The Power of Kaizen
Lean Nation, Today I want to talk about kaizen. Kaizen is actually two words: Kai = change, and Zen = for the better. Taken together kaizen is change for the better. In the spirit of continuous improvement, organizations use a kaizen event to deliver meaningful team-based change. The DNA of a kaizen event is to apply an entire cycle of the scientific method in a compressed time. A kaizen event is traditionally a 4.5 consecutive day endeavor. Of note is some organizations run 4-5 teams in the same kaizen event so there is a small distinction between kaizen events and kaizen teams. The investment in personnel time and leadership time to complete a kaizen is not insignificant. The amount of time, however, is not as critical as being able to complete the entire change process in rapid succession. How large or small you scope your actual improvement will generally lead to a 3–5-day level of effort for a kaizen event. Great