Mobilizing Kaizen Champions
Successful performance improvement programs integrate know-how, empowerment and execution to achieve explosive financial results. The spark that ignites these combined elements is called a Kaizen event.
Kaizen literally means continuous improvement. It has become synonymous with a rapid, high intensity, team-based effort to make quick changes in a focused area of the business - whether on the shop floor, in administrative processes or in product design. This burst of improvement, when properly focused and maintained, creates faster financial results than typical improvement approaches. For this reason, it is a key enabler for successful corporate level improvement programs such as Six Sigma, Lean and Lean Six Sigma.
What you can expect from Kaizens:
- 50 - 70% Reduction in Setup Times
- 20 - 30% Productivity Improvements
- 50% Improvement in Machine Uptime
- 50% Reductions in WIP
- Drastically Reduced Defect Rates
- Resolution of Ergonomic Issues
- Reduced Cycle Times
- A Culture Shift to Continuous Improvement
- 10:1 result to investment payback
- Average event results of $100K savings
Setup Reduction Kaizen
Setup Reduction Kaizen events concentrate on reducing the overall setup time for a family of parts or work centers. Participants learn to apply a disciplined four-step method to attack each source of waste in the entire setup to achieve dramatic reductions in overall setup time. Typical follow-on activities include batch size reduction efforts (and the associated WIP inventory and manufacturing cycle time improvements) that are allowed by the capacity freed-up during the workshop.
Typical results
- 25-80% reduction in setup times
- 25-80% reduction in batch sizes and/or additional capacity
- Typical setup times are reduced 50-70%, which has freed up capacity for batch size reductions and/or additional throughput.
- Reductions in setup time have allowed the same percentage reductions in batch sizes, and have reduced overtime.
- In addition, typical setup reduction workshops lead to reduced quality costs due to smaller batch sizes.
Defect Prevention Kaizen
Defect prevention at the bottleneck operation is critical for success because scrap and rework have a non-linear impact on cycle time and throughput in the process. This is because scrap/rework at the bottleneck consumes production time as well as capacity. In batch processes, a 10% increase in scrap can increase batch size requirements by as much as 50%! For these reasons, defect prevention Kaizens can have very dramatic impacts on the process and profitability. Participants learn to apply mistake-proofing techniques such as poka-yoke, design for manufacture, source inspection, and adaptive control.
Typical results
- DPMO reduced or eliminated through the implementation of poka-yoke devices
- Non-linear improvement in batch sizes and associated cycle time
- Improved customer satisfaction through higher shipped product quality
Process Flow Improvement Kaizen
Process flow improvement can be applied to all processes within a company, including business processes such as order entry, customer service, warranty claims, etc. A process flow improvement Kaizen strives to understand the current complexity of the flow of parts/product/paperwork through a process and how to dramatically simplify the travel time, distance, and path. Workshop participants learn how to measure and analyze processes through Value Stream Mapping, then apply techniques to provide balanced work content, implement work cells, and streamline process flow. Visual control tools such as takt boards are used to control and sustain the improvements.
Typical results
- Defects reduced over 50%
- Process cycle efficiency increased by 50%
- Overtime reduced by 80%
- Direct and indirect productivity increased by over 20%
- Employee morale greatly improved
- Overall customer satisfaction improved due to a higher on-time delivery and order quality rates.
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) Kaizen
OEE Kaizens focus on improving overall "up time" on bottleneck workstations and equipment. OEE Kaizen efforts teach process participants how to analyze and improve OEE components using root cause analysis, fishbone diagrams, pareto charts, cause and effect matrices, and other data-driven tools. Operator movements are mapped from setup to process to teardown and all wasted movements and steps are eliminated. OEE Kaizen workshops can also include 5-S and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) efforts to organize and maintain the workspace and reduce startup, breakdown, material and scheduling losses.
Typical results
- Uptime improvements of 50% or more
- 70% reduction in wasted part travel
- 50% reduction in product cycle time
- 35% reduction in set-up times
- $110K average projected cost savings
- 5-S efforts lead to a cleaner, more organized, more efficient workspace which dramatically improves operator productive time
Product Cost Reduction Kaizen
In industrial businesses, the biggest levers on the income statement are revenue and direct material. We have developed a Kaizen methodology to attack a product's material and labor costs while improving a product's performance and quality to better satisfy customer needs. While these events typically require a greater amount of follow-up to realize benefits, the results are often many factors higher than other Kaizens.
This 3-day workshop employs effective techniques in a cross-functional team setting, such as Requirements Definition, Value Analysis/Value Engineering, Design for Assembly, and Design for Manufacture.
Typical results - The workshop has yielded outstanding results in many different industries:
- Product cost reduced by 5-30%
- Increased innovation
- Improved product reliability
- Improved product manufacturability
- Increased customer satisfaction
Kanban/Pull System Kaizen
Kanban Kaizens are focused on making rapid improvements in both process cycle time and on-time delivery. Results are realized through the implementation of generic pull systems to control manufacturing cycle times and/or the elimination of part shortages via replenishment pull systems. These kanban systems rely on highly visual factory control tools which are both easy to understand and operate, allowing shop floor employees to quickly take ownership of and maintain/update the systems.
Typical results
- 20% improvement in direct and indirect labor productivity
- Elimination of part shortages.
- 50-70% reduction in cycle time
- 50-70% reduction in WIP inventory
Diagnostic Kaizen
A Diagnostic Kaizen analyzes a process, cell or manufacturing line using Supply Chain Accelerator? (SCA) software. Interfacing with your legacy or ERP systems, SCA downloads the necessary data such as part information, bill of materials, routers, and workstation data. SCA then develops a process model, analyzes where the constraint is, and performs "what if" analyses to determine which type of improvement will have the biggest impact - Setup Reduction, Defect Prevention, and Total Productive Maintenance. In addition, SCA will calculate the optimal batch sizes to meet customer demand. Thus, not only is the right problem attacked, but the right tool is used!
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