Kaizen & Lean Training

Lean Principles for implementing lean flow to get fast, dramatic, and simultaneous...
   a) Reduction of costs and lead times
   b) Improvements in quality and morale

Table of Contents Lean Principles Lean Leadership Lean Methods: Steps to Reduce or Eliminate Waste Organize the workplace Arrange everything to "flow" Standardize work Make small batches Introduce pull systems (to make only what the customer demands) Never stop continuous improvement Lean Principles: How to identify waste Lean Objectives - What is "ideal"? Muda: The 7 Deadly Types of Waste The Lean 4 Rules In Use

Search Use "Ctrl+F" to find keywords Lean Video Kaizen Video (13 mins) Introduction to Lean Kaizen DMAIC Six Sigma Tip: Keep looking around while this takes 2-3 mins to load More Lean videos       Glossary of Lean Terms

Kaizen PowerPoint presentation: Introduction to Lean Teachings

Kaizen Lean ppt    100+ pages Free preview of the 100+ page Kaizen and Lean PowerPoint training presentation that you can own as part of the Kaizen bundle of templates. Copying any portion of this free preview would be a copyright violation, but when you own the PowerPoint template, you can cannibalize it to use as the starting point for your own in-house training. Using slides that are relevant to your upcoming training topic - and perhaps editing them, and adding your slides.

Philosophies and approaches

for Lean Implementation

Lean Production methods are used to identify and eliminate waste.

Lean production methods can be used with or without Kaizen
to effectively identify and eliminate waste in ANY process.

This is not just lean manufacturing training.
These lean principles are equally effective for lean office, lean healthcare,
and ANY type of lean implementation for operational excellence.

PDCA Cycle

also known as the PDSA Cycle
because late in W. Edwards Deming's career, he started using the word "study" instead of "check"

Plan Identify problems, goals, metrics, and plans Do Try it, experiment as soon as possible, and ideally on a small scale Check / Study Study, Analyze, and Reflect on results This is by far the most important (yet most likely to be skipped) part of the cycle Act Either standardize to Anchor the change, or Adjust to respond to a failed experiment in a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement

There are 2 layers of PDCA cycles: 1) Strategic (or macro) * Strategic Planning * Policy Deployment * Value Stream Mapping 2) Tactical (or micro) * The A3 Problem Solving Method * Kaizen Events * Project Management * Metrics-based flowcharts * Standard Work * Business Process Engineering * QFD Quality Function Deployment * Six Sigma quality improvement The PDCA Cycle is foundational to every lean six sigma tool and method

DMAIC Cycle

Define Measure Analyze Improve Control

Originating from Lean Six Sigma teachings, the DMAIC Cycle is similar to the PDCA Cycle, and is also another way of restating the scientific method.

The Scientific Method

The PDSA and DMAIC Cycles are nothing more than the lean six sigma buzzwords for the scientific method.

What do you remember from your grade school science classes?

1. Come up with a hypothesis - a theory of how something works, and how something that you might do might affect it.
2. Try an experiment - to test your theory.
3. Study, analyze, and reflect on the results.
4. Do something with your newfound knowledge:
   1. If your theory seems wrong or incomplete - come up with a new hypothesis, and a new experiment to test it
   2. If your theory seems right - apply your new knowledge, and publish your results so others can benefit.

      And then choose your next puzzle to solve - in a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement.

In the not-too-distant future, some new author or consultant will come up with some new acronyms and buzzwords to describe the scientific method. Whatever labels come and go, you can have confidence that as long as you are practicing the scientific method - you are practicing lean six sigma.

Lean Six Sigma is a Practice that requires thinking What's the difference between a scientist and a third-grade science student? They both know the definition of the scientific method... but a scientist actually practices the scientific method - with a high degree of skill - to solve endless diverse real-world problems That's your goal... to be a skilled and experienced lean six sigma practitioner... actually practicing the lean six sigma scientific methods - with a high degree of skill - to solve endless diverse real-world problems

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. " ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Lean Leadership

The role of the Change Agent

the most important factor affecting the success of any continuous improvement project

It can't be over-emphasized enough...
if you don't have the support of a competent and motivated executive-level Change Agent,
then the best you can hope for are small successes in small pockets of your organization.

Popular ways to organize your continuous improvement teams

As a lean leader or lean manager, you should be familiar with the four most common ways to organize your team efforts.

1) Lean Management Systems

Every element of every lean production system should be simultaneously implemented with a corresponding lean management system to support and sustain it.

2) Project Management

Almost every leader is familiar with a Gantt Chart and other types of Project Management tools. Too familiar perhaps... because these 1950's approaches to team organization are only appropriate for large, complex projects - like when you move facilities, or open a new location, or host a big Christmas party... For continuous process improvement, there are better approaches.

Excel Gantt Chart

3) A3 Problem Solving

The A3 Problem Solving Method should be the cornerstone of most continuous improvement programs. A3 is a simple method to systematically: Define and solve problems Teach managers how to better coach, mentor, and lead Instill lean thinking as a cultural habit

A3 Report

4) Kaizen Events

Kaizen is a Japanese word that literally means to take apart and study then make better, but has become synonymous with the term Kaizen Event, which is when a sequestered team performs an intense burst of improvement.

Kaizen Training: Getting started Templates to plan and implement a successful Kaizen Event Criteria for selecting first Kaizen Initial education & training Why job promises are essential to continuous improvement Kaizen vs. Business Process Reengineering Avoid Common Pitfalls encountered by Lean newcomers

5) Other ways of organizing continuous improvement teams

Although Lean Management Systems, A3's, and Kaizen Events should form the foundation of most continuous improvement efforts, there are also many other ways of organizing your people for continuous improvement...

• Value Stream Teams
• Chartered Six Sigma Teams
• QFD Teams
• Software Project Teams
• Strategic Planning / Policy Deployment Teams

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Lean Methods:
Steps to Reduce or Eliminate Waste

There are several routes to the top of any mountain Some of our customers have asked us to create a "roadmap for a lean journey", and this web page is our attempt to describe a "typical" lean journey. Any seasoned lean sensei will adjust the details of the sequence and tools and methods based upon the unique conditions and objectives of each unique situation. But the other truth is that most situations aren't near as unique as they initially appear. These suggested steps, tools, and methods will provide a pretty valuable starting point for MOST lean journeys. We hope you enjoy your sojourn

Step 1) Organize the Workplace

Organizing the workplace is what 5S is all about.

Most lean journeys start with 5S housekeeping.

Workplace organization isn't just about cleanliness and tidiness
(although those are nice benefits).

The number one most important payoff of 5S housekeeping is that problems are revealed;
problems that used to be hidden by sloppy messes.

Old-school organizations have a culture of hiding problems;
lean organizations create a culture of solving problems.

And before any problem can be solved,
the problem needs to be revealed,
honestly, completely, and with a focus on solving - not blaming.

Step 2) Arrange everything to "flow"

Value Stream Mapping

Most teams are introduced to value stream mapping as a tool for creating flow.

Flow of inventory or "the thing being processed,
and flow of the information needed to process it.

Every value stream can be divided into several value stream segments -

each with its own value stream map.

Each value stream map is primarily focused on the flow of the thing being processed.

As long as the thing doesn't stop flowing - the value stream map shows only a single Process Box.

Each Process Boxcan conceal surprisingly complex sub-processes.
(and might therefore contain links to drill down to more detailed flowcharts, standard work charts, spaghetti maps, standard procedures, job instructions, etc.)

It is only when the thing stops flowing that the value stream map will depict the break in the flow with a symbol for inventory, or some means of dealing with the interuption to flow - such as a supermarket, or a FIFO lane, or a kanban, etc.

For lots of free training for value stream mapping, refer to our free online value stream mapping training web page - and the Help worksheet within the Value Stream Mapping Power Tool - which you can receive as a free gift when you attend a free live webinar.

 

Some key enablers of lean flow

see Lean ppt for full list

Types of production environments that embrace Lean flow

Flow requires (& produces) higher quality than batch & queue

Dedicated Product Teams

What if our demand isn't level?

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Step 3) Standardize Work

Standard Work is the single most important step of your entire lean journey

When lean newcomers start their first 5S initiatives, everyone gets real excited to see the quick and obvious results from the first 3 easy steps: Sort, Straighten, Sweep 'n Shine.

It's the 4th and 5th S's that determine whether your group will succeed with a true culture change,
or whether 5S will prove to be just another distant memory of yet another failed "flavor of the month" management initiative.

When you audit the people doing the actual work in real-time, real-world, real-life...

• Are they actually doing things the way that they were trained?
• Or are they backsliding into old habits, or inventing their own ways of doing things?

Standard work is the ONLY way to ratchet your gains -
rather than constantly backsliding.

The heart of Systems2win's product line consists of Word and Excel templates to standardize work, document it, train people to do it the new way, and then audit to ensure that they are actually doing it the way you think they are doing it.

Some of the lean templates for standard work

• Job Instructions
• Standard Work Combination Sheet
• Standard Operating Procedure template
• Cross Training Matrix
• Layout Diagram Spaghetti Map
• Swim Lane Cross Functional Flowchart (that does lean calculations)
• A3 Stick Figure Illustrator
• TWI Training Within Industry tools, including a Job Breakdown Sheet,
  and a full suite of lean training tools
• A full suite of lean tools, including Results Metrics Gap Analysis, 5S Checklist, Standard Work Audit, and more

Our philosophy is to provide you with a wide choice of standard work templates -

so that you can select the one (or ones) that you find easiest to document and improve the diverse types of processes that you are likely to encounter along the path of your lean journey.

You might start out documenting highly repetitive shop processes on your shop floor,
and then eventually find yourself documenting much more complex and lengthy processes that cross departmental boundaries - which require very different approaches to standard work.
(think sales order processing, hospital triage, engineering change orders, and any other complex process)

If you are aspiring to be a master journeyman lean practitioner,
then you are going to want your toolbox stocked with a full assortment of power tools
to make easy work of ANY process that you eventually need to standardize.

That's why Systems2win exists...
to continuously improve your tools for continuous improvement.

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Step 4) Make Small Batches

When it comes to making small batches, the first thing that comes to most people's minds is -

SMED - Single Minute Exchange of Dies

also known as Quick Change Over  (especially in industries that don't have dies)

 

But steps 4 and 5 on your lean journey are also when Six Sigma becomes interesting. Why?

Because...

• You can't make small batches unless you have high quality.
• You can't produce just in time only what the customer demands unless you have high quality.

 

Watch our Kaizen Lean Training PowerPoint -

and pay close attention to the alligators that appear when you drain the swamp of protective inventories.

That's what lean six sigma quality improvement is about... dealing with those alligators.

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Step 5) Introduce pull systems
to make only what the customer demands

Despite what old-school accountants might tell you...

• Your goal is NOT to maximize output.
• Your goal is to maximize throughtput (goods purchased by a customer)
  

 

More than any other step on the lean journey, this is where you are most likely to hear the old cop-out refrain...

"But we're different."

This is where sincere practitioners of lean sciences are separated from third-grade science students.

There are many special techniques for leveling demand in many diverse low volume / high mix environments, including lean healthcare, and lean office environments,

and if after studying all of known field-proven methods for aggregating and leveling demand,
you find that your business truly is different,
that is when it is instructive to remember that none of those now-common methods existed
when Toyota began its lean journey.

They systematically applied the PDCA scientific method to come up with new and creative countermeasures for each unique puzzle that surfaced...

and so can you.

 

The road to lean maturity goes something like this...

1. Study how others have solved problems similar to the ones you are facing now
2. Select the most promising tools and methods, and use the PDCA scientific method to experiment with applying them to your situation
3. If you can't find a perfect fit from the palette of existing tools and methods -
   then personalize them.

   (This is another moment when you will find yourself truly grateful that you chose Word and Excel templates that are intentionally designed to be easy to personalize.)

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Step 6) Never stop continuous improvement

By definition, continuous improvement is continuous.

A lean journey always has a next step and never has an end.

That's why a sincere practitioner of the lean six sigma scientific methods
appreciates a full suite of tools that he or she will never outgrow.

Free trial - Excel templates for continuous process improvement

 

Excel templates
for Kaizen and Lean Implementation

All of the lean training in this web site is best understood when using
the Systems2win fill-in-the-blanks templates for Lean process improvement

 

Excel templates for Kaizen and Lean Implementation

Suggested Reading and Resources for additional Learning

Throughout this web site, you will find many training videos, and many links to suggested readings and resources for additional learning.

Here are links to videos and suggested readings for some of the most popular topics:

• Lean Leadership
• 5S Workplace Organization
• Value Stream Mapping - Readings - Videos
• Standard Work - Readings - Videos
• Kaizen - Readings - Videos
• Six Sigma - Readings - Videos