LEAN MANUFACTURING-

KAIZENPRESENTED BY-Antara PaulShreeti MishraSuman Kumar

KAIZEN

Japanese term for “continuous improvement”

Philosophy that advocates continually improving products, processes and activities

of a business to effectively meet the changing customer requirements

It focuses on elimination of wastes or non-value added activities throughout the

organization

DEFINITION OF KAIZEN

“A means of continuing improvement in personal life, home life, social life, and working life. At the workplace, Kaizen means continuing improvement involving everyone—managers and workers alike. The Kaizen business strategy involves everyone in an organization working together to make improvements without large capital investments”• By Masaaki Imai

“Kaizen is much more than an event; it is a philosophy, mindset and, for breakthrough performance, a most critical vehicle to achieve strategic imperatives and execute value stream/process improvement plans”• By Mark R. Hamel

KAIZEN METHODOLOGY

•Mura (Unevenness)•Muri (overburden)•Muda (waiting)

3M•Man•Machine•Material•Method

4M

• Result against strategy and vision.

• Revise actions against vision

• Methods, tools and actions.

• Actions are consistent with vision & strategy Pla

nDo

Check

Act

KAIZEN: STRATEGY

9 TYPES OF WASTE• Overproduction• Delays (waiting time)• Transportation• Process• Inventories• Motions• Defective products• Untapped resources• Misused resources

Key features of Kaizen:Improvements are based on many, small changes rather than the radical changes that might arise from Research and Development

As the ideas come from the workers themselves, they are less likely to be radically different, and therefore easier to implement

Small improvements are less likely to require major capital investment than major process changes

The ideas come from the talents of the existing workforce, as opposed to using R&D, consultants or equipment – any of which

could be very expensiveAll employees should continually be seeking ways to improve their

own performanceIt helps encourage workers to take ownership for their work, and

can help reinforce team working, thereby improving worker motivation

Successful implementation requires "the participation of workers in the improvement.

LEVELS OF KAIZEN

There are two levels of KAIZEN-

SYSTEM OR FLOW KAIZEN: Focuses on overall value stream

PROCESS KAIZEN: Focuses on individual processes and work on its improvement

KAIZEN CIRCLE

Another way of increasing levels of worker involvement is to implement circles

One group consists of 6-8 workers

It generates idea for solving practical problems

They meet for 1hour/week for 6-8 weeks and then present proposals to managers

for problem solving

KAIZEN PRINCIPLES

Getting rid of all false assumptions

Looking for ways to make it happen instead of looking for excuses

It doesn’t cost money

If something goes wrong, principle of “FIX IT NOW” should be used

KAIZEN PRINCIPLES…

Good ideas flow when the going gets tough

5WHY principle is used

Suggestions should be taken from a group rather than concentrating on single

person

KAIZEN should never be stopped

STEPS FOR KAIZEN

Organization constantly searches for non value-added activities and ways to

eliminate it

Focus is mainly on identifying the root cause of non value-added activities and

eliminating by improving methods

STEPS FOR KAIZEN… Process improvement can be achieved through four basic exercises-Process/cost centre matrix- It involves every cost centre in every process

It involves four processes-

Identifying the inputs in process and output obtained in a process

Identifying all people involved in the process

Determining the decisions that are made

Measures like time, cost, space, waste etc. should be observed appropriately

STEPS FOR KAIZEN…

Mapping the process – Flowchart of activities should be clearly depicted

Key activities and decisions should be identified and represented

Also called key process map

It includes making process dependency network diagram by incorporating cost

centres

STEPS FOR KAIZEN…Analyzing the process- Several techniques are used by organization as-

Brainstorming- It’s a group technique used to generate a free flow of ideas quickly in a group of

people

Benchmarking- Process of measuring productivity, cost and quality of product against in the same

or other industry

Hoshin Kanri- Process improvement technique that unites an organization to reach a single goal

Pareto analysis- It’s a technique for classifying problem areas according to degree of importance

and focusing on the most important ones

MINI-KAIZEN

KEY CHARACTERISTICS-

Permanent method changes

Continuous flow of small ideas

Immediate, local implementation

Quick and easy process

MINI-KAIZEN…

Sequence of events for this are as follows-

An employee identifies a problem, waste, defect or something not working and

then writes it down

Employee later develops an improvement idea and goes to immediate supervisor

Supervisor reviews it and encourages immediate action

MINI-KAIZEN…

The idea is implemented

The idea is written up on a single form in less than three minutes

Supervisor posts the form to stimulate others and recognize accomplishment

MINI-KAIZEN BENEFITS

Empowers employees

Enriches work experience and brings out the best in every person

Improves quality, safety, cost structures, environments, throughput and customer

service

KAIZEN BLITZWhat is a Kaizen Blitz?

The Kaizen Blitz (or as it is also called, Kaikaku) is a system Implemented by those looking to

create a lean manufacturing technique to reduce waste and increase productivity.

Kaizen Blitz implementation is small but constant in nature while Kaizen is meant to be a

long term.

Although a Kaizen Blitz is discussed by a relatively small group of individuals in a short

amount of time, the changes it makes the operations of a company are dramatic. 

KAIZEN BLITZIt’s a focused implementation that suits beachhead strategy

It is fast, dramatic and effective

Kaizen events can implement work cells, SMED and 5S in targeted areas within a week or less

Dangers related to Kaizen events are-

They are tactical not strategic

Require experience, knowledgeable and wise facilitators

ADVANTAGES

It focuses on all resources towards a narrow and specific objective

It forces solutions for problems

Results are generally significant, clear and quick

Generates enthusiasm and satisfaction

Typical Kaizen timeframe for work cells

STAGES OF BLITZ IMPLEMENTATION

At the beginning of lean implementation to shift paradigms and quickly

demonstrate results

When an experienced practitioner identifies a simple, independent family of

products and processes that fit the slogans

When the event is part of a well thought out manufacturing strategy

DANGERS IN BLITZ

Insufficient time for deep learning of principles, tradeoffs and design methodology

It doesn't allow time to develop important corollary elements of lean

manufacturing

It can often result in an island of productivity within a factory that, overall, is a

mess

CASE STUDIES 1. Kaizen events for Industrial heaters BACKGROUNDThe firm manufactures two types of many electric heaters which go into dishwashers, hot tubs and other consumer and industrial appliances, each differ in wattage and voltage, physical and dimensional features

Initially the plant was arranged in a functional layout which required each order to travel 60 departments which had the following issues

Normal lead time-60 daysExpedited orders required 15 days Complex schedulingGenerally ineffective

PREPARATIONProduct and process complexity required considerable analysis and preparation in advanceThe products were grouped into families with similar characteristics and enough volume to justify a workcellA separate cell prepared ceramic cores and wound them for other cells that used these cores

2. Kaizen- Blitz overdose BACKGROUNDThe company manufactured commercial and home water purifiers, some of which were simple and others complexOver the previous several years, the company had initiated over 150 Kaizen Blitz’Many of the cells and production lines seemed well designed and effectiveThey ignored team development, total quality, set-up reduction and overall layout planning

RESULTSGood productivityHigh inventoriesComplex material flows external to cellsMessy, fragmented storage areasQuality problemsPeople being frustrated with the constant pressure for instantaneous resultsLack of important fundamental changesDiminishing results from each subsequent Blitz

PREPARATIONThe executive who promoted the overuse of Blitz had recently departedA Strategos consultant conducted a 2-day seminar, Facility Design for lean manufacturing.The intent was to rationalize the macro-layoutThe managerial team also began to think through their manufacturing strategyBegan to develop the fundamental skills and knowledge that would eventually lead to a highly successful manufacturing operation

3. When Kaizen replaces Blitzing strategyBACKGROUNDA smaller but well-known aircraft manufacturing company attempted to implement lean manufacturing for their machine shop and subassembly operations, Kaizen- Blitz being their primary approachThings did not go very well in the machining cells. A very low volume and high variety product mix combined with the company’s beliefs brought the following results:RESULTSOne-piece flow with improper equipment utilization resulted into slowest operation cells that reduced effective capacityStraight-through flow precluded many parts from a particular cell, which were simply outsourced

Improper set-up reduction led to less capacity as lot-sizes were reducedCell being tied to subassemblies instead of families led to sub-optimum cells and limited the parts availability to different cellsMultiple fixtures of equipments led to severe quality problemsThe overall result was layoff, higher inventories, unprofitable cost structure, management changes and pressures from corporate masters

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