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Kaikaku is revolutionary change. Where kaizen is generally evolutionary in nature, Kaikaku requires radical shifts in thinking. Revolutionary changes tend to be far more challenging in nature and much less common than incremental improvement. Because of the broad, sweeping changes that kaikaku brings, it is generally driven by higher level Read more…
Kaizen is a Japanese word that roughly translates to “change for the good”. Many people equate this to putting together a team of people from several work areas to do a week-long project to reduce waste or improve a process’s flow. These projects may be called a kaizen blitz, a Read more…
The Kaizen Audit Form is one of the sustaining tools used to lock kaizen gains in place. It is very easy to backslide after a project when there is no process in place to keep people from reverting to old methods of work. Get Our Kaizen Audit Form for FREE Read more…
A kaizen charter is a form that lays out the scope and goals of a rapid improvement project. Get Our Kaizen Charter Form for FREE The kaizen charter is a living document that evolves throughout the planning process. It establishes the team, and scopes the project, setting the goals and Read more…
The kaizen checklist is a tool used to avoid mistakes when conducting a kaizen event (a.k.a. kaizen blitz, rapid improvement workshop, etc.) A good kaizen checklist covers the planning, the actual event, and the follow-up work. It assigns specific people to tasks and gives deadlines for each action. Get Our Read more…
A kaizen event is a discrete continuous improvement project with a defined start and end point, usually done in a single week. A typical kaizen event consists of a day of training, a day of process walking and analyzing the information gathered, followed by two days of improvement activity. The Read more…
Kaizen kits are packages of tools and supplies that support continuous improvement activities. The purpose of the kit is to streamline the kaizen process by having necessary tools and supplies gathered in advance. The kit has another benefit. It can inspire creativity. When you put materials in front of people, Read more…
The Kaizen Newspaper is a tool for both managing workload during a kaizen event, and for keeping track of the follow-up activities. Get Our Kaizen Newspaper Form for FREE During the event, I recommend posting a version of this form up on a flipchart (in marker), or at least tape Read more…
On our Kaizen Charter, we devote quite a bit of space at the top of the form to the problem statement. This should be a good indicator as to the importance we place on it. A good kaizen problem statement serves two main purposes. The first is that it creates Read more…
A kanban is a signal that gives an instruction to get, move, produce, order, or take some other activity with production materials. Its literal translation from the original Japanese term, though, is “signboard” or “billboard”. Kanbans tell you when to order, what to order, how much to order, and where Read more…
A kanban card is small card containing information about a specific part used in production. It is a signal that tells someone upstream to move, purchase, or build more of a component for production. These cards must contain the number of units (items, pounds, kits, etc.) that need action. They Read more…
KPI stands for key performance indicator. KPIs are the specific, quantifiable measures by which an organization evaluates its success. KPIs come from two main sources. The first is that they can cascade down from policy deployment and are linked to an improvement target. In that situation, a key performance indicator Read more…
Kitting is a method used to standardize production processes. Sets of parts are consolidated and delivered to a work area as a unit. The kit contains the precise number of parts or amount of material to produce a set number of products. The benefit is that there is less real Read more…
Knowledge is the body of facts and information surrounding a specific topic. That topic can be about processes, company policies, knowing who to speak with to get things done, or general skills. In fact, it can be about practically anything. Knowledge has the trait of specificity. That just means that Read more…
Knowledge management is the system of maintaining the collective wisdom of an organization. This wisdom comes in a variety of forms, including proprietary product information, processes, insight about customers, and continuous improvement methodology. While some knowledge is confidential, much of what a company manages is widely known. The purpose of Read more…
The KPI bowler gets its name from its resemblance to a bowling score sheet. Learn About the KPI Bowler in our Managing With Metrics Video The form is used to track progress towards meeting key performance indicators. When the results are below the target, the block should be highlighted in Read more…