The Birth of the Kaizen Blitz

 

Kaizen Blitz is a term used for running a one-time special event, normally one week long, to drastically make changes in a process.   Kaizen Blitz is really a Kaikaku - a radical change while Kaizen means small incremental changes.

 

            I met both Yoshiki Iwata and Chihiro Nakao in Japan at Toyota subsidiaries and brought them to America to run the first Kaizen Blitz at Jake Brake, a Danaher company in Bloomfield,Connecticut.

            We initially called it ‘Five Days and One Night,’ meaning that you would learn and work for five days and get very little sleep during the week.

 

Iwata gave the initial lecture on a Monday morning, teaching the principles of the Toyota Production System. The next day we all went into the factory in teams of around 10 people. Each team looked at one manufacturing process with the goal of rearranging the machines into manufacturing cells. We looked at the process carefully, each person taking one part of the process to study in detail. We calculated the cycle time, the time it was taking to do each job and then we determined the takt time, the time it should take to produce the product Just-In-Time. We especially looked at improving the value adding ratio and the elimination of wastes. We were also taught how to complete standard work sheets (now called Value Stream Mapping).

 
Standard work sheets precisely show all of the tasks of a job including walking, and the time necessary for each task. They also show the sequence of tasks, jigs and tools needed, and the location of stock. They are used to show both the current process and the future process with cycle times and takt times. The Standard Work sheets are used to map out the new processes to make sure that every operation will be done within takt time. Standard Work sheets detail the motion of the operator, the sequence of operations and how long it takes to do each task. It is used to determine opportunities for improvement. As we improve we revise the Standard Worksheets. 

 

On Wednesday morning we went into the plant and completely mapped out five different processes showing the cycle times and the takt times. This third day we started to plan how we would move the machines, how we would position the workers, and listed the many problems that had to be solved for the process to be run smoothly on takt time. Problems immediately rose to the surface.

 

 On Wednesday night we moved 50 machines into their five machine cells. While doing this we also listed all of the problems and potential problems that had to be addressed to have the new lines running properly. The problems would be work projects for company engineers, managers and workers to solve over the next few months. The list was long.

 

           We were intentionally creating chaos – a good thing by the way, for when you do shake up things you can bring marvelous change to a company. But people should be treated more respectfully, and told what will happen, and be assured that they will all be trained and that everyone will be able to do the job well. It would be good to tell people that the change coming is not going to lose any jobs. Unfortunately, Lean has not necessarily made manufacturing more efficient and many jobs have been lost in the US.  In Japan people were protected by lifetime employment and are therefore willing to accept change.

 

            On Thursday morning, after staying up after midnight moving the machines, all the participants began to work with the Jake Brake employees to explain how they now were going to work in their new cells. Many of the workers looked to be in a state of ‘shock,’ not knowing what was to be expected of them. The workers were not part of the teams. They really had no idea that overnight their work was going to change so radically.

 

 In reality we treated the workers like pawns. The net result would have been a much better experience for people if they were informed in advance about the changes and were also involved in the training along with their managers. Where they were used to running just one machine in the machine cell they would be expected to run many machines one after the other. Probably the biggest change for the workers, were to stand, not sit while they work.

 

For most of the engineers and managers in the workshop the most exciting aspect was the standard worksheets and rearranging the factory into work cells, but to me it was Jidoka which gave us an opportunity to look differently at the human being in the work environment.

 

 On Friday morning the five groups presented their case studies.

 

            It was a glorious event, probably, one of the most important moments of transition in American manufacturing history. The amazing thing is that it worked. The ex-Toyota managers leading the training had spent years working under Mr. Taiichi Ohno, former VP/manufacturing at 
Toyota, and Dr. Shigeo Shingo, independent consultant and the real brains behind Lean. This workshop was used effectively with Toyota and their suppliers to drive Just-In-Time (Lean) throughout their organization. 

  Of course, Jake Brake was in chaos for the next three months, late on their shipments, and all kinds of problems arose. But after those three months, the company was able to reduce inventory substantially, reduce defects, and deliver products to the customer exactly when they needed them.

 

 At the Jake Brake event we were taught a number of very powerful concepts to make lean work: Jidoka (also referred to as autonomation), adding human judgment to automated equipment, the analogy of inventory acting like a river (hiding most manufacturing problems), and the use of the standard work sheets to improve the processes by rearranging the factory primarily into work cells.

 

 In the old “smokestack” factory, where machines built enormous piles of inventory, the worker was there as an attendant to watch the machines, to load and unload materials, to make adjustments, and insure that the machines were operating efficiently. But rarely was the worker asked to think or make independent decisions to improve productivity and quality.

 The Kaizen Blitz works very effectively. Talented people form teams and analyze a process and take out the waste. Many engineers and managers know what waste is, but they are reluctant to go out and do this on their own. It was a great event.

 For your Project Kaizen Groups “The Blitz” could be a glorious event for you.

Bill Waddell at Evolving Excellence

Chuck Frey at Innovation Weblog

Hal Macomber at Reforming Project Management

Joe Ely at Learning about Lean

John Miller at  Panta Rei

Mark Graban at Lean Manufacturing Blog

 

 

 

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Comments

[Mark Graban]

Norman - I really respect you for looking back and realizing that the kaizen blitz activities would have been much more impactful with the full engagement of the production workers. It's a valuable lesson for us all. Thanks for your writing.