KAIZEN is the Japanese word for

gradual, unending improvement, doing

little things better; setting and
achieving- ever higher standards.
 The discipline of focusing on “Never Ending
Improvement” as a way of life through…
• identifying improvement opportunities
• Identifying improvement actions
• Implementing improvement actions
• Measuring effectiveness
• Identifying further improvement opportunities
 Without KAIZEN
Standard once set, deteriorates over time,
unless effectively maintained.

Standard is set and then continues

Improvement are made, always raising the standard. (never ending improvement)

With KAIZEN
• Identify improvement opportunities
• Priorities improvement opportunities
• Describe current situations
• Cause and effect analysis
• Identify improvement actions
• Verify improvement actions
• Implement improvement actions
• Measure effectiveness
• Kaizen presentation
• Standardization
• Identify further improvement opportunities
IDENTIFY IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

There are three ways of

identifying
improvement
opportunities
1. Brainstorming
2. Tenken
3. SPC/ Charting
BRAINSTORMING
There are rules for Brainstorming
1. Everyone, in rotation, has a
turn.
2. If no idea, just say “PASS”
3. Write all ideas down
4. No criticism/evaluation
allowed
5. Only one idea per turn
6. Strive for quantity, not quality
7. Encourage exaggerations
8. end when all ideas are
exgausted
When brainstorming for
ideas to work on,
remember they must be
issues in your work
area, where you are the
experts.
IDENTIFY IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

TENKEN
• One off the best ways of Identifying
opportunities for improvement is by
direct observation. (TENKEN)
• The Tenken Check Sheet Identifies the
important points to be observed and
noted.
• IMPORTANT, when doing a Tenken,
explain to the operator the reason and
get the operators support.
• From the observation noted and from
the comments of the operator, areas for
improvement can be identified.
• These should be highlighted on the
Tenken Check Sheet.
 SPC/ CHARTING
• SPC (Statistical Process Control/
Charting ( Graphs, diagrams
etc.) are an ideal means for
identifying areas requiring
improvement.
• Where the process is out of
control, or beyond the
tolerances set, actions should
be taken to first stabilise the
process.
• Once stabilised, improvement
opportunities can be identified
to reduce the tolerances and
improve the standard.
PRIORITISE IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
CONSIDERATIONS WHEN
SELECTING AN
OPPORTUNITY
• Can it be improved within
the means available to the
team?
• If the problem is too big
then it needs to be referred
to Management for them
to address.
• Do all Team members agree
It’s an improvement
opportunity they want to
work on?
• Agreement is vital if the
Team is to work effectively
on the improvement.
• Will it require other people
and resources etc. to
action?
• These people need to be
involved, for example;
1. Facilities
2. Maintenance
3. Industrial engineering
4. Etc.
 PRIORITISE IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

CONSIDERATIONS WHEN SELECTING AN

OPPORTUNITY
• Can it be improved within the means available to
the team?
• If the problem is too big then it needs to be
referred to Management for them to address.
• Do all team members agree its an improvement
opportunity they want to work on?

• Agreement is vital if the team is to work

effectively on the improvement
• Will it requires other people and resources etc. to
action?

• These people need to be involved for example;

1. Facilities
2. Maintenance
3. Industrial Engineering
4. etc.
 Priorities Improvement Opportunities

• If you have identified a number of improvement

opportunities you should rank them in an order to
work on.
 VOTING TO PRIORITISE OPPORTUNITIES

Voting is one of method of selecting which issues to work

on first.
There are 5 rules for voting
1. Members vote for as many ideas as they wish
2. Votes are recorded next to each idea
3. Vote on each idea, don’t vote against it
4. When no vote is received, draw a line through the
idea
5. Rank the ideas voted on in order of priority.
 THE PRIORITY WORKSHEET
• The priority worksheet is another tool for
prioritizing the issues identified.
 PRIORITISE IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

PRIORITY
IMPROVEMENT IMPORTANCE RESOURCES AUTHORITY
OPPORTUNITIES NEEDED
5- Important 5- Modest 5- Leader
4- 4- 4-
3- Some Concern 3-Considerable 3- Area manager
2- 2- 2-
1- Little concern 1- Large Amount 1- Exec. Director
 PRIORITISE IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

WORKSHEET
COMPLEXITY TIME TO RESULTS OTHER TOTAL
IMPLEMENT
5- NOT COMPLEX 5- MONTH OR 5- MEASURABLE 5- TOTAL OF
4- LESS 4- RATINGS
4-
3- MODEST 4- 3- SSOME
3-
2- 3- THREE MOS. INDICATORS
2- 2- 2-
1-VERY COMPLEX
1-SIX MONTHS 1-INTANGIBLE 1-
DESCRIBE CURRENT SITUATION

DATA COLLECTION
• having the selected the issue on which
work you now need to measure the current
situation. You need to learn the facts

• Look at the improvement opportunity you

have selected and identify WHAT additional
information needs to be collected. This you
can do by BRAINSTORMING and VOTING.
• Having identified the information to
be collected it is necessary to
identify the following;
WHO Is going to collect WHAT?
WHERE can it be collected?
WHEN Is it to be collected?
HOW Is it to be collected?
 DATA COLLECTION

• There are a number of formats which can help shorten

the time to collect data and make data collection easier.
For example:

Check Sheets (TENKEN)

Checklists
Graphs and Charts
Drawings and
Time and Distance Study
DESCRIBE CURRENT SITUATION

• An example of a check sheet is

Tenken where an operation is
observed and the findings for
each selection noted. Another
example is the Safety Book.
• An example of a drawing is a plan
or engineering drawing on which
the location of defects are marked,
such as this drawing showing
dents.
• An example of a checklist
is the grocery list with
which we are all familiar.
Another example is a
work- order sheet.
• An example of a time and distance study is this plan of
an operation showing time taken and distance walked
to perform a task.
• WHY collect data? Only by
collecting the facts will you be
able to highlight and quantify
the success of your
improvement actions
 DESCRIBE CURRENT SITUATIONS

GRAPHS AND CHARTS

• Having collected the
necessary data you can now
begin to analyze it so as to
clearly define the situation
and highlight its effects.
•To help in analyzing the
situation you should
prepare graphs and charts
with the information
collected.
 PIE CHART HISTOGRAM

DRAWING OR PLAN PARETO CHART

• Photographs should also be taken to show the before
situation. It has been said that one picture equals a thousand
words and can clearly show the situations.

• These all aid in the analyzing of the concern. The situation can
then be defined in terms of; WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and its
EFFECTS.

• In the KAIZEN Presentation you will use these graphs, charts

etc. to describe both the before situation and highlight the
changes made.
CAUSE AND EFFECT ANALYSIS

IDENTIFYING CAUSE FOR THE

SITUATION
• Having clearly defined the
current situation you now
need to find the possible
causes. Only once you
know the cause will you be
able to improve the
situation.
•Here again you can use the technique ogf BRAINSTORMING so as to get ideas from
the team, and by using the FISH-BINE diagram clearly focus your ideas on the
problem.

•The EFFECT as you have defined it, is written in the box on the right. All possible
causes are written to the left. Often the major headings MATERIAL, METHODS,
MACHINERY and MANPOWER are added to guide our thoughts.
•The EFFECT as you have defined it, is written in the box on the
right. All possible causes are written to the left. Often the major
headings MATERIAL, METHODS, MACHINERY and MANPOWER are
added to guide our thoughts.
CAUSE AND EFFECT

• When Brainstorming the

member indicates under which
heading he or she would like
their idea placed.
• After brainstorming the team
vote on the causes identified,
following the rules of voting so
as to prioritize the causes.
• The causes should then be
where possible verified so as to
avoid spending time and money
unnecessarily.
 IDENTIFY IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS

• Having identified the cause/s of your

problem you can now start looking at
improvement actions.
• First, identify a number of improvement
actions for each cause identified.
Brainstorming can be use here with
members giving their ideas to address
each cause. Remember, look at both long
and short term solutions.
Having identified a number of solutions you now
vote so as to identify the best solution or solutions to
the problem.
After voting you will be left with one, and maybe
more actions. It is important now to verify, where
possible, each action before spending time and money
on what may be unworkable solutions.
IMPLEMENT IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS

• Having identified your improvement actions you

can now move to the next step, that of action
planning.
• The action plan details the implementation
steps for your improvement actions in terms of:
WHAT is going to be done?

WHO is going to do it?

WHERE will it be done?
WHEN will it be done?
HOW will it be done?
• If your improvement actions;
• Will affect other people/services involve other
people/departments
• Then you will need to get them involved and get their
assistance and commitment.
• You may now implement your improvement actions.
REMEMBER
• keep management and supervision informed of your
actions and your progress.
 IMPLEMENT IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS

ACTIONS
IMPROVEMENT RESPONSIBILITY LOCATION (WHERE)
ACTIONS (what)
 IMPLEMENT IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS

PLAN
IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE (WHEN) COMPLETED
METHOD
 MEASURE EFFECTIVNESS

• When implementing your improvement actions you should, as a

team, follow the action plan you have prepared
• It is important to keep a record as to what and when you do it. Any
cists involved should be recorded for use in your presentation.
• After the implementation, the results should be measured to ensure
that all improvement has taken place.
• It is important to use the same data collection formats and to take
the same measurements as you did before implementation.
• By using the same graphs,
charts and drawings as when
describing the before
situation, the improvement
can be clearly highlighted.

• Photographs are a valuable

tool for showing the before
and after effects, especially
where improvements are
made in facilities etc.
• REMEMBER: measurements
should be in terms of: TIME,
MONEY, MANPOWER,
MATERIALS, DISTANCES,
QUALITY, VOLUME and, SAFETY.
• Ensure your facts are verified
(checked) by the relevant
people. This will add impact in
your presentation.
 IMPLEMENT IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS

ACTION
Improvement Actions Responsibility Location
 IMPLEMENT IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS

PLAN
IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE ( WHEN ) COMPLETED ( WHEN )
METHOD
 THE KAIZEN PRESENTATION

• The Kaizen presentation provides you an

opportunity to show senior management the
project you have been working on.
• The presentation provides for face-to-face
interaction about the issue addressed, the effects,
the actions identified and implemented, and the
success of the team in terms of improvement
made.
• Remember to use the graphs, charts and
drawings you have prepared, these add emphasis
and can clearly put your point across
• Follow a logical sequence in your presentation, i.e., the Kaizen process, and get all
team members to participate in the presentation.

• Remember, talk the audiences language, speak in terms of;

Reduction in:
COST
MATERIAL
MANPOWER
TIME
DISTANCE
Improvements in:
QUALITY
PRODUCTIVITY
SAFETY
 KAIZEN PRESENTATION WORKSHEET

1. INTRODUCTION • REMEMBER
– Introduce your team and
its members
– Identify your work area
and its location
– State your teams Aims
and Objectives
– Tell them what you are
going to tell them
 KAIZEN PRESENTATION WORKSHEET

2. IMPROVEMENT • REMEMBER
TACKLED – Show how you identified
the opportunities for
improvement
– State why you selected to
address this issue
 KAIZEN PRESENTATION WORKSHEET

• DESCRIBE SITUATION • REMEMBER

– Present your facts of the
situation before taking
action
– Show why its important
to improve the situation
– Use evidence and
examples to stress your
case
– Use graphs, charts and
photographs to illustrate
 KAIZEN PRESENTATION WORKSHEET

• SHOW CAUSES • REMEMBER

– Describe how you
identified causes of the
situation
– Show how you have used
the cause and effect chart
– Show, where possible,
how you verified these
causes
 KAIZEN PRESENTATION WORKSHEET

• IMPROVEMENT ACTIONS • REMEMBER

– Show how you identified
the improvement actions
– Describe briefly each
action identified
– Describe how you verified
any of the improvement
actions
– State if you used any
resources outside of the
team
 KAIZEN PRESENTATION WORKSHEET

• IMPLEMENTATION
• REMEMBER
– Describe how you
implemented the
improvement actions.
– Remember to mention
and thank those people
who provided assistance.
– Highlight the successes
and problems you had.
 KAIZEN PRESENTATION WORKSHEET

• PRESENT
• REMEMBER
IMPROVEMENTS
– Present your facts show the
effect of the actions taken
– Be sure to illustrate the facts
with graphs, charts etc.
– Show the benefits on terms
of impact on Time, Costs,
Quality, Manpower,
Materials, Distances,
Productivity, Safety etc.
 KAIZEN PRESENTATION WORKSHEET

• CONCLUSION • REMEMBER
– Summarize your project using
the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle
– Present verification of the facts
presented
– State, where possible, the next
issue to be addressed
– Thank the and others involved
and thank the management
STANDARDISATION
• On verifying that the improvement
actions have the desired effect,
that is improved quality, safety,
productivity, reduced costs,
materials, distances etc., then the
actions need to be standardized.
• STANDARDISE; the actions are
made part of the everyday process,
is the change becomes the new
standard
• This new standard should be
communicated and shared with
other sections/areas as part of the
Working Together Process.
 IDENTIFY FURTHER
IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

KAIZEN is Never Ending Improvement

 KAIZEN
Continuous Improvement in all aspects of our
business is essential for our survival.

THE KEY TO OUR FUTURE

SUCCESS