Kaizen blitz events benefits

Numbef of job safety analyses OSAs) completed Job safety analysis exercises are minikaizen events. By targeting a number of them in a period, e.g., 20 JSA events in 2010, a company will guarantee employee engagement and improvement of the safety program. A side benefit of JSAs and safety kaizen blitz events is that the team members identify numerous safety improvements through their efforts. In our facility, those same people would submit the safety improvements for approval, based on the program described in the last section, and receive their rewards. 

The traditional kaizen blitz, used to reduce business process cycle times, has long been criticized because the improvements or gains made during kaizen events often are not sustained. To those critics I say, so what Mature Lean thinkers understand that for a business to become Lean it must impact how people think, act, and interact. This cultural or people side of Lean is the difficult row to hoe on anyone s Lean journey. When businesses hold multiple kaizen blitz events a week, they are doing so to improve business process cycle times and to win the hearts of their employees. They understand the biggest benefit of any kaizen event is not the process you improve—it is the minds you change. 

Hourly employees, those who do the real hard work for a business s customers and are the least empowered employees in any business, need to understand how Lean thinking benefits each of them individually as well as the business. Engaging your employees in kaizen blitz events that... 

As I stated earlier, the kaizen blitz Is the most powerful people engagement, cultural Impact tool In a lean thinker s tool kit. I hope this kaizen overview that resulted In safety Improvements, cycle time gains, and people growth helped you better understand the power of this tool to drive change. Now, let s look at the application of all of the theory, philosophy, and benefits of the kaizen blitz In an actual kaizen event held In a small manufacturing plant. 

---