A shorten definition for Kaizen is continuous improvement and the Kaizen Event is a short-term team based activity that focuses on a localized continuous improvement effort. The team is very often a cross-functional team that will be brought together for a short period of time, typically 2 to 5 days. A Kaizen event can be very rewarding, many times just for the simple fact of bringing urgency and focus to a particular problem.
The Kaizen event can be a very useful tool for getting a problem unstuck. Very similar to the GE Workout approach, that was so successful in the 1980’s. Do you happen to remember the term FACE? FACE was an acronym that stood for four key phases of the process cycle:
Focus and Selection
Analysis and Understanding
Change and Improvement
Evaluation and Implementation
Sounds like a Kaizen Event?
Taken from the GE Workout Program, they said:
“Each phase of this model contained specific steps and information to help you through a full process improvement cycle. Of course, the model is not a rigorous structure and you can adapt the FACE model to suit your own improvement needs and organizational requirements.
You may also discover that certain steps in the process cycle may be bypassed. For example, if you already know the process that you need to focus on and improve, you may spend less time in the F step (Focus and Selection) and quickly move on to the steps in the Analysis and Understanding phase (A). As you move through the model, you will also discover that some of the major steps and/or activities seem to overlap. There may be times when you have to retrace your steps back to square one. For example, you could be in the middle of documenting a process and learn that you need to go back and redefine your customer’s requirements and needs before going back to the Analysis and Understanding phase. This is true of any methodology because process improvement is an iterative process that continually moves back and forth as you progress through the process improvement cycle.
As Jack Welch began to recognize that employees were an important source of brainpower for new and creative ideas, he wanted to create an environment that pushes towards “a relentless, endless companywide search for a better way to do everything we do.” The Work-Out program was a way to reduce bureaucracy and give every employee, from managers to factory workers, an opportunity to influence and improve GE’s day-to-day operations.
Ultimately, the goal of the Work-Out program was to “clean up” GE, to make workers more productive and processes simpler and more clear-cut. “Work-Out was also designed to reduce, and ultimately eliminate all of the waste hours and energy that organizations like GE typically expend in performing day-to-day operations.”
Sounds like a Kaizen Event?
What I like about the GE Workout is that it not only was used for problem solving but used for growth strategies. They had/have 5 key components:
Focus on stretch
Develop a Systems thinking mentality
Encourage Lateral thinking
Create empowerment and accountability
Inject rapid-cycle change and fast decision making
Sounds like a Kaizen Event?
I really enjoy the GE description of the three-phases of Work-out dialogue:
Sounds like a Kaizen Event?
The Workout sounds very much like a Kaizen Event and the PDCA cycle that is used as a guideline for the event. In a podcast that I had with Mike Osterling, the co-author of The Kaizen Event Planner: Achieving Rapid Improvement in Office, Service and Technical Environments
However, if you are looking to expand your knowledge and most specifically how to fuel growth strategies within a Kaizen event, I highly recommend The GE Work-Out : How to Implement GE’s Revolutionary Method…
Do you remember the term Boundarylass? Does that sound Like a Kaizen Event?
Related Posts: Kaizen Search on Blog