| p>Great Lean Six Sigma practitioners and change | | | | hardship, they will not want to participate. |
| agents know the same thing a carpenter does. | | | | In the modern world, families with two working |
| You have to use the right tool for the right job. | | | | parents or single parents are commonplace. It can |
| When building cabinets, a woodworker relies on | | | | be challenging for either to make the commitment |
| tools OTHER than his hammer. One Lean tool that | | | | to put in long hours. Other employees might avoid |
| is OFTEN overused is the week long kaizen. | | | | teams because they have personal commitments |
| For many people the Lean term, kaizen, has | | | | like evening classes, coaching baseball teams, or |
| become synonymous with five day improvement | | | | the like. Some workers will just not want to stay |
| event. These projects may also be known as | | | | late. Even those that don't mind staying late on |
| Kaizen Blitzes, Rapid Improvement Workshops, or | | | | occasion will get tired of it after having to do |
| something similar. | | | | several projects in a four or five month period. |
| Common sense dictates that there will also be | | | | So, the strategy of only using week-long projects |
| some projects that need more than a week to | | | | creates a division in a company of haves and |
| resolve, and some that need less. In fact, the | | | | have-nots. Those that have participated in kaizen |
| term kaizen doesn't just refer to week-long | | | | weeks and everyone else. This division doesn't |
| projects.It also means the practice of just making | | | | take into account whether or not the worker |
| an on the spot improvement. Perhaps a work | | | | supports Lean enterprise efforts. An employee |
| area is chronically messy. Simply marking a | | | | with schedule conflicts may be lumped together |
| location and placing a trash can in the area is | | | | with workers who have been avoiding project |
| kaizen. | | | | weeks because they are resisting change. All of |
| Week-long Kaizen events create big gains for a | | | | this can create conflict between workers and |
| company. They also are outstanding educational | | | | between employees and managers-making Lean |
| tools. Employees meet people who can help with | | | | harder than it needs to be. |
| later improvement efforts such as tooling people, | | | | A better way is to approach kaizen weeks is to |
| programmers, maintenance workers, and the like. | | | | use them as one facet of a broad continuous |
| Kaizen weeks play an important role in process | | | | improvement effort. If you shift your focus to |
| improvement, but when a company ignores other | | | | daily improvements instead, two things happen. |
| methods, and only uses week long kaizens, the | | | | First, if an improvement affects the team on a |
| importance of these projects to Lean success | | | | personal level, more employees will be motivated |
| becomes exaggerated. As a result, the project | | | | to get involved. Involvement leads to |
| sponsor, or Lean champion, tends to push for | | | | commitment. Commitment increases the success |
| huge gains. These expectations greatly exceed | | | | of your Lean efforts. Second, company leadership |
| what can be done in a 40 hour work week, often | | | | won't feel the same degree of pressure on every |
| leading to long nights. | | | | project, so the chance of an improvement |
| Is there anything wrong with working late like | | | | workshop week running until all hours becomes |
| that? For some people, the answer is no. When a | | | | more of an exception rather than a rule. |
| project is clicking, and you are moving machines | | | | Reach for daily improvements first in your Lean |
| around late at night, the time flies by. For other | | | | tool box to maximize the success of your Lean |
| people, though, it can be a problem. | | | | efforts. |
| If the people in a company equate kaizen to a | | | | |