Kaizen and Kaizen Event Implementation

4. Kaizen Event Scheduling

Kaizen events require solid up-front planning to ensure that they are successful. Traditionally, it was taught that there should be no activities prior to the event. With this approach, a kaizen team would begin day one of the project with confusion and little direction. Often working 12 to 16 hours a day, the kaizen team would go through a series of trials and errors until coming up with a final layout or a handful of solutions to reduce waste. They would be exhausted and often bitter as a result of these kaizen events. I am a firm believer in and practitioner of preparation and planning for every kaizen event a company conducts. This does not mean that the answers should be provided to the team. Depending on the ...