi-
tion. I have hired my share of them and have also helped my clients to
screen and select candidates. Picking one is not easy; do not rush the
process. As a guide, here are the areas in which this person should
have expertise:

• The seven wastes

• Lean as a business model
• 5S and the visual workplace
• Kaizen and kaizen events
• Data collection
• Setup reduction and quick changeover
• Line design and work flow
• Material replenishment
• Project management

The Seven Wastes

This one is a no-brainer, but simply knowing the seven wastes is only
part of the game. Understanding where waste exists and how to reduce
or remove it is another. One of the biggest mistakes with regard to waste
is not knowing when it is necessary. Necessary waste is waste that is
either impossible to remove or is literally part of the process. An organi-
zation has to learn to prioritize its waste reduction efforts and decide
what waste is realistic to keep. For instance, workers in a company that
manufactures aircraft will have to walk up and down inside the air-
plane to install components. This movement in and out of the plane is
wasted motion, but I don’t see these actions ever being eliminated. A
factory will always have some level of raw material, WIP, and finished
goods. These may sit around for a very short period of time, but they
still constitute waste. Products will have to move from one work area to
42

another. Automated or not, this is wasted transportation. Mistakes will

Chapter 3: The Kaizen Champion

be made, and even if the rework is small in nature, guess what—this is

waste. A good kaizen champion teaches and emphasizes waste reduc-
tion and can show how to reduce it in an existing process. A good
kaizen champion can also teach people that a totally waste-free
environment does not exist.

Lean as a Business Model

This aspect of the champion is not easily learned. It is a “feeling” or

instinct about how a lean company should operate. Ideally, a kaizen
champion should have experience in other companies and can incorpo-
rate best practices in your company as needed. One of the fundamental
elements of lean thinking is having and teaching patience. A lot of
organizations get excited about incorporating lean practices and want to
change everything. “Change the world in a week” becomes their way of
approaching lean. It can’t be done. The beauty of lean is that there is no
rush. Time is completely on your side. Business leaders simply have to
make the decision about when to start. My point here is that a smart
kaizen champion can help bring a culture along slowly and methodi-
cally, depending on the existing level of resistance, confusion, and suc-
cess. As the culture slowly develops into a continuous improvement
culture, the kaizen champion can go into a “check and balance” mode
rather than the mentoring and training mode that is usual at the begin-
ning of a lean journey.

The kaizen champion must have the ability to redirect the kaizen event
steering committee to ensure that any lean strategy that was created is
being fulfilled. He or she knows how to garner support and resources,
prepare for each project, and guide kaizen teams so that everything falls
in line with the business model. Kaizen champions are like the
guardian angels of lean.

5S and the Visual Workplace

5S has been brought up throughout the first couple of chapters. I am

often asked how and where to start lean initiatives. It is tough to say,
since every company is different in its lean endeavors. With that said, I
think the implementation of 5S is always a perfect starting point for
most. 5S is aggressive organization and cleanliness, a philosophy of
 43

lean that emphasizes a showroom factory. In a 5S environment, every-

Kaizen Champion Skill Sets

thing has a home—all tools, parts, garbage cans, tables, workbenches,
pallets, carts, documentation, etc. Put this book down and think of your
factory or company. Imagine a workplace where all the items have a
particular location and are clearly marked and labeled. Depending on
the size of the plant, it could take over a year to fully implement 5S.
An experienced kaizen champion can map out a 5S implementation
plan that includes the supplies and training needed and the implemen-
tation method to be used. Kaizen events are a great delivery mechanism
for this, but people can start in their areas anytime.

5S should also be relatively simple for a seasoned champion, and the

responsibility of training employees should eventually be shared over
time. 5S essentially is the foundation needed for lean, and if a company
cannot keep the house clean, then the other lean practices available will
be very hard to grasp and/or maintain.

Kaizen and Kaizen Events

Lean is implemented in basically two ways. Lean initiatives can be

quick or take time, depending on the goals. For instance, an inventory
reduction plan can be quite intensive, involving multiple employees,
departments, and suppliers. Reducing inventory in a plant takes time,
and a three-day kaizen event won’t do it. Line consolidation and overall
plant floor reduction take time as well, especially if more product lines
are being added during the same time. These are simple examples, but
you probably see my point. Now kaizen events can be used to help
reach certain milestones, but avoid getting into an “event-lean”
approach to improvements. Don’t wait for a kaizen event to reduce
waste; allowing employees to practice continuous improvement is
extremely important in developing a lean-thinking culture. An organiza-
tion’s kaizen champion can help teach people the difference between
kaizen and kaizen events and will know when an event is necessary
or not.

Data Collection

A multitude of data collection tools are available to evaluate any given

process. The kaizen champion needs to know them and have the ability
to pick the right one to conduct an analysis of current conditions, called
44

collecting the current state. The current state of a process is basically

Chapter 3: The Kaizen Champion

the number of value-added and non-value-added steps needed to com-

plete a product or service product. Products could be cars, microwaves,
ropes, doors, lamps, stoves—any tangible goods produced. Products
could also be the processed or fabricated parts, or the subassemblies
needed to complete the final assembly. Service products are items such
as work orders, routers, invoices, marketing plans, estimates, or any-
thing in the administrative portion of a company. Products and service
products are completed through a process. A process basically includes
two types of work: value-added and non-value-added (waste). Capturing
the current state involves using these data collection tools to find out
what it takes to complete the product or service product from start to
finish. Each step requires a certain amount of time, information that
is also very important to collect. Here are three very common data
collection tools:

• Value stream mapping (VSM)

VSM is the visual representation of a sequence of operations and
steps that occur in the process of producing a product or service
product. A VSM analysis follows certain parts of a particular prod-
uct family from the supplier all the way to the customer. It shows
supplier delivery and delivery requirements, inventory buildup of
raw material at the company, and all the individual manufacturing
processes, cycle times, setup times, people, shifts, finished goods
inventory, and delivery requirements to the customer. It is a high-
level look at the product family from start to finish. The goal of VSM
is to identify waste reduction opportunities and to establish the cur-
rent state.
• Time and motion studies
A good kaizen champion has the ability to conduct useful time and
motion studies on work. Time studies are a very good data collection
tool when manual assembly is performed or when there are
machines that require setup and changeover. Time study data collec-
tion is almost an art form, as it requires experience to do correctly. It
also involves interacting with production workers; a relationship
must be developed first so that they trust the data collector. Don’t do
time studies when evaluating office work; office work has a whole
different dynamic from production work. Random disruptions and
inconsistent workloads from day to day make conducting time
studies nearly impossible here. Time estimates are better for this
environment.
 45

• Spaghetti diagrams

Kaizen Champion Skill Sets

This tool is good for collecting the current state when workers oper-
ate multiple pieces of equipment, or if they have a large work cell in
which to maneuver. Take a sheet of paper and draw the general
work area. Identify the large items in the drawing: machines,
shelves, tool supply areas, material storage, etc. Take this drawing
to the work area in question and watch the workers perform their
duties. As they walk from one place to the next, draw their paths.
By the end of the analysis, you will have traced a giant bowl of
spaghetti, and now you will have the total distance the workers
cover in a given day. This tool is very good for preparing for a 5S
kaizen event whose goal is to better organize an area for less motion
and transportation. Spaghetti diagrams are good for evaluating small
localized areas of a plant.

Setup Reduction and Quick Changeover

Not all processes involve manual assembly. Companies that use auto-
mated manufacturing processes where machines and equipment do the
bulk of the production should have a kaizen champion who under-
stands the importance of reducing setup and shrinking changeover
times. These are tricky subjects, and it may take time to really get a firm
understanding of the two. Setup and changeover are two separate steps,
but they are often considered to be the same thing. Setup is the work
performed before a new product run is needed. Changeover is the actual
act of removing items such as fixtures and parts from the machine, and
then placing new fixtures and parts for the next run. This portion of
machine work must be fast and efficient so that the machine can be
turned on again. The more efficient the setup steps are, the faster the
changeover.

Another misconception about changeover is that it is completely non-

value-added since it is downtime, but frequent changeovers are good
depending on the number of different products being manufactured. For
instance, if a company makes one type of phone, then changeover
should be kept to a minimum. But if there are multiple types of phones
with different colors and options, then the quicker a company can
change over to manufacture the next model, the better it can satisfy cus-
tomer expectations of delivery and quantity. A good kaizen champion
knows this philosophy, can teach it, and knows how to establish smart
setup steps and changeover routines.
46

Line Design and Work Flow

Chapter 3: The Kaizen Champion

Smart physical layout of a process is also critical in keeping waste to a

minimum. Reducing travel distance between operators and processes is
important, as is maximizing the amount of floor space. However, mak-
ing the processes so tight that people feel cramped is just as bad as giv-
ing them too much room. Your kaizen champion must first take into
account the physical size of the products being built. That will dictate
what type of construction is needed. For instance, if an organization
produces small calculators, large, bulky conveyor rollers and belts may
be a poor option. Products can be built on carts that have the appear-
ance of a train. This arrangement makes the process very flexible, as the
carts can be relocated anywhere at any time. Maybe the product is large
and heavy, in which case the use of automation such as conveyor
rollers or belts that are powered by a foot pedal is best. Adding a lift
table to the process may help the workers get better views of the prod-
uct. Proper lighting is needed. Point-of-use documentation and material
are absolute requirements. The list goes on and on and I could write
another book on the subject. I will go into more detail about line design
and work flow in later chapters.

Material Replenishment

Material replenishment plant-wide is a complex subject, and it takes

years to get an efficient system in place. It involves analyzing supplier
performance with regard to cost, quality, and delivery. What quantities
do you currently buy, and how often do your suppliers deliver? Are you
always sold on that 10 percent discount to buy a six-month supply? But
now you have to incur the holding cost of that inventory, which by the
way costs much more than the 10 percent you just saved—by a long shot.

Proper material presentation in the work area is also part of this system.
Obviously material should be at point of use, and the replenishment of
this material should not be done by the production worker. Material
and parts quantities should be kept to a minimum. Large pallets and
bins of excess parts simply take up floor space and extend the length of
the line. Quantities in the work area are also based on supplier perform-
ance, but customer demand and delivery frequencies also are part of the
calculation. Your kaizen champion should be strong in inventory reduc-
tion and material replenishment, and he or she should have a working
relationship with the purchasing department and suppliers.
 47

Project Management

Choosing the Kaizen Champion

The preceding areas of expertise for the kaizen champion have been
somewhat technical and analytical. Completing the champion’s skill set
are good project management skills. Planning, conducting, and follow-
ing up on kaizen events require project management. Often a person
who has good analytical skills lacks project management abilities,
although this is not always the case. One of the fundamental aspects of
project management is dealing with people and their different personal-
ities. I have had the pleasure of hiring and having some of the best
manufacturing and industrial engineers work for me. But if I were
asked, “What was the one definable similarity among all of them?” I
would say that they all struggled with working with people who had
conflicting personalities. Not everything in lean is data-driven, and your
people are the most important element of a successful lean journey.

Kaizen teams should be cross-functional and diverse. They have goals

in front of them, and they must complete implementations on time.
Opinions vary about what is the best solution for waste reduction, and
sometimes kaizen events can get intense and conversations may get
heated. Good project managers can deal with these circumstances and
redirect as needed to ensure that people are being heard and that the
team can still get the job done on time. Budgets may have to be consid-
ered as well. So much is required of a good project manager, and I feel
that any strong kaizen champion possesses the attributes of one.

So there you have it. Although this was a short description of the
kaizen champion, it gives you an idea of the type of individual needed
for this role. Some companies take a while to find the right candidate.
There is no hurry. As for any other position in the company, make sure
the person you pick can fulfill the requirements of the job.

Choosing the Kaizen Champion

Now that you have a general understanding of the skill set of a good
kaizen champion, it is time to begin your search. As I just said, take
your time. I have a client in Chicago who took over a year to finally
decide. Most of the candidates interviewed had the background and
experience we were looking for, but they did not have the passion that
is also needed. The company finally found someone and that person
has worked out.
48

When selecting the kaizen champion you can go in two directions. You
Chapter 3: The Kaizen Champion

can select someone who currently works in the company; let us call this
employee the internal option. Or you take the external option and find
someone totally new to the company. Either option has it pros and cons.

Internal Option

Remember, this position is completely dedicated to lean, so if you

decide to select within the organization, that person’s old job must
be filled.

Pros:

• In-depth knowledge of the company’s operations

• Has worked with the current culture
• Is familiar with the company’s products and processes

Cons:

• Is absorbed in old of ways of working

• Finds it difficult to see new approaches to working
• Is part of the old system
• Old job must be filled

External Option

If you are not able to find someone in the company to take on the role
of kaizen champion, it is not a poor reflection on your current culture’s
abilities. The kaizen champion’s job is not easy. It can be stressful at
times and a lot is riding on its success. If you decide to go outside of
the company, this option also has its pros and cons.

Pros:

• Brings a fresh perspective

• Has experience and knowledge from other companies
• May have a lean background
 49

Cons:

Cost of a Kaizen Champion

• Is not familiar with the company’s operations
• Does not know the products or processes
• Has not developed relationships with operators

Either option requires a financial investment in the future of the person

and the company. If you opt for an internal person, you still have to fill
his or her old position, so there is the added cost of hiring that person.
Once you have a kaizen champion who can get results, however, the
return on those investments will be worth the effort.

Cost of a Kaizen Champion

What is the investment? Allow me to use the external option as an
example since not only have I hired kaizen champions, I was one
myself some years ago. Kaizen champions who can generate results are
well worth their salaries. Although the number could be more or less
depending on geography and salary history, a good kaizen champion is
worth around $80,000 a year plus benefits. Keep in mind that I am talk-
ing about hiring a person who is focused on one plant or at least 80 to
90 percent focused on one facility. Some organizations stretch their
champions too thin if the champion has to support more than one fac-
tory. This does not mean that the champion cannot visit other plants
and provide guidance, but it is best to have kaizen champions in
each plant.

You are probably thinking that this approach is expensive. Well, it can
be, depending on results and leadership support. But if, through the
leadership of the kaizen champion, lean implementations save the com-
pany $500,000 to $1,000,000 a year from waste reduction, it seems to
me that it is worth an $80,000 investment.

But don’t forget the other hiring costs involved in the external option.
You may need to relocate the candidate and his or her family as well.
After multiple interviews, travel expenses, moving household goods and
cars, lease termination fees, closing costs on selling and buying a house,
and other miscellaneous moving expenses, a company could spend an
50

additional $20,000 to $30,000 to get the ball rolling. However, with the
Chapter 3: The Kaizen Champion

right person, these costs will be returned 50-fold. Of course, I realize the
investment must be done in the first place and it may not be economi-
cally feasible for the company; this is why the last portion of this chap-
ter is dedicated to discussing alternatives to the kaizen champion.

Kaizen Champion Responsibilities

Once the kaizen champion is in place, you can begin to load him or her
up with responsibilities. Along with the responsibilities that I have dis-
cussed so far, here are some of the other matters on which the cham-
pion takes the lead:

• Training
• Kaizen monthly meeting
• Communication boards
• Kaizen newsletter
• Kaizen suggestion box
• Kaizen event tracking worksheet
• Team leadership
• Action item follow-up
• Monitoring other lean initiatives

Training

The kaizen champion is also in charge of creating the curriculum and

setting the schedule for training the company in lean and kaizen. If the
company has just started its lean journey, the kaizen champion should
be training all employees in lean principles. A classroom environment
is the best approach, and sometimes it is a good idea to rent some space
off-site to avoid disruptions. The champion needs to develop a curricu-
lum for three demographics: First is leadership training, the second is
middle- and upper-manager training (which includes office personnel
and other support staff such as engineers), and the third is training at
the production/maintenance/supervisor level.

As time goes on, the champion should work with the HR department to
help create training for new employees regardless of their titles or
 51

where they work. This also includes creating ongoing refresher training

Kaizen Champion Responsibilities

for all employees. HR can also use the champion to develop job descrip-
tions for new employees. The champion should always be one of the
employees who helps interview and screen prospective employees. As
lean becomes more and more integrated into your firm’s business
model, the kaizen champion should be involved in most of the hiring
process to ensure that the right talent is being brought on.

Kaizen Monthly Meeting

Your kaizen event steering committee should meet once a month to dis-
cuss all lean initiatives, including kaizen events. This meeting is run by
the kaizen champion, and he or she is responsible for scheduling the
meeting, creating the meeting agenda, and sending out meeting notes.
During the meeting the kaizen champion should get status reports from
all the committee members on any lean projects in process. Discussing
kaizen events is a given, as I detailed earlier in this book; even small
improvement initiatives need to be discussed. It is critical to the suc-
cess of your lean journey to have this meeting regardless of the amount
of waste reduction effort that is going on. The kaizen champion is also
responsible for keeping the other members of the steering committee
engaged.

Communication Boards

I brought up the subject of communication boards in Chapter 2. It is the

job of the kaizen champion to maintain this board’s information and to
update it as necessary to keep people informed of upcoming kaizen
events.

Kaizen Newsletter

Information on the organization’s kaizen newsletter comes from the

kaizen champion. The champion is heavily involved in all lean initia-
tives and can provide valuable information for the newsletter. The
champion can make the newsletter, or it can be left to someone in
human resources or an office manager; it does not matter. Regardless,
the kaizen newsletter is part of the job responsibilities of the kaizen
champion.
52

Kaizen Suggestion Box

Chapter 3: The Kaizen Champion

The kaizen champion should be virtually a fixed presence on the pro-

duction floor and in the administrative processes, learning how they
operate, developing relationships with everyone, and finding opportuni-
ties for waste reduction. The champion’s presence enables people to
speak openly about problems in their respective processes; basically,
the kaizen champion maintains an open-door policy on improvement
ideas and should be in constant discussions with floor workers about
their ideas for improvements. Outside of these interactions, the kaizen
suggestion box should be available for those people who do not want to
speak openly. It is the responsibility of the champion to empty the box
and evaluate the suggestions. These suggestions should then be brought
to the kaizen monthly meeting to be discussed by the kaizen event
steering committee.

Kaizen Event Tracking Worksheet

The kaizen event tracking worksheet needs to be kept up to date for all
employees, and it is up to the champion to perform this task. The work-
sheet is presented to the committee during the kaizen monthly meetings
and should be available for review by those who may not come to the
meetings. Remember, this tracking worksheet is important for keeping
information about all elements of kaizen events visible and accurate.

Team Leadership
In the early stages of your lean journey, the kaizen champion is the ideal
person to lead kaizen teams. The kaizen champion also develops team
leader criteria that can be used to select future team leaders. If you do
not have a champion at a given time or at the beginning of the lean jour-
ney, simply make a list of criteria that will work until a champion is
selected. Criteria or not, good team leaders are developed over time with
kaizen event experiences—successful ones and not-so-successful ones.
Even when the kaizen champion is not the team leader, he or she should
be available to support and encourage the members of an event team.

Action Item Follow-up

After each kaizen event, there will be unfinished work that needs to
be completed within 30 days. It is the responsibility of the kaizen
 53

champion to follow up with team leaders and members on their

Alternatives
progress. The champion needs to help clear any obstacles that might be
impeding completion of the items and decide if the kaizen event steer-
ing committee needs to help.

Monitoring Other Lean Initiatives

Remember, it is vital to your lean journey’s success to not get stuck in

“event-lean.” Waiting for a kaizen event to make improvements is not
the right approach. Kaizen events are one delivery option for lean
implementations. What you do to improve the company outside of
kaizen events is equally important. Maybe it is an ongoing inventory
reduction plan or working toward a supplier certification program.
Develop ongoing setup reduction and changeover teams to constantly
address downtime during these procedures. Whatever the initiatives
are, the kaizen champion should monitor them to ensure that everyone
is able to reduce waste in his or her processes on an ongoing basis, out-
side of the scheduled events.

So as you can see, there are a lot of miscellaneous responsibilities for

the kaizen champion. Some may appear to be simple, but I can assure
you that the kaizen champion stays quite busy, and as time goes on, he
or she will become highly involved in the company’s overall strategic
plan.

Alternatives
Some of you may be thinking, “There is no way we would be able to
have a kaizen champion.” Well, you are not in the minority here; and to
be honest, most firms cannot. I know for a fact that a good kaizen cham-
pion will pay for him- or herself and then plenty more, but if you fall
into the no-kaizen-champion category, you will be happy to know that
there are alternatives. However, you must assign ownership of lean in
some fashion or it will fall apart.

Think about all the requirements of the kaizen champion, and then
think of those people in your company who already possess these skills.
One of my clients has no champion, but the company is “doing” lean
with great success. Its journey is slower than that of companies that do
have a champion, but it is still progressing with waste reduction.
54

Assign someone to be your 5S champion. This person needs to be

Chapter 3: The Kaizen Champion

trained in the concepts and implementation of 5S and is responsible for

making sure all projects that use the elements of 5S are successful. Your
5S champion should be involved in planning kaizen events with some-
one who is your kaizen event champion. This person is responsible for
planning events and helping with team leadership and follow-up. Have
HR take the lead on updating the communication boards and the
newsletter and on reviewing the suggestions. Find someone in the com-
pany who is good at data collection, such as an industrial engineer or
other technical person, who can help analyze processes and come up
with better ways to flow product and calculate proper workstation and
people requirements.

The talent exists in your company; just tap into it and make sure the
people have the time to work on lean- and kaizen-related items. I also
recommend hiring interns from the operations or engineering depart-
ments of a local college who can be used for—well, anything. A lot of
my clients use interns to conduct value stream mapping and time stud-
ies while they search for a kaizen champion. Or they simply use interns
on an ongoing basis for a variety of tasks. Interns are eager to use what
they have learned in school and to begin fleshing out their résumés for
other career opportunities. It is always good to use a consultant when
needed as well (though I am not attempting to market my services to
you). A consultant helps get the journey going, and a good consultant
knows when to step back and let a client continue on its own.

Why a Kaizen Champion?

There is not much more I can say at this point about the kaizen cham-
pion. I dedicated an entire chapter to it because it is my honest opinion
that a kaizen champion is a vital component of lean. The rate of return
on this person is phenomenal. But I also live in the real world, and
some organizations simply do not have this option. So I hope I have
outlined some good alternatives for you so that you can decide what is
best for your company. The bottom line is this: You create ownership of
certain parts of lean, whether with a kaizen champion or spread out
among multiple employees.
 4 f o

Kaizen Event Scheduling

u r

Kaizen events require solid up-front planning to ensure that they are
successful. Traditionally, it was taught that there should be no activities
prior to the event. With this approach, a kaizen team would begin day
one of the project with confusion and little direction. Often working
12 to 16 hours a day, the kaizen team would go through a series of trials
and errors until coming up with a final layout or a handful of solutions
to reduce waste. They would be exhausted and often bitter as a result of
these kaizen events. I am a firm believer in and practitioner of prepara-
tion and planning for every kaizen event a company conducts. This
does not mean that the answers should be provided to the team.
Depending on the goals of the team, certain tasks should begin at least
four weeks before the event.

Some kaizen events can be planned even further out than four weeks,
depending on the complexity of the work area, the length of the line,
and the amount of floor space the cell takes up; the consolidation of two
processes would probably require more preplanning. As I mentioned in
Chapter 2, kaizen events consist of structured time, a selected area, and
a talented team. Waste removal initiatives between kaizen events are
simply the practice of kaizen. These activities do not necessarily take a
lot of preparation, just some effort to continue improvements. Kaizen
events take a different tack.
55
56

There are basically three stages to a kaizen event: preplanning, imple-

Chapter 4: Kaizen Event Scheduling

mentation, and follow-up. This chapter will outline the fundamental

aspects of kaizen event preplanning, starting at the four-week point
before the event. Everything in this chapter should be used as a guide-
line. As your organization becomes more experienced with conducting
kaizen events, you will refine the necessary steps in all stages. It is up
to the kaizen committee to lead the preplanning initiatives and make
sure each one is completed in time for the event.

Four Weeks Before the Kaizen Event

• Select the process/department/work area that will be the focus of the
event.
• Make a tentative list of kaizen team members.
• Select the kaizen event team leader.
• Establish team goals.
• Estimate event spending.
• Order supplies.
• Update the kaizen communication system.
• Schedule outside assistance.
• Conduct waste analysis of the area.

Select the Process/Department/Work Area

Selection of the focus for a kaizen event depends on a few variables.

Often “gut feel” is fine; I am an advocate of getting started and not wait-
ing for perfect direction. Companies can be paralyzed by a lack of deci-
sion making and never truly make the move from idea formulation to
action. Don’t wait for the magic wand because it does not exist.
However, there are a few guidelines you can follow to select areas for
improvement, or at least for a kaizen event.

First, you can evaluate sales and output. Does the product or line or
area contribute a large portion of your overall revenue and/or the total
output? Be careful, because a high-volume product may have very little
effect on total revenue as it could be a low-priced item. On the other
hand, the product line could represent a large portion of revenue, but
 57

output in comparison to other products is very low. A fast-moving high-

Fo u r We e k s B e f o re t h e K a i z e n E v e n t
sales product is a good starting point.

Second, look at performance. Determine the current productivity of the

process and compare it to other areas that may be performing more effi-
ciently. Look at quality information internally and externally to see if
the need for improvements could be based on errors, defects, rejects,
rework, and customer complaints. Customer complaint information is
useful as long as it is accurate. Once your product leaves the plant,
it could touch dozens of hands, flow through numerous external
processes, and get handled over and over again. Internal quality infor-
mation is generally more immediate and has a better chance of being
accurate and thus more usable. How much floor space is being taken up
by the line or process due to excessive WIP and inventory? This obser-
vation or measurement will also give you some perspective on travel
distance. Long distances equal longer delivery times, so it is smart to
analyze floor space use and travel distance.

Third, how many of the seven deadly wastes are consuming the lives of
the production workers? More important, how much of their overall day
is lost to non-value-added activity? Leaving the work area, reworking
products, overbuilding and overprocessing, sharing tools, and waiting
on product, parts, and information are examples of things that will
negatively affect cost, quality, and delivery. It will require some initial
analysis of the process to get a firm grasp of how much waste there is;
I will discuss this data collection exercise in Chapter 6.

Fourth, what are the production workers telling you in the suggestion
system I outlined in Chapter 2? Their suggestions may bring to the sur-
face a plethora of problems that are unknown to management and other
support staff, such as problems with equipment, suppliers, parts, tools,
part presentation, the order of the work, and imbalances in the process.

These four factors should be all you need to make a decision. Do not
wait to have 100 percent of the information before you make a decision
or you will never make one. Simply look at sales, output, performance,
waste, and employee suggestions in some mix and make a move!

Make a Tentative List of Kaizen Team Members

Having all of the selected team members on the kaizen event is the sole
key to success. The committee should create a tentative list of potential
58

members four weeks before the event to ensure their availability. During
Chapter 4: Kaizen Event Scheduling

this time, managers and HR can verify any vacation schedules that have
been submitted for the week of the kaizen event. Also, certain employ-
ees may be on light duty due to injury or illness; this is the time to
check paperwork and employee records for this information.

Another factor to consider when selecting team members is whether

they are involved with other company-related activities, such as train-
ing or work-related travel. Nothing bugs me more than walking into a
kaizen event thinking I have eight team members, for example, and
there are only five because the proper planning was not done. So, a ten-
tative list should be created so there is adequate time to verify that
everyone can participate. Of course, family emergencies and sickness
right before an event cannot be avoided.

Select the Kaizen Event Team Leader

Once the area and the team members have been selected, you can move
on to selection of the team leader. Picking employees to be team leaders
is not as simple as it appears. Kaizen events are very intense and
require good leaders who can assess situations and direct people to
ensure success. Often your kaizen champion is the best choice, but as I
said earlier, not all companies can have this type of position. It is then
smart to develop criteria for kaizen event team leadership. Important
attributes of a kaizen event team leader are

• Project management skills

• Interpersonal skills
• Technically minded
• Good at meeting deadlines
• Ability to stay within budgets
• Effective communication of goals and objectives
• Positive attitude

When selecting the team leader, you don’t necessarily have to pick the
line or area supervisors. As long as the team has members who work on
a regular basis in the area that is the focus of the event, your team
leader can be anyone as long as he or she has the qualities listed above.
Good team leaders are also developed over time, and as you circulate
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different people into kaizen event leadership roles, you will develop a

Fo u r We e k s B e f o re t h e K a i z e n E v e n t
powerful pool of change agents from which to pick for the future.

Establish Team Goals

As discussed in Chapter 2, kaizen teams should be selected and sched-

uled for an event with the purpose of improving the company. Without
definable goals, a team of any kind can find itself working without an
end. In Chapter 1, I described key shop floor metrics such as productiv-
ity, floor space, quality, travel distance, and inventory. Improvement
goals with these metrics in mind will help the team identify waste
removal opportunities.

Estimate Event Spending

A certain amount of money should be allocated for each kaizen event so

that the team can purchase items as needed. During kaizen events, team
members come up with amazing solutions to problems, and sometimes
they require a quick trip to the local home improvement store. I can
remember a kaizen event about five years ago when two team members
devised a solution for station identification. During the event, the team
was in the middle of 5S implementation, and I had tasked the team
with coming up with a way to identify stations with signs. There were a
couple of criteria. First, the signs had to be high enough that material
handlers could see the location of the stations from a distance. Second,
the station designation or number had to be visible from the same
distance.

A line operator on the team and someone from maintenance got

together and decided to take on the task. I was fully aware that the task
at hand was not overly complicated, so I was looking for creativity. I
went about my work and left to deal with another issue.

The two disappeared for a while, about two hours, and then I found
them in the maintenance department. They were clearly building some-
thing for the event. At the end of the day, they came out to the assembly
line with a cart full of what appeared to be white PVC pipes. They had
gone to a plumbing supply store and purchased two different sizes of
PVC pipes and some hardware. Figure 4-1 is a simple illustration of
what they built.
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Chapter 4: Kaizen Event Scheduling

10

Figure 4-1 Station sign

Each workstation would have one of these signs—a simple solution and
very creative. They had used the money that had been budgeted for the
kaizen event to buy the supplies for this idea. Usually the bulk of the
event budget is for feeding the team, but there should also be enough
for those small projects that come up during each event.

Order Supplies

Every kaizen team will require some supplies. Teams use a variety of
things to eliminate waste or to implement a lean practice. For instance,
during the implementation of 5S, kaizen teams will need floor tape,
paint, labels, laminating material, markers, tape measures, and box
cutters. These items are good to have for every kaizen event, and they
should be placed in a “kaizen event supply box.” This box is an invalu-
able asset to any company conducting kaizen events. It has yet to fail
me or my clients. It is best to custom-build one if you have the mainte-
nance support, but you can buy something at any home improvement
store.

It is also common to order material for building things. One-inch metal

tubing for special fixtures, tables, and shelves and Peg-Board for making
 61

visual tool boards are also good examples. The list could go on and on.

Fo u r We e k s B e f o re t h e K a i z e n E v e n t
Make sure to begin the supply-ordering phase at this point.

Update the Kaizen Communication System

When the event is four weeks away, update the communication boards,
generate a new newsletter, and collect the suggestions in the kaizen
event suggestion box. Start sending e-mails to the employees who are
not on the team so that they know about the event. It is good for every-
one to be aware of all events so that they know not to make decisions
that will pull team members off the event or make the event hard to
complete.

Schedule Outside Assistance

A variety of people who do not even work in the plant can be team
members. Workers from sister or parent companies can be invited to
contribute to the kaizen event. This is a smart approach when organiza-
tions are trying to standardize lean implementations somewhat. I say
somewhat because every journey is different, but it still allows for best
practices. Currently, Kaizen Assembly has a client with a plant in
Ferndale, WA, and Lafayette, LA, and they help each other during
kaizen events. (See Chapter 7.)

Other outside help could be suppliers or customers. Suppliers can be

invited to attend and contribute during kaizen events that address the
line for products in which their parts and materials are used. Kaizen
event facilitators and consultants can be hired to lead or co-lead first-
time events. All of these external resources should be scheduled at least
four weeks before the event so that travel arrangements can be made.

Conduct Waste Analysis of the Area

Waste analysis will be described in much more detail in Chapter 6, but

since this is the scheduling chapter, I should touch on it here.
Depending on the kaizen event, data collection and waste analysis must
be conducted to ensure that the team is making the process more effi-
cient. A multitude of data collection tools are available in lean, but
some are better than others for each process.
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Often before a kaizen event, value stream mapping and time studies are
Chapter 4: Kaizen Event Scheduling

done to capture value-added and non-value-added work. Generally,

value-added work is the type of work performed to make parts, assem-
ble products, and run machines. Non-value-added work consists of
tasks that involve the seven wastes (overproduction, overprocessing,
waiting, motion, transportation, defects, and adding to inventory). Value
stream mapping is performed to get a high-level view of the process
from start to finish, generally from the supplier to the customer. Time
studies can be done to capture the work required to build a product and
make a part, including the movements of people and other inefficien-
cies. This information can be used to pinpoint waste removal opportu-
nities and allow the team to make major improvements to the area. Not
all kaizen events require data collection, but some do. Again, I will dis-
cuss this in further detail in Chapter 6.

Waste analysis of any kind should be done at least four weeks before
the event. Depending on resources, an organization should have some-
one focused on collecting this information on an ongoing basis to help
prepare teams and to conduct other continuous improvement efforts.

Two Weeks Before the Kaizen Event

Most of the preplanning items that were started in the fourth week fold
into the third week. With two weeks to go, preparations begin to change
and/or speed up, depending on the task. These are the tasks that should
be started two weeks before the event:

• Finalize the kaizen team members.

• Get an update on supplies and outside resources.
• Ask team members to walk through the chosen area.
• Pick a room where the team can gather.
• Analyze the collected data and start coming up with design ideas.

Finalize the Kaizen Team Members

With two weeks to go, the kaizen team should be finalized. They should
know that their expertise is needed on the team and that they have been
selected. Consider as you go along your lean journey that some compa-
nies get to a point in their kaizen program when kaizen event participa-
tion is voluntary. As people see the improvements being made and how
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kaizen is affecting the company, they will volunteer to participate in

Tw o We e k s B e f o re t h e K a i z e n E v e n t
events.

Get an Update on Supplies and Outside Resources

At this point get a status report on all supplies or equipment ordered for
the kaizen event. Most important, the kaizen event supply box should
be stocked. Verify participation from potential outside resources who
may be traveling to the kaizen event. If for some reason they cannot
make it, you still have time to select others to take their place. That is
not an ideal situation but it could happen, and with this approach to
planning you can still have a full team.

Ask Team Members to Walk Through the Chosen Area

Have the team members spend some time in the area selected for the
kaizen event. Companies that have a large manufacturing facility or mul-
tiple buildings should encourage employees to visit processes outside of
their normal assigned area, especially in preparation for a kaizen event.
Having the team members walk through the area ahead of time will give
them a feel for how things operate. Granted, if the plant is small,
employees would probably be familiar with everything already. Once the
kaizen event starts, you want the team to have some idea of what kind of
machines, equipment, tools, and people are used to build the products.

Pick a Room Where the Team Can Gather

During a kaizen event, the team will require two places to work. The
first work area is generally the process, assembly line, or area that has
been selected as the focus for the kaizen event. Sometimes working in
the actual process is difficult, so pick a place where the team can work
that is in close proximity to the line. The second area is a conference
room or training room where the team can place their belongings. This
place is also needed to conduct group discussions, eat lunch, and have
meetings. Often a company has a reservation system for securing rooms.
Customers, suppliers, and other employees use the rooms, so reserving
one ahead of time is smart. Nothing is more annoying than not having a
“war room” for the kaizen team once the week begins. Secure the room
ahead of time so there is no confusion or, more important, no interrup-
tion for the team.
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Analyze the Collected Data and Start Coming Up

Chapter 4: Kaizen Event Scheduling

with Design Ideas

Depending on the event and the goals of the team, a current state analy-
sis of the process may have been done ahead of time. This could have
been in the form of value stream mapping (discussed in Chapter 3),
time studies, waste analysis, or other flow and time evaluations. At this
two-week point, start looking over the information even if it has not
been completed. What can be done with this information before the
event starts? Is it clear that there are too many workstations or imbal-
ances in the work content between operators, or is there a lot of walking
around? Sometimes very little can be derived from the information, but
it is good to review it early. Again, I will discuss data collection exten-
sively in Chapter 6.

One Week Before the Kaizen Event

Now it is crunch time. With one week to go, preparations had better be
in the final phases.

• Gather current state information.

• Meet with the kaizen team members.
• Place all supplies in the team’s gathering space.
• Meet with the plant or general manager.
• Make food preparations.

Gather Current State Information

One week from the event, get an idea of the process’s current state. The
kaizen event steering committee should have set goals for the team in
regard to productivity increases, quality improvements, floor space
reduction, travel distance reduction, setup reduction, or inventory
reduction, for example. Depending on the metric(s) selected, the kaizen
champion or the appointed kaizen team leader should gather this cur-
rent state information, which will be presented to the team during this
one-week point and during the kaizen event. The current state informa-
tion provides a starting point for the team.
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Meet with the Kaizen Team Members

O n e We e k B e f o re t h e K a i z e n E v e n t
At this point, all team members should know about their participation.
If not, your company has other planning issues. There should be no
confusion about who is on the team, the area selected, and the time slot
for the kaizen event. Invite the team into a conference room for about 30
minutes. The team leader and/or the kaizen champion should review
the following information:

• The area selected for the event: products, equipment, number of

operators, output, quality and productivity issues, experience level
of the operators, and number of shifts
• Team member introductions: especially smart if your organization
has hundreds of employees
• Current state: productivity, quality, floor space, travel distance,
inventory levels, WIP, and number of workstations
• Team goals: as selected by the committee
• Confirmation of the team’s start and end times and shift

Place All Supplies in the Team’s Gathering Space

This is best done the afternoon before the first kaizen event day. Place
laptops, printers, the kaizen event supply box, laminators, etc., in the
conference room where the team will meet on day one. When the team
arrives, it is nice to have everything ready to go so they can begin work
immediately.

Meet with the Plant or General Manager

The team leader and/or the kaizen champion should meet with the
plant manager and give the final “go” on the project. Although the plant
manager should be aware of any changes at this point in the game, it is
always healthy to meet with this individual and go over any final
thoughts. The plant manager needs to provide total support for the proj-
ect, so any final words of wisdom from either the team leader or the
plant manager should be said at this time.
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Make Food Preparations

Chapter 4: Kaizen Event Scheduling

One of the most influential elements in getting employees to volunteer

for events is the food provided by the company during the event.
Assign someone to take care of ordering, delivering, and setting up
lunch or dinner for the team. Don’t be cheap with this, and be creative.
I have a client in Chicago that brings in a barbecue during summer
kaizen events; steaks and hamburgers are cooked on the shipping dock
for the team. One time the company brought in an ice cream cooler
packed with ice cream bars and popsicles. Pizza and deli sandwiches
are probably good enough, but make sure to provide a variety of food
for the team.

As your organization has more and more kaizen events, and more peo-
ple become team members, everyone will get this fringe benefit. Try to
avoid going out for lunch, because this tends to be a time-consuming
affair requiring transportation and eating time. The lunch is also a good
time to have your midday meeting anyway.

Final Thoughts on the Timeline

The recommendations I provided in this chapter are simply guidelines.
Depending on your culture, management, and kaizen event success,
your organization can develop its own timeline and preparation struc-
ture. Each of the items I described is listed because some delay during
the 200 or so kaizen events in which I have been involved occurred
because one of these tasks had not been done. Kaizen event leadership
is really about project management, and any good project manager will
say that good preparation never fails. Once all the preparations are com-
plete, it’s “go” time!
Part II
Kaizen Events

The next chapters will use everything I have previously outlined to

explain the different types of kaizen events. Each chapter will be spe-
cific to the “theme” of the event. The proper planning criteria will be
addressed in each chapter; however, keep in mind that preplanning
items will vary depending on the theme of the event. I will still try to
keep some consistency with what was discussed in the kaizen event
timeline portion of Chapter 3. Each kaizen event chapter will follow the
five-day event format. Just remember, not all events are five days long.
Length will vary depending on the amount of work to be done. Chapter
5, 5S Kaizen Events, will describe the planning and execution of a
kaizen event used to implement 5S. I will give examples of a produc-
tion process and a maintenance department. Chapter 6 describes a stan-
dard work kaizen event, which involves more than the implementation
of 5S. I will cover how to conduct preliminary evaluations on the
process like time studies, line balancing, and inventory replenishment.

Chapter 7 provides a real-world example of the concepts in this book. It

is a case study of Samson Rope Technologies, which successfully imple-
mented a company kaizen program.

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 5 f

5S Kaizen Events
i v e

As mentioned earlier, kaizen events are one of the mechanisms used to

implement lean. In essence, each event needs a “theme” with clear
goals and objectives. The purpose of a 5S kaizen event is to implement
5S in an area in need of cleanliness and organization. This chapter is
designed to show you step by step how to conduct a 5S kaizen event.

5S implementation is always a good starting point for a newly estab-

lished lean journey. Companies can be as aggressive as they want, but
implementing the 5S philosophy is easier than other lean practices.
Because the results of 5S implementation are visible, it provides the
“tangible” element of lean, easier to see than, for example, a new
changeover procedure or total preventive maintenance.

Using the kaizen event approach is equally beneficial because it brings

together a cross-functional team of individuals who together can imple-
ment 5S in a way that is effective and highly visible. In this chapter and
the next, I will provide timelines for preparation, and then for each day
of the event as well. There will be variations in the planning portion of
each chapter. You may want to refer back to Chapter 4, which discusses
preparation for a kaizen event.

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Four Weeks to Go
Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

Preparing for a 5S kaizen event is probably less difficult and time-con-

suming than preparing for other types of kaizen events. It does not
really require much data collection such as value stream mapping or
time studies. Sometimes it is good to perform a spaghetti diagram analy-
sis prior to the event, but it is not required.

Select the Area

Selection of the area depends on a multitude of variables. Often the

need to open up more floor space is a prime reason for doing a 5S
implementation, especially when a new product or new product lines
are coming and the company wants to avoid constructing a new build-
ing. With that said, I think it is important to quickly mention the con-
cept of cost avoidance. Often organizations get caught up in cost
reduction. Although reducing cost is a positive side effect of lean, the
benefits of cost avoidance can be tremendous. Through an aggressive
5S implementation, the company may be able to avoid adding onto an
existing building to accommodate a new product line and the added
inventory, and so avoid spending a huge amount of money. In addition
to the cost of the construction, there are the taxes and the ongoing
monthly expenses associated with a new facility. So, with that said,
sometimes the reason for conducting a 5S event in a given area is to
open up enough floor space for the growth of the company.

The spaghetti diagram analysis could reveal a significant amount of

wasted motion and transportation. This analysis could provide insight
into how to rearrange the work area for more effective movement. The
choice of the area for the 5S kaizen event can simply come down to the
fact that 5S has not yet been put in place. You really can start anywhere.
Maintenance, R&D, shipping, the office, an assembly line, a work cell
with machines—it does not matter. The length of time required for a 5S
kaizen event depends on the amount of floor space the work area con-
sumes and the amount of “stuff” on that floor space.

Select the Team Leader

As I mentioned in the previous chapter, the kaizen champion is the per-

fect candidate for team leadership, but anyone with knowledge of 5S is
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fine for leading a 5S kaizen event. You can pick the area supervisor, an

Fo u r We e k s t o G o
engineer, or a lead operator; whoever it is must be trained in 5S and
ideally has seen it implemented somewhere.

Tentatively Select the Team Members

As for any kaizen event, a cross-functional team of employees is needed

to help foster new ideas and thinking “out of the box.” Always have
people on the team who work in the chosen area, especially production
workers. You can also include administrators, engineers, supervisors,
line workers, maintenance personnel, and forklift drivers. The kaizen
event steering committee, which is responsible for getting the right mix
of individuals, will pick this team during the kaizen monthly meeting.
This list is temporary until team member participation can be verified
in regard to vacation time, light duty, family responsibility (depending
on the shift worked), and other activities happening in the building.

Establish Goals

Each kaizen event is designed to improve the work area and the com-
pany and to reduce waste. 5S is a very powerful improvement tool that
has the ability to reduce all of the seven wastes, as well as improve pro-
ductivity, reduce floor space and product travel distance, and enhance
quality. It is sometimes hard to quantify the results after a 5S implemen-
tation. I have no doubt that there will be major metric gains after 5S if
the team does its job correctly. Goals for a 5S kaizen event could be
floor space reduction, travel distance reduction, and productivity gains.
The most common is floor space reduction.

Event Spending and Supplies

To get the 5S program started, a kaizen event supply box needs to be

constructed and supplies such as floor tape, paint, label makers, sten-
cils, tape measures, etc., purchased. So the start-up costs for your first
event will be higher than for subsequent events. Most of the money
invested in a 5S kaizen event is for stocking up on 5S supplies and
maybe miscellaneous building material such as one-inch metal tubing,
Peg-Boards, and other items.
72

Update the Kaizen Communication System

Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

Once the event has been scheduled, the champion or whoever is

responsible must update communication boards and the kaizen
newsletter so that everyone is aware of the event.

Identify the Kaizen Team Meeting Space

A 5S team will need a place close to the work area selected where the
laminator, some laptops, a printer, and the team members’ personal
items can be put. Ninety percent of the team’s work will be done in the
work area that is the focus of the event, but the team will also need a
place for making large labels, laminating, and storing personal items
such as water bottles, food, etc.

Schedule Outside Assistance

If your organization has multiple plants and the first 5S kaizen event is
the first for the entire corporation, then invite employees from sister
plants to witness and participate in the proceedings. They can learn
valuable information from the event which they can begin to apply at
their respective facilities. This approach is smart if you are attempting
to standardize the 5S program throughout multiple factories. It is also
good to bring in salespeople, suppliers, and customers at some point
during your kaizen events.

Two Weeks to Go
Finalize Kaizen Team Members

Of course, this is a guideline for all kaizen events; a 5S event is no dif-

ferent. Verify that the participation of all team members who have been
selected is confirmed. If there have been some changes, make the appro-
priate substitutions now.

Get an Update on Supplies and Outside Resources

With two weeks to go, the 5S supplies that will be used during the
implementation should also be finalized. Make sure that all necessary
supplies are on their way or have arrived. Certain supplies will be
 73

purchased during the event, but it is smart to check on everything

O n e We e k t o G o
ordered at this point. It is also good to confirm the participation of
those who do not work in the plant who are coming in for the event,
especially if they are included in the final roster of team members.
Airline tickets, hotels, and car rentals should be arranged at this point.

Ask Team Members to Walk Through the

Selected Area

Ask the final 5S team to start spending time in the work area selected. If
they have been fully trained in 5S and all of its implementation tech-
niques, they will see ample opportunity for improvement. This walk-
through may not be needed if the facility is small. But some companies
are quite large, and it is always smart to allow the team to spend time
there as the event gets closer.

One Week to Go
Gather Current State Information
Most of the more complex preplanning tasks should be nearing comple-
tion by the one-week point. With a week to go, the kaizen champion
should collect some vital information about the work area selected for
the 5S implementation. Most kaizen events will require some current
state information in regard to floor space use, product travel distance,
productivity, quality, and inventory levels. Once improvements are
made and the workers have worked within a new 5S environment, these
key shop floor metrics should be positively affected. Have the current
state information available for the team on day one of the kaizen event.

Meet with the Kaizen Team Members

This meeting is scheduled by the event’s team leader and/or the kaizen
champion. It is a formal meeting to allow team members to meet each
other if they do not already know each other. It is also an opportunity
for the team leader to discuss the goals for the team as outlined by the
kaizen event steering committee and go over any other relevant infor-
mation regarding the project.

The team leader can discuss what types of preparations were made to
ensure that the team will have the time, resources, and supplies needed
74

to meet their goals and objectives. Team members should be allowed to

Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

ask questions and provide feedback on any observations they have

made prior to the kaizen event.

Place All Supplies in the Team’s Meeting Room

This particular task should really be done the day before the event
begins. If the kaizen event is to start on a Monday, the team leader and
kaizen champion should place all appropriate supplies, equipment, the
kaizen event supply box, and other miscellaneous tools in the team’s
chosen work area on the preceding Friday. Printers, laminators, label
makers, and even laptops can also be placed and made ready the day
before the event begins.

Meet with the Plant or General Manager

It also good for the team leader and the plant manager to meet just
before the event. The team leader confirms that the kaizen event is a
“go,” and the leader and the plant manager can then discuss any final
preparations. This is not the time to tell the plant manager that the
event is to be canceled for whatever reason. The need for a cancellation
should be apparent long before this meeting, but if not, that would
mean that the preplanning fell apart in the four- and two-week timeline.
Events are usually canceled because preplanning items did not get
completed.

Let It Begin!
The ultimate goal of any 5S team is to have the chosen area “5S-
compliant” by the end of the kaizen event. Essentially this means that
every item that is required to perform the work in the work area has a
home, and the location and item are clearly marked. It is important to
complete each S in the implementation in order before moving on to
the next—or at least to do the best you can.

Day One: Sort

The team leader should break the team into two sub-teams to begin the
Sort portion of 5S. During the sorting phase, all items deemed unneces-
sary should be removed from the work area, as well as any items that
 75

are questionable. Questionable items are items that are not used very

Let It Begin!
often, as opposed to everyday necessities. The team needs to decide
what the home location will be for infrequently used items. The two
sub-teams are as follows:

• Sorting team
• Collection team

Sorting Team

The sorting team is responsible for sifting through the workstations to

identify all unnecessary tools, supplies, tables, chairs, garbage cans, etc.
It is best to use the production workers who were picked to participate
on the sorting team. Their detailed knowledge of the workstations can
help the other team members. Pair up a production worker with some-
one who does not work in the area. This allows for an outside eye to
play “devil’s advocate” and question the items in the workstations.

To conduct the sorting activity, the team should use what is called a
red-tag campaign. A red-tag campaign is an organized approach to sort-
ing; it allows a lot of people to be involved in the sorting process and it
keeps items being taken from the workstations organized. There are
three parts to a successful red-tag campaign:

• Red tags
• Red-tag area
• Red-tag removal procedure

Red tags are visual indicators that a kaizen team has “tagged” the item
and deemed it unnecessary to perform the work in the workstation. It is
literally a red-colored tag. The sorting team places these tags on items,
removes the items, and brings them to the red-tag area for further evalu-
ation. Figure 5-1 shows what a red tag might look like.

During kaizen events, quick decisions must be made at the sorting

phase because the bulk of the work is done during the second phase,
Set in Order. This can be an emotional time for the team members, as
people become very attached to their work belongings. During a five-
day event, the red tagging/sorting needs to be completed by the end of
day one to ensure that the area is 5S-compliant at the end of the week.
Anything can be removed during a red-tag campaign. Possible items are:
76

• Extra air tools

Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

• Extra hand tools (wrenches, screwdrivers, socket sets, etc.)

• Workbenches
• Lights
• Fixtures
• Garbage cans
• Chairs
• Documentation
• Cabinets and shelving
• Parts and material

5S Red Tag

Name Date
Kaizen Event
Station/Area

Circle One
Work In Process
Raw Material
Finished Goods
Documentation
To o l s a n d F i x t u r e s
C u s t o m e r To o l s a n d F i x t u r e s
Office or Computer Equipment
Storage Material
Unknown
Other

Part Number:

Part Description:

Figure 5-1 Red tag

 77

The list could go and on and on. Cabinets, drawers, and tool chests

Let It Begin!
should be completely emptied out, and items should be sorted to iden-
tify only the bare essentials. Always start with the small items. And I am
serious about sorting things like extra pens, pencils, and wrenches. As
insane as it may appear, a collection of these small items requires
medium-sized storage such as bins, organizers, shelves, and tables.
Medium-sized items require large storage such as workbenches, cabinets,
tool chests, and racking. Large items require floor space, and finally floor
space requires buildings and facilities. Do you see my point?

As mentioned before, one of the main goals of a 5S team is to open up

floor space, to use current floor space better to reduce the waste of
motion and transportation. From a growth perspective, opening up
existing floor space is essential for adding new product lines and prod-
ucts to avoid adding onto the facility and incurring more cost.

Place red tags on all items pulled from the workstations, fill out the
appropriate information, and place the items in the red-tag area.

Collection Team

The collection team is required to be in the red-tag area, which is a

temporary staging area for the sorted items. At this point in the process,
nothing has left the building; it is too early for that to happen. The col-
lection team receives everything coming into the red-tag area and organ-
izes things based on the information on the red tag.

Red-Tag Area

The red-tag area should be marked off with red tape and a sign hung to
identify it clearly. The collection team should inventory the items
brought there so that the team as a whole can decide on the fate of each
item. The inventory list provides insight into the amount of money tied
up in unnecessary supplies, tools, workbenches, etc.

Most of the first day will be spent sorting, and the team should focus on
its completion by day’s end. During lunch, the team leader needs to get
an update on progress from each sub-team and provide support, includ-
ing shifting people between teams if necessary. One of the critical attrib-
utes of a good kaizen team leader is the ability to evaluate progress and
make sure the team members are working on the correct items at the
right time.
78

Ideally, by the end of the day one, the team should be in a position to
Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

begin thinking of the next S in the 5S implementation. The second S is

Set in Order, sometimes called Straighten. One of the best preparations
for Set in Order is to completely clear out the work area so that the
actual floor space is empty, making it easier to see the available space.
This allows the team to piece together the work area as they want so as
to use the floor space more effectively. This is a grand opportunity for
the employees who work in the area and are on the team to set up the
area as they see fit. The team leader ensures that reduction in motion,
transportation, and product travel distance and better use of floor space
are being considered. The best situation after day one is to have the
workstations and work area completely sorted, the red-tag area organ-
ized, and the work area completely cleared in preparation for the begin-
ning of day two, Set in Order.

Red-Tag Removal Procedure

After the first day, the team leader and/or kaizen champion should
begin putting together a removal procedure for the items in the red-tag
area. This task does not need to be completed during the event, but
when creating this procedure there are a couple of criteria that need to
be established:

• Deadline
How long do you want to hold on to your junk? Do not get into a
vicious cycle of moving garbage from one place to another in the fac-
tory. Establish a deadline for removal: 30, 45, 60 days—something. I
have seen some red-tag areas last one week. It depends on the items
and what kind of “bond” the company has with the items. If any-
thing is now deemed unwanted, get rid of it.
• Removal options
■ Auction the items off to employees or simply give them away.
■ Have a “garage sale.”
■ Donate to local nonprofit organizations and colleges.
■ Give items to a local recycling organization.
■ Send the items to a sister plant.
■ As a last resort, throw them in the garbage.

Rid yourself of the stuff and move ahead!

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Day Two and Day Three: Set in Order and Scrub

Let It Begin!
As mentioned before, make sure all the sorting activities are complete
so the team can see what remains to be organized. The Set in Order
phase takes the longest and often can be the most tedious of the work.
The goals of Set in Order are to organize the area so that everything has
a home and to improve the flow of incoming and outgoing
material/products/finished goods. Most important is the need to reduce
floor space use and product travel distance. It really does not matter if
you are working on an assembly line, a work cell with machines and
equipment, or a shipping department—you can apply Set in Order to
all of these.

Always go into the second S with the mind-set of making everything

visual and accessible. Opening up floor space and work surfaces is the
key to any 5S implementation. I always tell my clients to “go vertical”
and use dead space. Dead space is everywhere. Companies think that
flat surfaces are needed to store and hold supplies and tools. Often,
workbenches and tables are brought into a work area to hold things. But
almost anything can go vertical on tool and supply boards with a little
creativity. I recommend that you avoid using cabinets, drawers, and
shelving as much as possible. I also realize that some things do need to
be in a cabinet with a door, like delicate calibration devices, but the
problem with doors and drawers is that they hide things, and unneces-
sary items will accumulate very quickly.

Before you can get into the fine detail of Set in Order, begin with the
floor items. Decide what surfaces are needed in the workstations and
area to be used for the actual work. Always evaluate the size truly
needed to perform the job at hand. The team should come up with a
few layout designs to choose from. Once they decide what the flow of
material and parts will be, they can begin piecing together the process.
Begin with the large items:

• Work surfaces: workbenches, conveyors, tables, etc.

• Garbage cans: identify the minimum needed but also take into
account point of use to reduce motion
• Locations for staging of incoming and outgoing material, parts, and
products
• Miscellaneous items: vacuums, welding machines, and specialty
equipment and machines
80

Any items that will go on the floor should be the first items placed in
Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

the work area. Nothing really is permanent at this point, so don’t start
marking the floor with designations and identifications; try to make
some tentative decisions about placement.

This portion of Set in Order may take part of or even all of day two.
Once the team has decided on the locations of the floor items, they
should lay out all the necessary tools, supplies, and various worksta-
tion-related items in the workstation to get a look at what needs to be
organized. By going into the Set in Order phase with the mind-set of
going vertical and avoiding flat surfaces, you challenge the team to
come up with creative and innovative approaches to organizing. Only
as an absolute last option should the team bring in a cabinet, shelf, or
tool chest. The key to 5S is visibility, and tool chests and cabinets do
not allow you to see where things are and what is missing.

Break out the kaizen event supply box, Peg-Board, paint, cleaning sup-
plies, and any miscellaneous supplies. The Set in Order and Scrub
phases can be done together. Always paint when possible to create a
showroom appearance. Cleaning can only get you so far; painting work-
benches, shelves, metal stands, etc., can make the area appear very clean.

Once the floor items are placed, it is time to create designations or

“addresses” for the floor items that will hold supplies, tools, parts, etc.
Using floor tape, make an outline around the items on the floor to iden-
tify their location. The best approach is to mark off those items that can
be moved. Items that are bolted to the floor or heavy workbenches that
will not move do not get floor tape, but everything else should be taped.
Once the taping is complete, create the designations/addresses. Figure
5-2 shows a top view of what a work area would look like with floor
identification.

As you can see, there is a clear outline of the items on the floor. The
kaizen team should place labels or stencils on the floor describing the
address. In this example, A1 and A2 are used. A1 and A2 are locations
for important work-related items that are needed in the workstation.
Whatever goes there, that will be its location. So if a calculator, tool, or
bin full of material goes in A1, the item is also physically marked “A1.”

If these items are not returned to their locations for some reason, any-
one who notices that they are out of place can quickly find their home.
This approach to “addressing” is extremely powerful in saving time and
reducing motion and confusion, and it can help reduce purchasing and
 81

replacing tools and supplies. It is also important to place the designa-

Let It Begin!
tions up high so that they can be seen from a distance and not just on
the floor.

Wire Harness
48-0269-87
Qty: 1 Pallet A1
Location: O p-A1

Plastic Tote

Work-
bench

Parts
Rack

A2
Figure 5-2 Floor identification

Tool Boards

Tools should be placed vertically on tool boards, visible and accessible.

Often called shadow boards, these boards keep tools off the work sur-
faces and allow the operators to see them. You can get very creative
with these tool boards. Figure 5-3 shows what one should look like.

Here are some tips for making a tool board.

1. Paint the board: Use any color; I have seen red, yellow, black, blue,
green, and orange shadow boards. The team leader should pick some
team members to begin painting the Peg-Boards at the beginning of
day two so that they have time to dry before being used.
2. Lay out the tools: Once the boards are dry, lay them on the floor or
another flat surface and lay out the tools and supplies on them. And
I mean everything: tools, tape, scissors, calculators, clipboards,
whatever. Your supply box should have pegs, double-back tape,
Velcro tape, and other things that can be used to hold items verti-
cally. You are basically making a cookie-cutter tool board to identify
the exact surface needed to hold the workstation’s supplies.
82
Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

Figure 5-3 Tool board

3. Cut the Peg-Board: Now remove the tools from the Peg-Board and
cut a nice square piece for the workstation.
4. Install the tool board: If a tool board will be hung on a wall, use
1-by-1 studs or some other kind of wood frame to hold it. The pegs
that will be used to hang items need clearance behind the board to
lock into place. Tool boards can go anywhere. I have seen them
installed on the side of workbenches and cabinets (if present), and
on casters (wheels). As long as the location is accessible, at point of
use, and does not disrupt the operator, the placement is good.
5. Hang the items: Now the team members can hang and organize the
tools and supplies on the tool board. Leave room for labels between
the items and enough space to draw a shadow or outline of each
one. This process is relatively slow but it is critical to any 5S imple-
mentation. After placing the tools on the board, use the paint pens
that should be in the event supply box to outline each tool on the
 83

board. When the tool is off the board because it is being used or is

Let It Begin!
missing, these outlines will make the tool’s absence visible. Next,
make a label with the name of the tool and place it near the tool’s
location on the board.
6. The last step is to designate a location for the tools, such as B5, J7,
L3. This “address” must physically go on the tool as well as the
label so that people know where it belongs. Figure 5-3 is a good
example of a tool board that was built using these six simple
guidelines.

Parts, Material, and Supplies

The kaizen team must continue organizing all remaining items. Always
thinki about reducing special needs. Use square bins to organize items
that cannot go vertically on boards. When placing anything on a flat
surface, mark off the area, generally using smaller-width colored tape.
All items must be marked with their home location, and a label must be
placed on the flat surface identifying what goes there. Everything—
everything—has a home.

In a traditional five-day kaizen event, the Set in Order/Scrub portion

will take about two days, give or take a couple of hours. There may also
be some miscellaneous sorting that goes on. The team will begin to see
the value of reducing horizontal surfaces and using minimal space and
will question everything as they go along.

Day Four: Standardize

Day 4 is for fine-tuning and ensuring that the team is completing all the
tasks in a way that is consistent. For instance, all tools should be hung
vertically on Peg-Boards, the backs should be painted, there should be
an outline of every tool, and the tools and board should be labeled
appropriately. The tools on each board may be different but the general
appearance is the same. Also, all items on the floor should be clearly
marked with a location and identified with their names. The uses of
floor tape should be consistent. Maybe yellow is for caution, black is for
finished goods, and red is for items in the workstation. Try to standard-
ize your approach.

The team leader should begin to create the report-out presentation that
will be given to the company to outline the team’s accomplishments.
84

The presentation consists of the following items and will be presented

Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

on day five:

• Picture of the team

• “Before” pictures of the area
• List of team members’ names and titles
• Goals and objectives: reduction of floor space, product travel dis-
tance, motion, etc.
• “After” pictures
• Individual team member accomplishments
• Lessons learned
• Action item list: unfinished items to be completed in 30 days

Day Five

Try to schedule the report-out presentation for a time when a lot of peo-
ple can attend. On day five the team leader completes the presentation
and can take any final pictures of the area to be used in the report out.
Team members can use this time to clean up the area, finalize any label-
ing or other 5S items, and put together an action item list of anything
that did not get done.

This action item list, or 30-day mandate, outlines what each unfinished
task is, who is responsible for completing it, and the deadline for com-
pletion. Companies that struggle to see things through to completion
can use this mandate as an opportunity to teach their people to better
follow through on tasks. Completing the tasks on this list is vital to the
success of the team and those who will now be working in a new area.

After the presentation to the company, the team should invite the atten-
dees to the work area that now has a new look. A tour helps people to
see the tangible element of lean and allows them to ask questions and
give comments based on what they see. Explain the importance of this
organization and how it benefits everyone. Congratulate the team on
their accomplishments and get some rest.

Maintenance 5S Events
Maintenance departments are perfect candidates for 5S implementa-
tions and practices. Often these departments employ multiple people
 85

doing various repairs, preventive maintenance, and special projects.

Maintenance 5S Events
Their work area is a community space where tools and supplies are
shared. Sharing tools and supplies in an assembly line where there are
definable workstations is very dangerous. It promotes lots of wasted
motion, the chance of losing tools, and lost production and concentra-
tion. Work in these types of manufacturing processes is clearly outlined,
and the workstations should have exactly what is needed to perform
the work.

Maintenance departments do not operate under these guidelines.

Although there should be defined schedules for regularly performed
preventive maintenance, there is still plenty of inconsistent work and
special projects. My point is that there is often a need for duplicates of
tools or supplies when they are shared. This type of environment is ripe
for 5S.

The implementation of 5S through a scheduled kaizen event is similar

to what would be done in an assembly line or other part of the produc-
tion process. 5S can be implemented outside of kaizen events; the
implementation is slower, but the outcome is the same. Let me describe
a 5S kaizen event for a maintenance department.

As for any other event, make sure you follow the preparation guidelines
that were outlined at the beginning of this chapter: the four-week, two-
week, and one-week requirements. The only real difference is that I
usually advise my clients to sort a little earlier, about a week before the
event. Maintenance commonly becomes the dumping ground for things
over time, and maintenance personnel like to stock up for what-ifs.
Often these what-ifs never materialize, and unused items just build up.

In a typical five-day event, most teams should be given the first day for
sorting, but I recommend that a maintenance department start this
activity early, being fully aware that the kaizen team will do more on
day one of the event.

Day One: Sort

The team leader should break up the team into two sub-teams, as
described earlier in this chapter. One team places red tags on those
items being removed, and the other team places the items in the red-tag
area. The creation of the inventory list for this type of 5S event is criti-
cal because a lot of expensive items may be eliminated. Final removal
of items from this red-tag area may take longer; it may take more time
86

just to decide what to do. Don’t be afraid to remove that $10,000 brake
Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

press if it is not used anymore. This can be very hard for people
because of its monetary worth, but if it is not used, remove it. The space
it occupied can be used for equipment that is frequently used or just to
make more work space.

Maintenance departments need space to work on projects, so the exist-

ing use of space needs to be challenged. I have seen 5S kaizen events in
maintenance that were so successful that two separate departments
were consolidated into one. Sort, sort, sort!

Day Two and Day Three: Set in Order and Scrub

Let the insanity begin. Break out the paint on this one for sure. The
kaizen team job here is also to create showroom conditions, and often
cleaning the maintenance department is not enough. There are often a
lot of stands, equipment, workbenches, and other items that are made of
steel tubing and metal. Paint away, and I recommend bright colors like
yellows, reds, and light blues. I remember a kaizen event where all the
team did was sort and paint. Without rearranging the area at all, they
incurred a 10 percent increase in productivity and output. Bright, well-
lit work areas just breed better performance. Go into any fitness center
and you will see my point.

Maintenance departments love their tool chests and cabinets. As in any

5S event, the goal is visibility, so I guarantee there will be some soul-
searching here. Empty out all tool chests and cabinets after sorting and
get an idea of the number of tool boards that will be needed and the
items that can simply be hung. Those cabinets and tool chests hide
things, collect junk, and are conducive to plenty of extra sifting and
searching.

All tools must be visible and hung vertically to save space. However,
if there are delicate testing and measuring devices that do need to be
behind doors for protection, then so be it. Everything else must be visi-
ble. Start constructing the tool boards as described previously in this
chapter.

While some team members are putting together tool shadow boards,
other team members can be cleaning and painting equipment and reor-
ganizing shelving that may be needed to hold big and bulky items such
as saws, drills, and heaters—larger items that cannot be hung vertically.
The key here is no doors.
 87

When organizing items that sit on shelves or multiple shelves, have the

5S Sustaining Tips
team make cubbyhole sectional pieces to maximize shelf space. Often in
shelving there is a lot of dead space between the shelves. Maximize this
space by make sub-shelving, and you just might see a tremendous
amount of consolidation. Sorting includes substituting unnecessarily
large tables and storage areas with sizes that are smarter for their
intended use.

As in most five-day events, the Scrub and Set in Order phases will take
at least two days and may even last into the fourth day.

Day Four: Keep Going

That is the best way to put it. Keep labeling, painting, marking the floor,
and creating home locations. The team may want to use spray paint and
stencils to mark off floor locations, as many maintenance departments
can be dirty environments. There may be a lot of welding, dust, oil,
debris, and hazardous material, so laminated labels on the floor may
not work.

Day Five
Spend the last day of the event completing any unfinished labeling and
start cleaning up. As mentioned before, conduct a report-out presenta-
tion and tour of the area.

5S Sustaining Tips
My last recommendations in this short explanation of a 5S event for
maintenance are guidelines that you can incorporate into the depart-
ment to improve performance. Just like maintaining anything new in a
culture, sustaining the 5S program is hard. Your sustaining efforts will
never end, including continually improving upon what was already
implemented, but each company must find a way to do it. Here are a
few recommendations:

• Create an end-of-day cleanup procedure.

• Conduct a daily/shift walk-through.
• Establish a 5S audit sheet.
• Create and maintain a 5S tracking sheet.
• Develop a 5S incentive program.
88

Create an End-of-Day Cleanup Procedure

Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

For each area, put together a list of tasks workers must complete
roughly 15 minutes prior to leaving. This cleanup procedure goes
beyond simply sweeping the floor and dumping garbage. Some possible
items that could be added to the procedure are the following:

• Empty all garbage and recycling bins.

• Sweep the work area.
• Return tools to their designated locations.
• Return supplies to their designated locations.
• Place pallet jacks, garbage cans, chairs, and hand trucks in their des-
ignated locations.

I recommend that you post these procedures and allow the operators
time to conduct the cleanup to help sustain the improvements made.

Conduct a Daily/Shift Walk-through

Each area supervisor should take a few minutes after everyone has left
to walk through the work area and verify that the end-of-day cleanup
was completed and all items were returned to their home locations. If
your company implements 5S to the detailed level described in this
chapter, this supervisor walk-through should be quick. Any small devia-
tions from 5S can be quickly resolved during that walk-through.

Establish a 5S Audit Sheet

If you are still looking for more ideas or a better way to sustain 5S, then
you can incorporate a weekly or monthly 5S audit. Develop a 5S audit
sheet with information similar to the cleanup procedure. Figure 5-4 is
an example of a potential 5S audit sheet that can be used.
 89

5S Sustaining Tips
5S Audit Sheet

Te a m
Audit Date # o f Ye s e s /16 = %
Auditors
Sort (Get rid of unnecessary items)
Workstation and/or area is clear of all non-production-required material Yes No
Obsolete or defective parts have been removed and tagged Yes No
Unnecessary equipment has been removed from the area Yes No
Straighten (Organize)
Cabling/air lines are routed neatly Yes No
All equipment and tools are clearly marked and well organized Yes No
Tools are on shadow boards or other designated locations Yes No
Queue levels have been set and are clearly marked and organized Yes No
Scrub (Clean and solve)
Floors, work surfaces, equipment, and storage areas are clean Yes No
Garbage and recyclables are collected and disposed of properly Yes No
Excess pallet and packaging materials are cleared out of the area Yes No
Standardize (Tasks)
An end-of-day cleanup procedure is posted Yes No
5S audit scores are posted Yes No
Sustain (Keep it up)
Previous 5S audit scores are reviewed for improvement opportunities Yes No
Production control boards are being used on a daily basis Yes No
Work instructions are displayed with correct revision Yes No
Work area is clean, neat, and orderly with no seriously unsafe conditions observed Yes No

GREEN = 81% to 100% YELLOW = 66% to 80% RED = 0% to 65%

Area is 5S compliant Area meets minimal standards Area needs immediate attention

Figure 5-4 5S audit sheet

Create and Maintain a 5S Tracking Sheet

Based on the scores from the 5S audits, display the results on a tracking
sheet that is visible to the whole company. This creates awareness and
healthy competition between the areas, and everyone can see how the
plant is doing overall. Figure 5-5 is a simple example of a 5S tracking
sheet. It becomes a nice visual reminder of the progress being made
with 5S.
90

AREA
Chapter 5: 5S Kaizen Events

Line A
Work Cell 5
Warehouse
Brake Press Area
Maintenance
Engineering
Boiler Line

81%–100% 66%–80% 0%–65%

AREA IS 5S COMPLIANT AREA MEETS MINIMAL STANDARDS AREA NEEDS IMMEDIATE ATTENTION

Figure 5-5
5S tracking sheet

Develop a 5S Incentive Program

The last suggestion is to develop an incentive program that rewards

those employees and work areas that have shown themselves to be the
champions of 5S. Hand out quarterly incentives like gift cards, pizza
parties, or bonuses to the area with the highest 5S scores for the quarter.
Areas not receiving an incentive will catch on fast and begin to make
more of an effort to sustain their areas and continually improve on what
has already been put in place.
 6 s i x

Standard Work Kaizen Event

A standard work event is an industry name for the transformation of an

old line into a more continuously flowing process that incorporates sin-
gle-piece flow, 5S, new work standards, and time standards. Preparation
for this type of kaizen event is quite different from that for a 5S kaizen
event. When preparing for a 5S event alone, the kaizen steering commit-
tee must simply pick the area and load up on supplies to be placed in
the supply box. Not much more is really needed. Standard work events
require solid up-front planning, usually including calculation of the
following:

• Effective time
• Volume requirements
• Takt time
• Process analysis

91
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Preplanning
C h a p t e r 6 : S t a n d a rd Wo r k K a i z e n E v e n t

Effective Time

Effective time is often called touch time; it is the amount of clock time
in the day that is available for operators to perform their work on the
line. Here is an example.

In the building 480 minutes

Start-up –10 minutes

Morning break –15 minutes
Lunch break –30 minutes
Afternoon break –15 minutes
Cleanup –15 minutes
395 minutes, or 6 hours, 35 minutes effective time

Any new assembly line or process should be designed to achieve

required volume and output based on this amount of time. Effective
time should be the true measurement of productivity and performance.

Volume Requirements

This number needs to be thought through. Using historical data, firm

orders, and forecasting, the company must determine the required out-
put that can be accomplished in a full day. That is the number that will
be used to design the new line. When volume requirements fall below
that design rate at any given time during the year, manpower and work-
load changes are simply made and fewer people are needed to operate
the line.

Takt Time

Takt is a German word meaning “rhythm.” Takt time is the pace of the
line required to achieve the design rate based on customer require-
ments. The calculation of takt time is the following:

Effective time (shifts worked)

= Takt time
Output requirement
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395 minutes (1 shift)

= 19 minutes, 45 seconds

P re p l a n n i n g
20 units

Basically, if a line is required to build 20 units a day at full capacity,

then one unit must be completed every 19 minutes and 45 seconds in
the effective time available. The output requirement can be any unit of
measurement (pounds, feet, pallets, etc.).

Process Analysis

Many different process analysis tools are available. In this chapter,

since I will be describing a traditional manual assembly line, time stud-
ies and line balancing will be outlined.

Time and Motion Studies

Before any design or construction can take place, you must first select
the assembly line and product that will be put through the rigors of a
kaizen event. Second, the work associated with building this product
needs to be timed. Time and motion studies are an absolute requirement
for improving the assembly operations in the factory and should be
done about three weeks prior to the event. I am a firm believer in mak-
ing decisions based on data; good solid data can never fail you.

Time is everything. Time and motion studies are the foundation of any
manufacturing process improvements and have been an early stumbling
block for many companies. Top management generally perceives time
studies as a wasted task. I don’t agree. Time studies should be at the top
of your preplanning list, but they can be difficult. Many facilities either
lack this information, or the time studies were acquired incorrectly.

Traditional kaizen practice is to conduct the time and motion study on

the first day of the kaizen event. Generally, this data is collected very
quickly. There are a select few who can conduct time studies effec-
tively. Ideally the kaizen champion or an industrial engineer should be
assigned to the task. It takes time to master the art of collecting data,
and time studies are no different. However, to help avoid difficulties,
you should follow some simple rules.

1. Use a stopwatch.
2. Use a time study collection sheet.
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3. Document the tasks and elements before timing.

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4. Capture every piece of work content, both value-added and non-

value-added, from start to finish.
5. Involve the operators.
6. Conduct the time studies.
7. Capture at least eight samples of every task or element.
8. Time all product options.
9. Remove the highest and lowest times and calculate an average.

Use a Stopwatch

A time studier obviously needs a stopwatch to perform the work. Use a

standard digital stopwatch that can be found at any sporting goods
store. Find one that will last and be reliable. It is best to use two stop-
watches at the same time. As the time studier becomes more proficient
at the work, two stopwatches will make the task more efficient so that
more than one element of the work can be timed simultaneously.

Use a Time Study Collection Sheet

Raw data should be documented and saved for future reference. You
will see that a time study collection sheet is very easy to use. It contains
all the information needed for designing an assembly line. Microsoft
Excel works well for setting up such a sheet, which should contain the
following columns:

• Sequence number
• Work content
• Value-added work
• Non-value-added work
• Sample quantity
• Average

Document the Work Content

A mistake that many people make when performing time studies is try-
ing to capture too much information at once. It is important to remem-
ber that collecting this data takes time, and you should never rush the
process. I have learned from experience to write down the work content
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first and then return later to time. Once you are confident that the work

P re p l a n n i n g
content, both value-added work and non-value-added work, has been
identified, simply go back and time all the steps.

Capture Every Piece of Work Content

Documenting work content is not as easy as it may appear. There is usu-

ally a lot of value-added and non-value-added work associated with
installing even one part. I recommend that the work content be docu-
mented from start to finish through the whole process until the last
workstation is analyzed. Do not get caught up with stations and number
of operators. Create a long sequential list of all the work required to
build the product. The line will be drastically changed and new station
requirements will be established with this information.

Involve the Operators

Seek the advice of the operators during the data collection phase. Let
them know that you need to know what work is performed at their
station. Allow them to discuss problems that hinder their ability to
perform efficiently, and ask lots of questions about their responsibilities.
Take a general interest in what they do, and let them know that you are
collecting data to help them in the future.

This is also a good time to let the operators know that you will be con-
ducting time studies on the work content. Explain that it is not an
attempt to see how fast they are, but to document how long it takes to
build the product. If you present yourself professionally, taking into
account their concerns, when you return to time them, you will get
their support.

Conduct the Time Studies

Now that all the work content is documented, return to the first work-
station and start timing. You should have spoken with all the operators
at every station. Be smart in your timing. Do not hinder the work of the
operators, because they still have to work while you are timing them.
Some people are uncomfortable being timed because they feel they have
to work faster. Use your best judgment when timing; if an operator is
clearly stumbling about or working too fast, go to another station and
come back later. Since you have all the work content written down, you
can really time anywhere within the assembly line. Reassure the opera-
tors that this is not about speed and that their name and station will not
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be on the time study collection sheet. This is why I previously advised

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not getting caught up in operator names and stations. The operator will
feel more comfortable knowing it is an anonymous task. Just make sure
the operator is experienced enough to provide an efficient time for
designing an assembly line.

Capture at Least Eight Samples

Timing work content once or twice will not yield accurate data for
design purposes. Operators are faced with obstacles and challenges all
day, so their work does not always take the same amount of time to per-
form. Time the same work content eight times to ensure that different
situations are accounted for. Always stop timing when the operator
drops a tool, looks confused, or walks away to talk with someone. Try
to distinguish the abnormalities that would not be considered during
assembly line design. This does not mean to skip timing non-value-
added work like walking and waiting. Capture all the work involved in
building the product and separate the useless acts.

Time All Product Options (if Possible)

Many companies offer their customers various options for their prod-
ucts. Some options are used so often that they are virtually standard;
however, some options are very rare. It is important to document and
time all options regardless of their frequency. I realize that this may be
difficult depending on what is being built at the time of your observa-
tions, but do your best. There may come a day on the new assembly
line when there is a large number of a rare option, and if it was not
accounted for in the design, there will be bottlenecks, workstation
imbalances, quality problems, and possible line shutdowns. Time the
worst-case scenario for the product.

Remove the High and Low

After all eight samples have been timed, remove the highest and lowest
times, unless the high and low times are close to the remaining six sam-
ples. They represent the rare and unusual circumstance. Do not confuse
the high and low times with times for infrequent options. An example
of an unusual circumstance that would result in an unusually high time
is if an operator is struggling to fit a part into the unit because of a one-
time defect from the supplier. Although such things will happen from
time to time, do not include them in the design. Take the remaining six
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samples and average the times. This average will represent the standard

P re p l a n n i n g
time for the work.

Time studies are so important, and the accuracy of this data will make
or break the new assembly line. Errors in time studies will show up very
quickly after the new line is up and running. Do not rush this analysis,
but then again do not take four months to conduct the study. The time
study collection sheet will be the foundation for designing an effective
assembly line, so take care with the information that will go in it.

Line Balancing

Once the time and motion studies are complete, look over the informa-
tion and come up with waste reduction ideas. Try to discover possible
ways to reduce the amount of time people leave the workstation to
retrieve parts and tools. Identify potential rework reduction opportuni-
ties and better ways to present tools in the workstation. Make a list for
the kaizen team to review.

About a week before the event, try to generate options for preliminary
line balancing. When balancing workloads among stations, there are a
few rules you can follow that can make the process easier:

1. Balance by time
2. Balance by work content
3. Balance by inventory

Balance by Time

The first pass of balancing is to use the time study information to add
up the time associated with the work until takt time is reached. More
than likely, the times will add up to a little less or more than takt time
because of the nature of the individual time standards. Don’t worry; this
is just the first pass at balancing. What you are basically doing is identi-
fying potential workstation work content. Continue with this exercise
until you have gone through the whole sheet.

Balance by Work Content

The second phase of line balancing is to identify the work in the time
study sheet that can be shifted from one workstation to another without
affecting quality. Basically, you are moving the old sequence around to
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help balance the workloads in the new line. This step takes a little more
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thought and requires operator and engineering involvement. Is there

work that used to be done in station 1 that can be implemented in
station 3? By moving work around, you can better balance the line as a
whole.

Balance by Inventory

Your last pass at balancing is to buffer the stations with inventory. For
instance, if building the product requires a testing procedure that is
double the cycle time of takt time, then make space in the workstation
to test two units at the same time. As long as product is heading into
the testing area and product is leaving every takt time, the process will
still be balanced.

The kaizen team can look over the line balancing information and come
up with further improvement ideas; however, conducting the exercise of
balancing at least will give the team and the company an idea of work-
station requirements to support volume.

Day One
The team leader should start the kickoff meeting by introducing the
team members to one another. If the company is relatively small, the
team members may recognize each other. Each team member should
explain what his or her title is and where he or she works in the facil-
ity. The team leader should spend about an hour discussing 5S, stan-
dard work, the seven wastes, and visual management. This orientation
will help the team members get a better understanding of why kaizen is
important and what tools and methods they will be using to meet the
objectives of the event. Even if people have been through training ses-
sions in lean methods prior to the event, it is still good for the team
leader to review the tools so that everyone has a fresh perspective on
how to proceed.

Make sure the team understands any constraints that may exist related
to moving machines and changing the plant layout. The team will have
to be smart in their approach so that operators are allowed to continue
working. Good teamwork will make the event more enjoyable as well as
productive.
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After introductions, the team leader should begin the kaizen event

Day One
overview and describe the objectives the team will be required to com-
plete by the end of the week. The team leader should already have com-
pleted a schedule for the week, which should be posted on a flip chart
or a presentation board. The events of each day should be outlined with
a list of the intended objectives.

Try to stagger the start time so that the team is working during the last
few hours before the operators leave. They can interact with each other
about issues before the line workers go home and the kaizen team starts
moving things around. The schedule is a general outline because activi-
ties during the event may change.

All team members should be present when the event starts, during
meetings, and at the end-of-day closeout meeting. Since team members
were selected two weeks prior to the event, there should be no excuses
for absenteeism. The first day of the kaizen event involves two major
activities. First, sort out all the unnecessary items in the old line by
conducting a red-tag event. Second, review the line balancing informa-
tion, or standard work sheet, that was prepared the week before, and
search for errors and other improvement opportunities. Split the team
into two sub-teams to work on the two activities. The team leader
should assign roles to each team member as well as their respective
goals. Both teams should reconvene at a designated time for lunch to
give a brief status report.

Red-Tag Team

5S should be the cornerstone of any kaizen event regardless of its

theme. Here is review of the 5S portion.

Sorting does not necessarily mean just throwing things away. In a future
event, items removed during the red-tag campaign might find a use
somewhere else. Sorting is a method of identifying potentially unneces-
sary items in the facility, assessing the need for them, and dealing with
them effectively. Select an area in the plant where tools, workbenches,
jigs, dies, rejects, parts, and any other items that are no longer used can
be placed. This will be the red-tag area. Tape off the area with red tape
and post a sign indicating its use. This area is off-limits to everyone in
the plant except for the kaizen team.
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The team leader should hand out a box of red tags that the red-tag team
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will use to identify the items to be removed. I have seen many success-
ful kaizen events where the sorting activity was conducted without red
tags. However, once the kaizen event was complete, it was difficult to
evaluate the items and decide what needed to be done with them. A
red-tag event simply organizes the sorting activity in a more productive
manner.

During the red-tag campaign, team members will be approached by

operators who will challenge the removal of an item. Listen to their
concerns. If the operator is unable to validate the use of the item, a red
tag should be placed on it. Since every kaizen team includes an opera-
tor from the assembly area, identifying red-tag items should be easier
and less stressful.

The removal of WIP during the first day can cause a conflict. Although
WIP is non-value-added, allow the operators to work through the WIP
during the kaizen event. Day two and day three of the week are good
times to pull out WIP from the line and filter it back through during the
implementation of single-piece flow.

The sorting team should spend the first half of the day placing red tags
on unnecessary items. They should report back at lunch with informa-
tion on their activities and results.

Review the Line Balancing Information

Once the sorting team has been released to the production floor, the
team leader should hand out the line balancing information to the
remaining team members, who will be the review team. Again, having
operators from the line on the team will be a very valuable resource for
sifting through the information. They may find errors that can be
resolved prior to assembly line construction. The review team should
look for opportunities for waste reduction and mistake-proofing. Make
sure to have the original time and motion study data. The kaizen cham-
pion should have removed a lot of the walking data with the assump-
tion that the parts and subassemblies will be placed at point of use.
Also, the packaging removal operations will now be done in the receiv-
ing area, not by the operator, so that work content will not be included
in the design.

Part of the review process is to go out to the assembly line and verify
the work content and time studies. This is also a good time for some
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people on the review team to go to the floor and document the non-

Day One
value-added work. They can also use the old time and motion data to
find areas of waste. This exercise is good for verifying that the line
balancing information is accurate. The review team should take stop-
watches, randomly select a few operators, and time their work. This
exercise will be the final check of the data, and any changes to the line
balancing sheets should be done during this time. The review team
should spend the first half of the day looking over the standard work
sheets and analyzing the assembly line.

The team leader should leave the two teams alone and allow them to
work on their assignments. This is a good time for the team leader to
take current state photos of the assembly line for the report-out presen-
tation. The team leader should also participate in both activities to
ensure that the work is being done effectively.

Completing the Red-Tag Event

Workbenches and large equipment will need to be removed.

Maintenance personnel on the team should make sure that equipment is
properly disconnected and that hanging wires and cords are safely
secured.

The team needs to move quickly and start pulling the red-tag items
away before operators remove the tags. People become accustomed to
working in waste because it creates a buffer for their inefficiencies.

A red-tag campaign will provide insight into the amount of waste that
has accumulated over time. The red-tag area will fill up quickly. Two
team members should be assigned to the area to monitor items as they
come in and verify that the red tags have been filled out properly. These
two people can help organize and maintain order so that items do not
simply pile up.

During the red-tag removal phase, the members of the kaizen steering
committee and other top management should be invited to see the
mountain of waste that has accumulated. The team leader should take
photos of the red-tag area for the report-out presentation on Friday.

Eliminating unnecessary items through the red-tag campaign will open

up a tremendous amount of space where future assembly lines can be
installed. As red-tagged items disappear from the assembly line,
little islands of workbenches and equipment will start appearing. They
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represent the maximum number of items needed for the work to be

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done. By the end of the first day, the kaizen team should have success-
fully completed the red-tag event and finalized the line balancing infor-
mation. The operators will be a little confused the next day. Just
remember that each event is thoroughly planned four weeks in advance,
and the production supervisors and operators are aware that there will
be some added stress during the event.

End-of-Day Meeting

The day should conclude with an overview of the day’s results and set-
ting of the action items for the second day. The team leaders should
leave information for the production manager outlining what has been
done to his or her work area.

Day Two
The team should start the day as always in the breakout room at the
time designated by the team leader. Day two is the first day of laying
out the new line. The team will conduct the second and third Ss of the
5S program: Scrub and Set in Order. Maintenance projects should also
begin on day two. The first assignment of the second day is to go over
the line balancing information and come up with at least two line
design ideas. Depending on how big and complex the line is, sometimes
it is good to have these line design ideas done before the event. I have
even conducted line design kaizen events to make sure that the imple-
mentation team had everything they needed for construction. However,
most of the time there is plenty of time during the implementation
event to come up with line designs that will work. Just use your best
judgment when making this decision.

Line Design

Depending on floor space restrictions, the kaizen team should draw up

at least two line designs. U-shaped cells are very good for assembling
small and simple products. Operators are usually positioned in the mid-
dle of the cell, working together to build a product. U-shaped cells
allow the operators to see and help each other. The cell acts as one
autonomous team. The first and last operators stand back to back.
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U-shaped cell operators are generally more flexible and can shift from

D a y Tw o
station to station.

However, not all assembly “lines” can be converted into U-shaped con-
figurations. Product lines that are big and bulky may require physically
bigger assembly workstations and material storage, which would not
allow operators to have close contact with each other. Also, U-shaped
work cells should not consist of more than eight workstations. I have
seen U-shaped cells that were quite large because of the size and quan-
tity of parts in the cell. The operators were not close and could not see
one another well.

It is a good idea for the team to draw up the line design on CAD soft-
ware. Make sure that they draw in any expansion joints and retaining
poles that are on the production floor. If your company does not have a
plant layout, measure the area where the old line used to be, and stay
within those boundaries. The red-tag campaign from the previous day
should have freed up a lot of floor space, so it should not be difficult to
fit the new line layout into the area.

After discussing the preferred design, the team leader should assign the
action items for the day. The assembly process needs to be pieced
together into the shape of the new layout. The team leader should hand
out one or two standard work sheets per team member, and the team
members should go out onto the floor and measure the items needed to
construct the line—part racks, workbenches or lift tables, computer
stands, pallets, bins, totes, garbage bins, etc. Again, the standard work
sheet will outline everything that is necessary.

The team leader should assign a team member to act as a coordinator

and monitor the measuring activities. As information comes back from
the team members, the team’s drafter can start drawing the line in the
CAD software. The goal should be to have the measurements and line
layout completed prior to lunch.

Midday Meeting

After lunch, the team should meet and discuss the action items for the
second part of the day. Putting together the new line will take two days.
Five stations a day is a good goal. There are two objectives for the team.
First, the team will construct the workstations. Second, the work-
stations will be set up with the required parts and tools.
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Scrub/Shine
C h a p t e r 6 : S t a n d a rd Wo r k K a i z e n E v e n t

Before the team begins construction of the assembly line, clean the floor
to give it a showroom shine. Many factory floors are painted, and I
highly recommend this for the sake of appearances. Painting a factory
floor can be very expensive and should be done at some point in the life
the factory, but do not attempt this during a kaizen event because the
paint will not cure in time. Computer equipment, tools, fixtures,
machinery, and any other mechanical objects should be cleaned as well,
not only for appearance but for functionality. Workbenches, shelves,
tables, and storage racks need to be clean and free of dust and debris.
This act of cleaning is the Scrub/Shine function of the 5S campaign.

Maintenance and Machine Shop Projects

The team needs to decide, using the standard work sheets, whether
there are any projects that the maintenance department should begin.
Any new or existing equipment should be checked to be sure that it
operates properly and is ready for installation.

The assembly line should be pieced together starting from the last work-
station. Find a starting point to measure for correct placement of the
line; expansion joints or retaining poles work well. Allow four feet of
space from the workstation to any material storage. This will allow the
assembler to easily turn and maneuver within the workstation. Let the
material dictate how big the workstation area should be. Do not design
every workstation to the same dimensions. Some workstations could
have large bulky parts, and others could have small brackets and
hardware.

Tool Presentation
At this point the area will still be a little cluttered. Excess parts and
tools left over from the old assembly line will be lying around, taking
up unnecessary space on the new assembly line. Although the red-tag
campaign will have eliminated a majority of the tools, more than likely
part quantities may still be too high. Split the team into two groups.
One group should work on tool presentation and the other on part pres-
entation. Tools and parts should be presented in similar ways.

Ideally, tools are positioned over the operator’s head and at arm’s
length. This is good for small handheld air tools. Large tools will need
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more complex positioning. Non-air-powered tools, such as socket sets,

D a y Tw o
wrenches, wire cutters, etc., should also be at arm’s length but necessar-
ily overhead. Have team members take the standard work sheets out to
the new workstations and formulate ideas for tool positioning. The
operators who are included on the kaizen team are the best resource for
this exercise. There are a variety of options for tool presentation, and
every workstation will be different depending on the tool requirements.
The two most common approaches to hanging tools overhead are tool
balancers and tool retractors.

Tool balancers are good for positioning hand tools overhead. Hand tools
are connected to the balancers with small clips, and the operator can
simply pull the tool down to do the work. Once the operator has fin-
ished the work, the tool balancer will simply pull the tool back into
position overhead. However, there is one negative aspect to tool bal-
ancers: They tend to tug on the tool, and sometimes the operator feels
as if he or she is fighting with it. It is good practice to use lightweight
hand tools when dealing with tool balancers.

Tool retractors are a great alternative to balancers. They are very similar
in regard to placement and function; however, they are designed to lock
into position once the tool is pulled down. This enables the operator to
maneuver around the product without fighting with the retractor. The
operator then pulls down a little to unlock the retractor cord and the
tool can roll back into the static position.

Shadow Boards

Small tools and other devices needed for the assembly line may not be
good candidates for overhead presentation. Shadow boards like those
described in the previous chapter can be used to store tools in an organ-
ized fashion. They can be installed on the parts racks next to the opera-
tor. A missing tool becomes very noticeable at the end of the day.

Subassemblies

Space needs to be allocated for finished subassemblies within the main

assembly line. As with parts, quantities need to be established for sub-
assemblies. Selecting the correct bin and container sizes is critical to
keeping floor and shelf space to a minimum. A variety of sizes and
shapes will be used, depending on the part.
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Miscellaneous items such as pens, operator identification, labels, etc.,

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should also be assigned a bin. After the bins have been selected and the
team has filled the parts to the required quantities, a parts rack needs to
be chosen. Mobile parts racks of some kind should be used when possi-
ble. A variety of racks can be ordered from material storage suppliers.

Day two is action-packed for the kaizen team. The team should meet in
the breakout room before leaving to discuss the results of the day. The
team leaders should explain to the team that day three will go more
smoothly, because all the training on workstation construction and part
and tool presentation happened on day two. The team should be able to
complete construction of the assembly line on the third day.

Day Three
As always, the team should gather in the breakout room and discuss the
action items for the day. Since all visual aids, signals, labels, and other
visual management tools will be done on day four, the operators need to
look around to see if they have questions about how the workstations
are set up. Even though the line is more organized than before, without
the correct visual management it may become disorganized very
quickly. Have some of the team members on the line until the shift is
done for the day. The team needs to apply the same dimensional rules
as they did on day two to complete the line.

The team should take its usual lunch break and have a midday meeting.
At the end of the third day, the line should be ready for the implementa-
tion of visual management. The team should gather in the breakout room
and discuss the day’s events. Did they complete line construction? Has
maintenance finished installing the tools and creating the shadow boards
for each station? The team leader should take the team out to the pro-
duction floor and walk through the line. Although there is one more day
of work to go, the team should be happy about their accomplishments.

Day Four
Visual management is the key to running a lean assembly line. It
reduces the amount of firefighting and provides real-time information
on the progress of the line. The key to visual management is to be cre-
ative. We use visual aids every day and sometimes forget that they are
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even there. Imagine what it would be like driving to work every day

D a y Fo u r
without road signs, speed limits, road dividers, turn lanes, car signals,
off-ramp signs, and all the visual aids we use on the road. A manufac-
turing floor should be set up to run itself and allow management and
engineers to react to the visual aids. Visual management is generally
associated only with making production information visually available
to track progress, but it goes further that that. Not only does it provide
real-time information on daily performance; visual management is
about having the appropriate signals and cues to allow the manufactur-
ing process to operate on its own, with people directing the processes
as needed.

The final day of implementation will be busy. However, it is a day of

creativity and thinking out of the box. The visual controls and systems
will be implemented in the assembly line, allowing it to operate virtu-
ally unattended. The team leader should go over the action items for the
day and determine who is responsible for completing them:

• Creating workstation and parts rack signs

• Floor taping and designations
• Determining subassembly build levels
• Installing shadow boards and tower lights

Creating Workstation and Parts Rack Signs

This is a simple but somewhat time-consuming task. Each workstation

and parts rack will need identification. One team member should be
responsible for making and installing all workstation and parts rack
signs. An accurate count of all workstations and parts racks needs to be
done first to make sure no workstation or parts rack designations are
duplicated. It is good practice to identify workstation numbers in the
assembly line. I have seen hundreds of workstations over the years that
were labeled based on the work content performed in them. In a way,
this implies that the work in the workstation will never be rebalanced.
Workstation numbers are best. Print them on 81⁄2 by 11-inch sheets of
paper and laminate them for protection. The signs serve two purposes.
First, they identify the workstation, and second, they are parts location
designations. Try to install the workstation signs high enough that they
can be seen from a moderate distance.
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This exercise is easy and the team leaders should allow the team mem-
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bers to come up with creative ways to identify the workstations and all
parts racks on the floor. As long as there are no duplications, anything
really is acceptable.

Floor Taping and Designations

This exercise will require two team members. Anything that is sitting
on the floor has to be identified in the same manner. Lift tables, parts
racks, pallets, disposal bins, workbenches, the exit conveyor, etc.—all
should be identified. Floor tape comes in a variety of colors and styles.
Yellow floor tape is the most popular as it creates a bright outline
around the items on the floor. After every item is outlined with yellow
tape, the two team members should create floor signs that identify the
items. All labels, signs, and other identification should be laminated to
protect them from damage. Floor signs may become dirty or torn. The
lamination material will protect the signs, allowing them to last longer.

Make sure the surfaces are clean, and use double-sided tape to secure
the signs to the floor. It is also good to place clear packaging tape over
the floor signs for added protection.

Floor signs for parts require a part description, part number, and quan-
tity. Parts racks and workstations should be similarly designated. It is
good to place two floor signs for all the items on the floor so that they
can be seen from any side. This exercise should take the two team
members most of the day to complete.

Determining Subassembly Build Levels

If the proper visual aids are not put in place, the operators may over-
build items that are not needed and slow the main assembly line down.
In conditions like this, it is good to create build levels for the operators.
This tells them when to stop and start building subassemblies. They can
switch back and forth as a team, building the appropriate quantity at
the appropriate time.

The team leaders should select people to create and implement the
visual aids for the subassembly operators and for the main assembly
line operators who install them. There are two designated racks in the
subassembly work cell for placing finished goods. Based on the quanti-
ties above, build level signs should be made to direct the operators.
 109

Installing Shadow Boards and Tower Lights

D a y Fo u r
Maintenance should have the shadow boards ready for installation by
day four. Since most of the air tools are hanging above the workstations
on retractors, the shadow boards will be small. They can be installed on
the parts racks of the workstations or any other area that is effective.

Tower lights are a critical aspect of visual management. They are very
common but are frequently used incorrectly or not at all. Tower lights
are the communication system between operators and the rest of the
plant. There is a variety of tower lights on the market, and every com-
pany attaches different meanings to each color.

Red can be used for signaling that there is a major problem in the work-
station. There could be a quality problem or a tool or lift table malfunc-
tion; the operator may have run out of parts or needs to speak to the
production supervisor. When the red light is on, any support staff in
the area must drop what he or she is doing and address the operator’s
concerns.

Yellow can be used when there is a minor issue. This color can also be
used to signal a material handler that more parts are needed in one bin
or a subassembly is getting low. The material handler can go to the
workstation in question and find out if the operator needs material
assistance.

A green light indicates to the entire facility that everything is operating

fine and the unit will move within the desired takt time. Implementing
visual management is very important in a lean environment. Without
the required direction and information on daily progress, management
and engineers will slowly return to reacting to problems as they occur.
Instead, support staff can react to the signals that are outlining the
deviation from the standard, and problems can be resolved before
they happen.

The team should try its best to complete the items listed in this chapter
on day four. About an hour before the end of the day, the team should
finish in the breakout room. The team should take a moment to reflect
on what they have just accomplished. The team leader should make a
list of the individual achievements of the team to include in the report-
out presentation for day five.
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Day Five
C h a p t e r 6 : S t a n d a rd Wo r k K a i z e n E v e n t

Closing out the kaizen event is an important part of any project. This is
the team’s opportunity to showcase their accomplishments. There are
two parts to a report-out presentation: the presentation itself and a tour.

The report-out presentation should be scheduled in the late morning so

that the team leader has time to prepare. The purpose of this presenta-
tion is to show the entire facility the accomplishments of the team and
the improvements that were made to the business metrics.

The team should be allowed to get some rest and come to work as
needed. The team leader may need to meet with the kaizen champion
(unless the kaizen champion led the event) to go over how the presenta-
tion should be put together.

The report-out presentation also includes a tour of the new assembly

line. This will give the people in attendance a chance to see the line
operating under its new conditions. The presentation itself should take
around 30 minutes, and the walk-through should last until all questions
or concerns have been answered. The presentation should include

1. Names of the team leader and team members, and everyone’s title
2. Name of the assembly line or area
3. Kaizen event date
4. Anticipated results
5. Actual results
6. Before and after pictures
7. Lessons learned
8. Thirty-day mandate (to-do list)

The 30-day mandate is a list of items that were left unfinished from the
kaizen event. Every event will have a to-do list, and team members
should be assigned to complete the items on the list within 30 days.
There are rare occasions when these items will require more than
30 days; however, the kaizen steering committee should try to assist
the team in completing their tasks within the time frame.
 7 s e

Case Study: Samson Rope

Technologies, Inc.
v e n

When I wrote my first book, Kaizen Assembly: Designing, Constructing,

and Managing a Lean Assembly Line, I dedicated one chapter to a case
study of a company that used my company kaizen program as the foun-
dation and driver for all lean initiatives. The company was highly suc-
cessful in its journey, and today I use the same model for other clients.
Of course every journey is different, and implementations are always
customized to provide the greatest possibility of success for each
organization.

The company kaizen program illustrated in this book has not changed a
whole lot; I have made just a few modifications over the last three years.
The company described in Kaizen Assembly was a manual-assembly-
based manufacturer with no equipment or automation. This chapter
will be dedicated to describing the lean journey of Samson Rope
Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Ferndale, WA, with another facility
in Lafayette, LA. Samson Rope is not the traditional manual-assembly-
based operation. It operates highly automated processes to manufacture
commercial-strength rope for customers in the commercial marine, off-
shore rigging, commercial fishing, arborist, utility, safety, rescue, and
recreational marine industries. Samson has been around for more than
100 years and is recognized as the leader in developing and manufactur-
ing high-performance ropes. The company’s unwavering commitment to
111
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research and development and its unique package of field engineering

C h a p t e r 7 : C a s e S t u d y : S a m s o n R o p e Te c h n o l o g i e s , I n c .

and after-sale support services have resulted in stronger and more

durable products for a diverse range of commercial and recreational
users. Samson manufactures over 1,000 different products, many of
which come in a wide range of configurations, such as twisted, plaited,
and braided, and they vary by diameter, color, length, and terminations.

Here is the story of how they used our company kaizen program
approach. The names and content of this chapter were approved by the
organization prior to publication.

January 2007
It was winter 2007, and I had just completed relocating my company,
Kaizen Assembly, to Bellingham, WA. I had grown up there but had
spent about four years in the South, living in Georgia and North
Carolina. Kaizen Assembly was entering its second year and was grow-
ing like a weed. Our customer base had grown, and I was excited about
continuing its success in the Pacific Northwest. It was around this time
that I also began teaching lean manufacturing at the local technical
school in its professional development program. This training outlet
was and is a very exciting and nice complement to my company’s cur-
rent consulting services.

We received an e-mail from the school explaining that a local manufac-

turer was interested in obtaining training. More specifically, this com-
pany had seen the curriculum for our highly popular Kaizen and Kaizen
Event Implementation course. At the time there was no class being
offered in open enrollment format, so I contacted the person about
going to the facility to meet and set up the training at the site. The
company was Samson Rope.

A meeting was scheduled. Our new office in downtown Bellingham was

in the process of being set up; the movers were unloading our furniture
and supplies as I was heading out the door to meet with Samson Rope.
Its facility was about 20 minutes from the office, so it was encouraging
that a potential new client was down the street. Business travelers will
appreciate this situation.

I arrived at the facility and met with the plant manager, Ken. We sat
down and had a brief discussion of the kaizen course, the number of
 113

people involved, cost, and scheduling. Once those formalities were

K a i z e n a n d K a i z e n E v e n t I m p l e m e n t a t i o n Tr a i n i n g
complete, I was taken into the manufacturing facility.

“Live” is the best description of what I first experienced. Hundreds of

twisting, winding, and braiding machines moving rapidly created an
extremely dynamic environment. It did not take long for me to deter-
mine what my potential approach would be after the training, as the
processes involved lots of machinery, equipment, and automation. I
will explain this later during the lean assessment portion of the chapter.

Ken explained that the company had just finished a very aggressive re-
layout of the plant to incorporate individual work cells to reduce trans-
portation, motion, and travel distance. Those moves prior to my arrival
were really their first pass at lean, so they already had created a good
foundation for future changes. Samson Rope had a large maintenance
department of highly skilled employees who supported the operation
on all three shifts, including any special projects that were needed to
improve the facility.

The tour lasted about an hour, and we concluded our meeting with a
quick discussion of the training requirements for room space, booklets,
and AV equipment. It was a great start to our relationship.

Kaizen and Kaizen Event Implementation

Training
The training was set for February, and the company had committed ten
people to sit in on the four-hour class. This course is designed to create
the catalyst for improvements and help develop the leadership and
other managers into the force needed to support lean manufacturing.

• Kaizen event steering committee

• Kaizen champion
• Communication (boards, newsletter, and suggestion system)
• Kaizen event supply box
• Planning for kaizen events and the timeline
• How to conduct kaizen events
• Action items and follow-up
114

They were quiet at first, as most new students are, and I am sure there
C h a p t e r 7 : C a s e S t u d y : S a m s o n R o p e Te c h n o l o g i e s , I n c .

was some level of skepticism—all common and to be expected. Ken and

some other employees had already participated in lean manufacturing
training off-site in another state, and they left with doubts about its use
in their plant. They were given a simulation during the training of an
assembly line using single-piece flow to illustrate how a pull system
works. It would have been a great example if those in attendance had a
manual assembly operation. Samson Rope does not, so I understood
their early doubts. I knew from the initial tour that I would not use this
type of simulation, and they needed examples that they could connect
with. Those examples would come later.

Once we broke the initial theory portion and got into the “how-to” part,
the questions and comments began to formulate. I described in detail
who is required on the kaizen event steering committee and their roles
and responsibilities. We had a discussion about the importance of the
kaizen champion and how they could distribute the responsibilities of
this person among multiple people in the beginning. The communica-
tion system was outlined as well as the supply box and the kaizen
monthly meeting. These are all familiar to you from reading this book.
The Samson Rope people were convinced that good communication
was needed to support future improvements and they were happy with
the detail. We finished up with some final questions, and I thanked
them for the opportunity to speak to them and wished them good luck
on their lean adventures.

The Return Visit

A week or so after the training, I received a phone call from Ken in
which he asked me to come back to the plant and discuss working
together. He asked me for some brief information on how the consulting
process works and we scheduled the meeting.

The following week I arrived once again at the Ferndale facility to dis-
cuss a potential partnership. Ken and I went over the details and agreed
on a contract. The Samson Rope and Kaizen Assembly bond was cre-
ated in late February 2007. I was to conduct a full lean assessment of
the company, facilitate a strategy session, conduct a series of training
classes, and facilitate a few kaizen events. It was a good start.
 115

Lean Assessment and Strategy Sessions

Lean Assessment and Strategy Sessions

I arrived in early March to conduct the lean assessment, which evalu-
ates where a company is in regard to lean manufacturing and kaizen,
but it also looks at other factors like communication, suppliers, cus-
tomer base, and general information about the organization. The infor-
mation gathered in the assessment provides direction on where and
how to start, what projects the company should work on, training
needs, etc.

The assessment took a whole day, and once it was complete, I had iden-
tified a few areas as potential starting points that would consume the
rest of the year. From the assessment I concluded that the focus for the
first year should be on the implementation of 5S, developing the com-
pany’s kaizen program, and training the employees on the fundamentals
of waste reduction, value-added and non-value-added work, perform-
ance metrics, 5S, kaizen, and kaizen events.

During our strategy session, we discussed how we could implement 5S

plant-wide and complete it by the end of 2007. Considering that we
were already in March and just beginning, I was a little hesitant about
setting a deadline that tight. The group was excited about the opportu-
nity despite some doubts about how it could impact the organization.
In theory it appeared beneficial and doable.

We discussed training schedules and how to put together the company’s

kaizen program. The implementation mechanism for 5S would be
through scheduled and planned kaizen events spread out through the
year. Kaizen events alone would not be enough; as in any lean journey,
there are only so many kaizen events a company can undertake. It was
also decided that some of the supervisors would have to implement 5S
on their own, outside of events. We would have to make sure that they
had the resources and supplies to get it done. However, the majority of
the implementation would be through kaizen events.

The group also decided on a goal of a 10 percent increase in productiv-

ity for the year—a modest start and a goal that was possible through 5S.
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Samson Rope’s Kaizen Program

C h a p t e r 7 : C a s e S t u d y : S a m s o n R o p e Te c h n o l o g i e s , I n c .

We wasted no time and started to work on the internal program that

would support all lean initiatives:

• Kaizen steering committee

• Communication
• Kaizen event supply box
• Monthly meeting

Kaizen Steering Committee

As I mentioned in previous chapters, every company is different in its

organizational chart. Each company has to place the right people on the
committee based on their roles in the company to ensure that all attrib-
utes of planning and conducting events are satisfied. At Samson Rope,
the committee consisted of these people:

Ken: Plant Manager

Ray: Coating and Warehouse Supervisor
Kevin: Facilities Project Manager
Dan: Operations Analyst
Bill: Large Rope Supervisor
Billy: Purchasing
Teresa: Work Cell Supervisor

We felt that the people selected provided a good representation of the

company and could help make decisions that would support the com-
pany’s lean initiatives.

Communication

Kevin took the lead on getting the communication boards purchased.

I believe they bought two boards and placed one near the break
room/company information area and another elsewhere within the facil-
ity. Both were very visible to the employees. Dan helped put together
the suggestion box and forms. Samson Rope already had a nice system
 117

of communicating company information and performance in a room

Kaizen Event 1, May 7–11, 2007: Cell 5, Cell 8, and Splicing

near the back entrance, so the suggestion box was placed there.

Kaizen Event Supply Box

Kevin and his maintenance crew began the construction of the kaizen
event supply box. They made it out of wood and installed wheels on it
so that it could be moved around as needed during the kaizen events. It
was designed to have a top lid that could be locked and that allowed for
a writing surface. The box was constructed nicely and as I was shown it
for the first time, I thought, “This thing is going to be used a lot.” It
wouldn’t look new for long.

Monthly Meeting

The newly formed kaizen steering committee scheduled its first meeting
to discuss the training schedule and the first kaizen event. I was
impressed with their motivation to get going. We agreed to start with an
introductory course on lean that would address the concepts. It was
intended for the whole company, so they rented a large conference hall
at a local hotel and packed the room. Once that course was complete,
we scheduled the kaizen course and the 5S course. Once we completed
that first round of training, we were ready for the first kaizen event.

Kaizen Event 1, May 7–11, 2007: Cell 5, Cell 8,

and Splicing
The committee decided on a three-team kaizen event to set the tone for
the rest of the year. I felt it was aggressive, but a multiteam event is
doable if the resources are available. Samson committed between five
and seven people for each team and we went for it.

There was a lot of fanfare and communication for this first event. Day
one started out as planned, with all three teams sorting through the
cells looking for anything and everything that was not needed. The
splicing team had a much larger area to work in. Kevin was the leader
for that team and he knew he had his hands full. The splicing area was
complex since the work was a manually intensive process of “splitting
rope” and customizing it for customers. The work varied from one week
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to another; one job required very little material and supplies, but the
C h a p t e r 7 : C a s e S t u d y : S a m s o n R o p e Te c h n o l o g i e s , I n c .

next needed a work area in which to place material and supplies. Kevin
and his team began sorting.

Teresa had cell 5 and her team started off well. Teresa was eager for 5S
but was having a hard time taking the idea from training to incorporat-
ing it into her area, a perfectly normal response to 5S.

Bill was leading the cell 8 team. Cell 8 was where the larger rope in the
facility was made, so his goal was floor space reduction to provide bet-
ter transportation in and out of the cell. 5S can be challenging when the
product manufactured is big and naturally consumes floor space. Like
the other teams, his team started the sorting portion nicely.

As day one slowly came to an end, the teams had done what I had
asked of them: completed sorting by the end of the day. All teams had
successfully removed a variety of things into a designated red-tag area
for review. Day one ended with a quick team meeting to discuss
progress and to see if we needed to shift people around or get more sup-
plies. Kevin had supplied the event box well, and so far we were look-
ing good. Kevin felt that his team might need to sort more on day two
since it was a larger area. I could tell that the splicing team needed
some extra help, but I wanted to see how Kevin would react to the
amount of work still to do. There were a lot of items to set in order in
splicing. Rather than interfere, I wanted to gauge Kevin’s project man-
agement abilities.

Set in Order was the name of the game for the next two days. Since the
work cells used mostly mechanical equipment, there was enough oil and
dust on the floor that the team would have to use spray paint, rather
than floor tape, for floor identifications. Floor tape was still used in some
areas, though. Each team began identifying the items that would go on
tool boards. Bill’s team wanted to put new aisleways in the cell for
improved flow, so some of his team members began to lay down masking
tape to mark where the aisles would go. They also began to identify
where carts, garbage cans, pallets, and any floor items would be located.

Teresa’s team began with similar approaches to Set in Order, including

the organization of the supervisor’s workbench that is in each work cell.
Everyone knew that all items had to have a home with clear designa-
tions and identification.

Kevin’s battle continued in splicing. He had torn the place apart and
was slowly putting the area back together. His approach was good, as I
 119

always encourage my 5S teams to clear the area and start from scratch.

Kaizen Event 1, May 7–11, 2007: Cell 5, Cell 8, and Splicing

His team appeared to be overwhelmed, however, and I felt compelled to
remove my consultant hat and put on the helper hat. I asked Kevin how
I could help. He quickly gave me a broom and a vacuum to start the
Scrub/Shine portion. Ken, the plant manager, started to come by the
three areas to get a feel for where the teams were, and we discussed
progress. At this point he was content but made comments about the
mess in splicing. I explained that there were no major red flags at that
point.

The teams continued throughout the day organizing, painting, and

labeling. The same activities rolled into the third day. Cell 5 and cell 8
were moving along fine, to the point where I started to ask their team
leaders to divert resources to the splicing team. On the third day I was
getting nervous and Kevin was starting feel the same. Kevin and I
looked at the team’s progress and quickly reassigned people to specific
tasks to try to get caught up. Ken had made another pass through the
area and was now getting concerned that the team would not finish in
time. I had complete confidence in Kevin’s ability to manage his team;
now it was a matter of “hands.” By the end of day three, we were able
to pull some more people off the other two teams to help the splicing
team. Cells 8 and 5 were nearing completion. The first signs of 5S were
beginning to appear as masking tape was removed after the paint had
dried, stencil markings on the floor were complete, and tool boards
were starting to be installed. It was happening.

Day four was now all about the splicing team. The other teams were
still working hard to finish up, so we focused on Kevin’s team. As in a
lot of kaizen events, sometimes it feels as if there is too much to do
with no end in sight. And then, almost magically, something happens:
The team unites even more and boom! It gets done. This is what hap-
pened on Kevin’s team. By the end of day four, the splicing area looked
great and the other two teams were nearing completion.

We had an end-of-day meeting to discuss any final work to be com-

pleted on day five and to describe to the teams how to put together the
report-out presentation. All team members were tired but happy, and a
sense of accomplishment was prevalent.

The teams came in on day five and finished what they could, knowing
that some amount of unfinished work would go on an action item list.
The kaizen event ended with a great presentation by the three team
leaders. The company had shown up in force, and they packed the
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break room for the first kaizen event report out. The teams provided a
C h a p t e r 7 : C a s e S t u d y : S a m s o n R o p e Te c h n o l o g i e s , I n c .

tour for the employees and a lot of questions were asked. Mostly, there
were a lot of shocked faces and expressions. 5S had begun—with more
to come.

5S Continued
It was back to work for the people at Samson Rope, as they entered the
most difficult part of the process: sustaining and continually improving.
The kaizen steering committee scheduled another meeting to discuss
the development of the 5S audit and tracking system. They developed a
preliminary 5S audit form and an audit schedule and posted a tracking
sheet. The tracking sheet was placed in the company’s information area
and near each work cell. I explained that they should start auditing
only those areas that had had the 5S implementation. We also discussed
the next kaizen event and how 5S would be implemented in other areas
outside of events. Teresa was the supervisor for three work cells, and
she now had experience with 5S as a kaizen event team leader, so she
committed to implementing 5S with her employees in her other areas of
responsibility, on her own. Teresa was quickly becoming the 5S cham-
pion at Samson Rope. We had faith that she would forge ahead.

The committee encouraged the plant to look at what the teams did on
the first event and begin to apply 5S. The culture of change was
beginning.

The next official kaizen event was scheduled for September, and the
area selected was the maintenance department.

Kaizen Event 2, September 24–28, 2007:

Maintenance
Kevin was selected as team leader for this event since he was the super-
visor of the facility project manager. The committee also selected Mike,
who was the maintenance supervisor, to co-lead the event. Kevin
wanted to break the team up into two sub-teams and have one focus on
the actual maintenance work area and another on the part/supplies
room. I thought it was a good approach. Maintenance 5S events bring
different challenges since the maintenance department is a community
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area where people share tools and supplies depending on the need for

Kaizen Event 2, September 24–28, 2007: Maintenance

the given day. These departments are often a dumping ground for the
plant, and the maintenance staff also likes to hold on to things for what-
if situations.

So we began. The sorting process was less crazy than I was anticipating.
It was not the first time in my journey with Samson Rope that I found
their resistance to change to be very low. They found the whole process
of sorting out maintenance to be somewhat invigorating. Old tools,
machinery, fixtures, parts, bins, and shelves were all removed. The red-
tag area for this event was filling fast. There were three distinct areas in
the maintenance department: the actual workbench/tools area, a parts
room, and a small machine shop. Like a lot of other maintenance areas, it
was dirty from all the work that they do, so I knew that cleaning would
get us only so far. Paint, paint, paint would be the name of the game.

By the end of day one, the team had accumulated a very large pile of
stuff. A significant amount of money was connected to those items, but
there was no love lost there; if something was not used anymore, it left.

The real fun began on day two. Set in Order would be taken to a whole
new level as this team was to seriously raise the bar on designations
and identification. The tools boards were to be monstrous. The sheer
number of tools needed to support the hundreds of machines in the
plant was overwhelming, even after some healthy sorting. It was a
three-shift operation with multiple employees; this department needed
extra sets of tools in some cases. They had already started a tool board
prior to the kaizen event after witnessing what went on during the first
event in May, but there were still two to be made.

Each board was painted black to make the outline of the tools stand out.
Each tool was marked based on the board to which it was assigned (i.e.,
board 1, board 2, etc.). Labels were placed above each tool, and every-
thing had a home. Completing the tool boards took time, so Mike
assigned a small group to focus just on them.

Other team members were organizing the cabinets that were used to
hold larger, more expensive tools. I asked the team to seriously consider
removing the doors to continue the theme of visibility. They decided to
keep the doors because the items inside were expensive. I continued the
fight but eventually gave in. It is important to learn to strike a balance
between applying lean and giving a little to ensure that change is
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accepted. I compromised by asking that they put labels on the cabinet

C h a p t e r 7 : C a s e S t u d y : S a m s o n R o p e Te c h n o l o g i e s , I n c .

doors indicating what the contents were.

Dan, the operations analyst for Samson Rope, seemed to take on a com-
mon role with the kaizen events. He took part in the previous event and
was also part of this project. He seemed to become the dirtiest of all
team members on every event. Dan cleaned, sorted, and volunteered for
a lot of the manually intensive work, often covering himself in dirt and
grease. His contributions to the lean journey would become a huge
asset. I helped Dan finalize locations for various tools and supplies on
shelves and racks.

The team pushed hard into the third day, spray-painting equipment to
give it a showroom look, painting the floor, stenciling, and organizing
the parts room.

Kevin stayed focused on this parts room, organizing items based on use
and labeling everything so people could find the items they needed
faster. The maintenance department was beginning to look like some-
thing other than a maintenance department. Toolboxes and tool chests
were disappearing. Drill presses and other machines in the work area
that were previously out in the open, disrupting movement, now could
be placed out of the way because of the floor space being opened up.
Cleaning supplies, brooms, dustpans, paint cans, mops, jacks, etc., were
all going vertical on boards or getting new homes. Ken made his usual
walk-through and was happy with the progress.

As in all kaizen events, we concluded the event with another great

report-out presentation and a tour. The lean journey was going in the
right direction at that point.

Completing 5S
With the fourth quarter now within view, the sense of urgency picked
up to get the 5S initiatives done. There were still a couple of areas to
finish. Teresa had successfully completed 5S in her other cells with the
help of her workers. Her enthusiasm for 5S was great, and we did not
have to worry about her areas anymore. Dan and Kevin had also been
working on the 5S audit system and began sending me the results of the
weekly audits on all shifts. As in all journeys, there was some level of
resistance to having to put things back all the time, but it was minor.
 123

People began to notice the increased productivity, reduced walking, and

Kaizen Event 3, December 3–7, 2007: Coating

reduced confusion we were seeing with this first pass at lean.

We scheduled a kaizen steering committee meeting to discuss the last

new areas to implement 5S. Rather than having a kaizen event, which
really did not appear to be needed, we agreed to take a group of people
for one day and just get it done. I volunteered my time to help.

The groups spent a whole day finishing up the areas. As the groups fin-
ished, they decided to schedule one more event. What remained was
the coating department that was supervised by Ray. This event was
slated for December.

Kaizen Event 3, December 3–7, 2007: Coating

We had reached the last month of the year and had just one area to
complete. Ray had initiated 5S in the warehouse as well, but the coat-
ing area required its own event. As a consultant, I have to make the
tough decisions about what each company can begin next. We had
focused purely on 5S for most of the year and did not incorporate any
other waste reduction technique. It was at the coating event that I
wanted to try some new approaches. Samson Rope had hired an intern
from the local university, and we had conducted time studies and
analysis to provide the team with ideas on cycle times, machine down-
time, and operator walking. Basically, this information would be used to
make more improvements to flow outside of 5S. I had to see if they
were ready. The information collected showed a lot of opportunities to
reduce waste. Based on this information, Ray had come up with a new
layout idea that would help flow incoming and outgoing WIP.

Sorting was light in this event and the Set in Order phase began
quickly. Half the team worked on 5S, and by now it was like old news
to them. They had become solid veterans of 5S. Another group worked
on a signal system to help the workers know what rope to coat in which
order, based on color and deadlines. The 5S team marked off a holding
zone for incoming WIP that would then be placed into a queue in a des-
ignated lane for a specific coating machine. This would allow the super-
visor to place things in order as needed, and the workers could simply
work on the items in the queue, reducing confusion.
124

A lot of great ideas and techniques implemented to improve flow. I wish

C h a p t e r 7 : C a s e S t u d y : S a m s o n R o p e Te c h n o l o g i e s , I n c .

I could go into more detail, but I am keeping the information here to a

minimum since some of it is proprietary.

The event moved along fine as we watched the coating area become the
last piece of the 5S puzzle. The area was completely changed to accom-
modate better flow, and the 5S implementation was complete.

2007 Complete
The 2007 lean journey with Samson Rope was quite amazing. The com-
pany saw record improvements in productivity, output, and delivery.
5S was not the only contributor to its success as other aspects of the
business improved as well. As the year ended the Lafayette, LA, plant
was beginning to get anxious about when it would happen for them. It
was at this point that the alignment of the organization’s 5S programs
would begin.

Lafayette, LA: Lean Assessment

As Ferndale began frequent auditing and moving on to setup reduction
and other waste reduction efforts, I hopped on an airplane in the last
week of January 2008 and headed to meet the Lafayette employees. Ron,
the plant manager in Lafayette, had already been to the Ferndale plant
and seen the improvements made there. Ron, Mark (Samson Rope vice
president of operations), and I had discussed starting the lean journey
in Lafayette in 2008 with the intention of implementing 5S as the start-
ing point. I still wanted to conduct my assessment to see if there were
other important elements to address.

I met with Mark and Paul, the new purchasing manager (Ferndale).
They were going down for other reasons, but Mark wanted to show his
support for this new initiative. I conducted my day-long assessment to
provide the company with a lean baseline; one of its findings was the
need for 5S.

To help expedite the process and to get the plant 5S-compliant by

November 2008 in preparation for new products coming in, we sched-
uled a full intensive workshop to get the frontline supervisors ready. To
maintain some consistency, the training was similar to the sessions con-
ducted in Ferndale.
 125

I spoke considerably about waste, floor space reduction, 5S, and kaizen

K a i z e n E v e n t 1 , Fe b r u a r y 2 0 – 2 2 , 2 0 0 8 : L a rg e R o p e 9 0 1
events. I also included total preventive maintenance training. Mark was
eager to get moving with 5S. It was needed in the plant and he had a
vision of helping Lafayette become a showroom facility. As at Ferndale,
we wasted very little time and scheduled the first kaizen event. Ron,
Mark, Paul, the now newly formed Lafayette kaizen steering committee,
and I assessed potential areas. Since I had not spent a lot of time there,
I suggested a three-day kaizen event to get our feet wet. We picked the
Large Rope area called 901. It would also involve a small splicing area.
The Lafayette kaizen steering committee consisted of the following
people:

Ron: Plant Manager

Byron: Purchasing
Lisa: Safety/Quality Supervisor
Dave: Engineering
Joann: Shipping/Receiving Supervisor
Chris: Large Rope Supervisor
Terry: Maintenance Supervisor

Kaizen Event 1, February 20–22, 2008:

Large Rope 901
Since the Ferndale plant now had ample experience with 5S and kaizen
events, Dan and Janet (the controller) came down to help out on
Lafayette’s kaizen event. The kaizen steering committee selected a nice
mix of employees to be on the team. Like the Ferndale events, this
event involved line workers, machine operators, maintenance, quality,
and the office. It was going to be a short event, so it had to move
quickly. Sorting in a three-day event needed to be finished by lunch on
the first day, so that we could quickly get to Set in Order. Chris, the
Large Rope supervisor, was selected as the team leader for this event.

We got right to sorting and opened all cabinets, drawers, tool chests,
and storage units. Dan, from Ferndale, continued his role as the dirt
man; he climbed up on the large machines in the Large Rope area and
began to clean and blow out the dirt that had accumulated over time.
Everyone else started identifying unnecessary items and placing them
in a red-tag area. The process was moving fast—so fast that the team
126

had to go to the outside garbage cans and pull out things that did not
C h a p t e r 7 : C a s e S t u d y : S a m s o n R o p e Te c h n o l o g i e s , I n c .

get evaluated long enough in the red-tag area; there were some things
that needed to go to maintenance. This was somewhat comical as far as
I was concerned, and it does happen when people get excited.

We flew through the sorting and met up for lunch to discuss progress.
Most of the sorting was complete, and we started the Set in Order phase
right away. Byron focused on cleaning machinery and applying new
paint. Other team members began tool board construction, trying to use
the same approach as the Ferndale maintenance team had. People were
marking off the floors and making homes for all supplies. The 901 area
had a community gear supply in a cabinet, and a lot of walking back
and forth was necessary during the day to set up machines. So the oper-
ators on the team identified those gears needed at each machine and
installed gear racks right next to the machine controls to eliminate
wasted motion. Everything was painted, and I mean everything.

Dan continued his cleaning work. Janet from Ferndale focused on label-
ing. Chris was a great team leader. His ability to manage the crew and
keep people focused was exceptional. I had to intervene a few times but
the incidents were minor in nature.

The team had cleared out the small splicing area and made some
changes to layout to improve overall flow for people and material.
Incoming and outgoing locations for WIP were located and tool boards
were getting made. We pressed on into the second day. A level of com-
petition was quickly forming between the plants as the Lafayette crew
wanted to really show their stuff. They had an equal amount of enthusi-
asm for what was to be done.

It was also important to recognize the work they had done on their
kaizen supply box. Marty, one of the maintenance employees, built
probably the biggest supply box I have seen, and it was loaded up for
the event. However, the committee underestimated the amount of paint
needed, necessitating a couple of runs to the local hardware store.
Again, this is a common occurrence during kaizen events.

We wrapped up the kaizen event on the third day with few to no action
items. It was a great start for them, and they were excited about the next
kaizen event. Before heading home, I spent some time with Ron dis-
cussing the pros and cons of the event and the expectations of
his newly formed committee. Ron was giving full support and we
 127

scheduled a conference call to be conducted during their next kaizen

K a i z e n E v e n t 2 , A p r i l 7 – 1 1 , 2 0 0 8 : A re a G , A re a D , A re a B
meeting. I boarded a plane the next morning and headed home.

Kaizen Event 2, April 7–11, 2008: Area G,

Area D, Area B
I called the Lafayette plant about two weeks later to listen in on the
kaizen steering committee meeting. We discussed the previous event,
progress, lessons learned, and the next kaizen event. Because of the suc-
cess of the event and because they had maintained the 901 area from
the previous event, we scheduled a multiteam event that would take a
whole week. The committee selected three areas and picked the team
leaders and members. The event was scheduled for early April, and
Kevin and Teresa from Ferndale volunteered to help as well. Ken also
was coming on other business.

We showed up in force and we started day one with the usual activities.
In preparation for the event, a lot of sorting had been conducted, as the
people in Lafayette were getting excited about improvement and could
not wait. That type of enthusiasm is great and I always encourage peo-
ple to sort early if they want. On day one, Lisa, the safety and quality
supervisor, came up to me and asked me to come see her department.
She had already started on her area and was in the process of imple-
menting 5S in her spare time with the help of her employees. I was
happy see other activities going on outside of kaizen events. Motivation
was high in Lafayette.

The teams worked hard sorting and moved into Set in Order by the end
of day one. Teresa and Kevin from Ferndale became co-facilitators,
helping the team leaders find their way. They did not need to help too
much, but when they did, they made decisions as needed.

As in the first event, masking tape was used to outline aisles and floor
locations. Equipment was getting cleaned and painted. Gears were being
pulled from community holding areas and being placed right at the
machines for point-of-use applications. Tool boards for tools and clean-
ing supplies were getting constructed and slowly being filled with the
necessary items. Ron, the plant manager, was seen a lot on the floor,
assessing the progress and showing his support for the project.
128

There were no real stoppages, just a few redirects here and there to keep
C h a p t e r 7 : C a s e S t u d y : S a m s o n R o p e Te c h n o l o g i e s , I n c .

things moving. As kaizen events near the end, people need to be work-
ing on important items. For instance, if the team is in day four and peo-
ple are wiping down hand trucks, but no tool boards are up, the event
leader must redirect. It happened a few times on this event but there
was nothing major. It was the second event at Lafayette and the team
leaders were learning as they went, and doing very well. As the event
was nearing its end, some of the teams were finishing early, and we
shifted people around to help other teams that had not yet completed
their work.

We concluded with another energetic report-out presentation, and I

expressed my satisfaction with their progress. It was a fun group to
work with and I was excited about my next return.

Samson Rope Progress: Ferndale and Lafayette

I added this part of the chapter near my submission to Prentice Hall.
Kaizen events continued in the Lafayette facility. I went down for two
more events, one in June and one in August of 2008. Each one was as
successful as the previous events had been. Lafayette was able to com-
plete the 5S implementation plant-wide by the end of the year.
Additional training was also conducted to present possible next steps.
We trained on total preventive maintenance, setup reduction, time
studies, process mapping, and quick changeover.

The Ferndale plant spent 2008 learning about value stream mapping,
time studies, and increasing uptime, and we conducted a few kaizen
events to further reduce waste, create visual production boards, and
look at material replenishment systems. Ferndale also refined its 5S
auditing system, which incorporated a rotational auditor program, and
quarterly incentives for the highest 5S scores. Outside of this great
story, both plants had challenges, setbacks, and struggles as in any
lean journey. Lean is truly a battlefield and it can be harder once 5S
is complete.

Both plants have to balance running the business and conducting con-
tinuous improvement. Lean is about two steps forward, one step back.
Resistance will appear at every level along the way. Change is always
tough, even for those organizations that have been practicing lean for
many years. The bottom line is that Samson Rope has proved to itself
 129

that it can practice lean. And it is this continued push toward being the

Other Samson Rope Employees to Recognize

best that will keep them atop the rope manufacturing industry.

Other Samson Rope Employees to Recognize

Eston
Ron
Mike
Marlene
Bill
Asad
Chris

I hope I mentioned all of you.

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 8
Conclusion
e i g h t

My goal in writing this book was to provide you with the foundational
elements needed to support continuous improvement. The company
kaizen program has proven to be very successful in giving organizations
the vision, focus, and drive to make lean a part of doing business. It is
also important to understand that taking lean in its “textbook” version
is dangerous, as any journey must be custom-fit to the company’s needs,
processes, products, customer base, and employees. I hope that you will
take the concepts of the kaizen steering committee, the kaizen cham-
pion, lean communication system, tracking, team selection, team leader
selection, kaizen event facilitation, and many of the other ideas
described here and make them fit the unique culture within your com-
pany. Only then can you succeed with kaizen and lean. I wish you the
best of luck with your lean endeavors.

Chris Ortiz
Kaizen Assembly

131
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 Index

A Benefits of kaizen, 7–8

Action items Budget
5S, 84 managing, 47
champion follow-up, 52–53 tracking, 30–31
Samson Rope Technologies,
Inc., 119 C
standard work events, 102–103, Cabinet limitations, 80
106–107 Capturing work content, 95
tracking, 31–33 Case study. See Samson Rope
Alternatives to champions, 53–54 Technologies, Inc.
Analyzing collected data, 64 Champions, 39–40
Area selection, 70 alternatives, 53–54
Assembly lines choosing, 47–49
standard work events design, costs, 49–50
102–104 need for, 40–41
time and motion studies, 93 overview, 24–25
Audit system purpose, 54
5S events, 88–89 responsibilities, 50–53
Samson Rope Technologies, skill sets, 41–47
Inc., 120 Changeover skills for champions, 45
Classrooms for training, 50
B Cleanup procedures, 88
Balancers, tool, 105 Closing out standard work
Balancing, line events, 110
reviewing, 100–101 Coating department in Samson Rope
rules, 97–98 Technologies, Inc., 123
Collected data, analyzing, 64

133
134

Collecting data Errors, eliminating, 13

Index

5S events, 77 Estimating spending, 59–60

current state, 44, 64, 73 Event-lean mode, 8
time study, 94 Event supply box
Color for tower lights, 109 5S events, 80
Communication constructing, 71
common mistakes, 9–10 Samson Rope Technologies,
developing, 33 Inc., 117
newsletters, 34–35 for supplies, 60, 63
Samson Rope Technologies, Inc., Events overview, 8–9
116–117 5S. See 5S events
suggestion boxes, 35–37 champion skills, 43
systems updating, 61, 72 common mistakes, 9–11
Communication boards metrics, 12–13
champion responsibilities, 51 schedules. See Schedules
description, 34 selection, 26–27
Company cultural change, 4 standard work. See Standard
Company kaizen programs, 17–18 work events
champions, 24–25 steering committees. See
communication, 33–37 Steering committees
event steering committees. See tracking. See Tracking
Steering committees External options for champions,
tracking. See Tracking 48–49
Completing Samson Rope
Technologies, Inc., 122–124 F
Conference rooms, 63 Facilities managers on steering
Costs of champions, 49–50 committees, 22
Cross-functional teams, 47 Finalizing team members, 62–63, 72
Current productivity evaluation, 57 5S events, 69
Current state, collecting, 44, 64, 73 area selection, 70
Customer complaint information, 57 audit sheets, 88–89
champions for, 42–43, 54
D communication system
Daily walk-throughs, 88 updates, 72
Data collection skills for current state information
champions, 43–45 gathering, 73
Date tracking, 28 incentive programs, 90
Dead space, 79 maintenance, 84–85
Deadlines meeting space selection, 72
action items, 32, 84 outside assistance, 72
red-tag removal, 78 plant and general manager
Design ideas, 64 meetings, 74
Distance, travel, 14–15 Set in Order and Scrub events,
Diversity in teams, 47 79–83, 86–87
Documenting work content, 94–96 Sort events, 74–79, 85–86
spending, 71
E Standardize events, 83–84
Effective time in standard work supplies, 71, 74
events, 92 sustaining tips, 87–90
End-of-day cleanup procedures, 88 teams. See Teams
End-of-day meetings, 99, 102, 119 tracking sheets, 89
Engineers updating supplies and outside
responsibilities, 5, 17 resources, 72–73
on steering committees, 19–20
 135

Floor space reductions, 13–14 Lean overview, 3–4

Index
Floor taping and designations champion skills, 42
5S events, 80, 83 leadership, 5–7
standard work events, 108 Samson Rope Technologies, Inc.,
Follow-up for action items, 52–53 115, 124–125
Food preparations, 66 transformation to, 5–6
Length, tracking, 28
G Lessons from a Lean Consultant, 6
Garbage cans, 79 Line balancing
Gathering data reviewing, 100–101
5S events, 77 rules, 97–98
current state, 44, 64, 73 Line designs
time study, 94 champion skills for, 46
General managers standard work events, 102–103
meeting with, 65, 74 Line operator input, 35
on steering committees, 19 Lowest sample removal from time
Goals, 11 studies, 96
establishing, 59, 71
tracking, 30 M
Green color for tower lights, 109 Machine shop projects, 104
Maintenance events
H 5S, 84–85
Highest sample removal from time Samson Rope Technologies, Inc.,
studies, 96 120–122
Hiring costs for champions, 49–50 standard work events, 102, 104
Human resource managers on Maintenance personnel on steering
steering committees, 21–22 committees, 22
Managers
improvement responsibilities, 5
I meetings with, 65, 74
Incentive programs, 90 on steering committees, 19,
Internal options for champions, 48 21–22
Internal quality information, 57 Manufacturing engineers
Inventory, 12, 98 responsibilities, 5, 17
Investments in champions, 49 on steering committees, 19–20
Materials
K champion skills for, 46
Kaizen Assembly: Designing, organizing, 83
Constructing, and Managing a Materials managers on steering
Lean Assembly Line, 34, 111 committees, 22
Kaizen overview Measurable improvements, 7–8
benefits, 7–8 Meetings
leaders, 5–7 end-of-day, 99, 102, 119
overview, 4 kickoff, 98–99
people, 5 with managers, 65, 74
Kickoff meetings, 98–99 midday, 103–104
monthly, 31–33, 51, 117
L Samson Rope Technologies, Inc.,
112–113
Leaders, 5–7 space selection, 72
champion responsibilities, 52 team, 64, 73–74
selection, 28, 58–59, 70–71
standard work events, 103
tracking, 28
136

Metrics Pre-event goals, 30

Index

floor space, 13–14 Preplanning

inventory/WIP, 12 standard work events, 92–98
productivity, 12 tracking, 29–30
quality improvements, 12–13 Presentations
travel distance, 14–15 5S Events, 84
workstations, 14 standard work events, 110
Midday meetings, 103–104 tools, 104–105
Monitoring champion Previous results, meetings for, 32
responsibilities, 53 Process analysis, 93–98
Monthly meetings Process/department/work area
champion responsibilities, 51 selection, 56–57
Samson Rope Technologies, Process-oriented cultures, 4
Inc., 117 Production managers on steering
for tracking, 31–33 committees, 21
Production supervisors on steering
N committees, 23
Newsletters Productivity
champion responsibilities, 51 evaluating, 57
description, 34–35 improvements, 12
generating, 61, 72 Project management skills for
Non-value-added work, 62 champions, 47
Nonmeasurable improvements, 7–8 Purchasing managers on steering
committees, 22
O
Q
Open action items
champion follow-up, 52–53 Quality improvements, 12–13
standard work events, 106 Quality managers on steering
tracking, 32–33 committees, 20
Operations managers on steering Quick changeover skills for
committees, 21 champions, 45
Operators
data collection phase, 95 R
input from, 35 Rapid improvement projects, 8
on steering committees, 24 Red color for tower lights, 109
Ordering supplies, 60–61 Red-tag campaigns, 75–77
Outside assistance, scheduling, Red-tag removal procedure
61, 72 deadlines, 78
Outside resources, updating, 63, standard work events, 101–102
72–73 Red-tag sorting activity, 77–78
Red-tag teams, 99–100
P Removal, red-tag, 78, 101–102
Painting, 80–81 Report-out presentations
Parts organization, 83 5S events, 84
Parts rack signs, 107–108 standard work events, 110
People of kaizen, 5 Responsibilities
Performance evaluation, 57 champions, 50–53
Planning events tracking, 31
common mistakes, 10 Results
scheduling, 33 monthly meetings for, 32
Plant managers tracking, 30
meeting with, 65, 74 Retractors, tool, 105
on steering committees, 19 Room selection, 63
 137

S meeting space, 72

Index
Sales and output evaluation, 56–57 process/department/work area,
Samples in data collection, 96 56–57
Samson Rope Technologies, Inc., rooms, 63
111–112 Set in Order events
area events, 127–128 S5, 79–83, 86–87
audit and tracking system, 120 Samson Rope Technologies,
cells and splicing, 117–120 Inc., 123
coating, 123 standard work events, 102
communication, 116–117 Setup reduction skills for
completing, 122–124 champions, 45
event supply box, 117 Seven deadly wastes
implementation training, 5S events, 71
113–114 champion skills for, 41–42
initial meeting and tour, evaluating, 57
112–113 non-value-added, 62
Large Rope area, 125–127 Samson Rope Technologies,
lean assessment, 115, 124–125 Inc., 117
maintenance, 120–122 standard work events, 98
monthly meetings, 117 Shadow boards
progress, 128–129 5S events, 81–83, 86
return visit, 114 standard work events, 105, 109
steering committee, 116 Shift walk-throughs, 88
strategy sessions, 115 Shine function, 104
Schedules, 55–56 "Shock and awe" effect, 8
collected data analysis and Signs, 107–108
design ideas, 64 Skill sets for champions, 41–47
communication system Sort events
updates, 61 5S events, 74–77, 85–86
current state information red-tag areas, 77–78
gathering, 64 Samson Rope Technologies, Inc.,
events, 33 123, 125–127
food preparations, 66 Spaghetti diagrams
outside assistance, 61, 72 for area selection, 70
plant and general manager for current state, 45
meetings, 65 Spending
process/department/work area 5S events, 71
selection, 56–57 estimating, 59–60
room selection, 63 tracking, 30–31
spending estimates, 59–60 Splicing in Samson Rope
supplies, 60–61 Technologies, Inc., 117–120
supply placement, 64 Standard work events, 91
teams. See Teams action items, 102–103, 106–107
updating supplies and outside closing out, 110
resources, 63 end-of-day meetings, 102
waste analysis, 61–62 floor taping and designations,
Scrub event 108
S5 events, 79–83, 86–87 kickoff meetings, 98–99
standard work events, 102, 104 line designs, 102–103
Selection maintenance and Machine shop
areas, 70 projects, 104
champions, 47–49 midday meetings, 103–104
events, 26–27 preplanning, 92–98
leaders, 28, 58–59, 70–71 red-tag teams, 99–100
138

Standard work events (cont.) T

Index

Scrub/Shine function, 104 Takt time, 92–93

shadow boards, 105, 109 Taping work areas
subassemblies, 105–106 5S events, 80
subassembly build levels, 108 standard work events, 108
tool presentation, 104–105 Team leaders
tower lights, 109 champion responsibilities, 52
visual management, 106–107 selection, 58–59, 70–71
workstation and parts rack standard work events, 103
signs, 107–108 tracking, 28
Standardize event, 83–84 Teams
Stations common mistakes, 10–11
overview, 14 cross-functional and diverse, 47
signs, 107–108 finalizing, 62–63, 72
Status tracking, 31 goals establishment, 59, 71
Steering committees, 18–19 meeting with, 64, 73–74
human resource management, sorting, 75–77
21–22 spending time in chosen area,
maintenance and facilities 63, 73
management, 22 tentative lists, 57–58, 71
manufacturing engineering tracking, 28–29
management, 19–20 Tentative team member lists,
operations and production 57–58, 71
management, 21 Time, line balancing by, 97
operator representatives, 24 Time and motion studies, 62
plant and general champion skills for, 44
management, 19 standard work events, 93–97
production supervisors, 23 Tool balancers, 105
purchasing and materials Tool boards, 81–83, 86
management, 22 Tool chest limitations, 80
quality management, 20 Tool presentation, 104–105
Samson Rope Technologies, Tool retractors, 105
Inc., 116 Touch time, 92
Stopwatches for time and motion Tower lights, 109
studies, 94 Tracking, 25–26
Straighten process, 78 5S events, 89
Strategy sessions for Samson Rope action items, responsibility,
Technologies, Inc., 115 and status, 31
Subassemblies, 105–106, 108 budget and spending, 30–31
Suggestion boxes champion responsibilities, 52
champion responsibilities, 52 date and length, 28
description, 35–37 event selection, 26–27
Suggestions evaluation, 57 event team leaders, 28
Supplies monthly meetings for, 31–33
5S events, 71 pre-event goals, 30
ordering, 60–61 preplanning and preplanning
organizing, 83 responsibility, 29–30
placing at gathering space, 64, results, 30
74 Samson Rope Technologies,
updating, 63, 72–73 Inc., 120
Surfaces, evaluating, 79 team members, 28–29
Sustaining tips for 5S events, 87–90
 139

Training responsibilities, 50–51 W

Index
Training rooms, 63 Walk-throughs, 88
Travel distance, 14–15 Waste analysis, 61–62
Waste elimination, 4. See also
U Seven deadly wastes
U-shaped cells, 102–103 Work area selection, 56–57
Updating Work content, documenting, 94–95
communication systems, 61, 72 Work flow skills for champions, 46
supplies and outside resources, Work in process (WIP), 12, 99
63, 72–73 Work surface evaluation, 79
Worksheets
V champion responsibilities, 52
tracking, 25–26
Value-added work, 62
Workstations
Value stream mapping (VSM), 44, 62
overview, 14
Visibility
signs, 107–108
5S events, 86
champion skills for, 42–43
standard work events, 106–107 Y
tools, 79–81 Yellow color tower lights, 109
Volume requirements, 92