One of your products or services does not meet the customer requirements or remains too high in the costs. You do not know what is causing the problem and you are not able to solve the situation with the existing team. Our tip: organize a Kaizen event. During this event, you will gain an insight into the pain points in your current process in an efficient way and you will set up an improvement calendar with the colleagues involved to eliminate wastage and standardize processes. In addition, a method is set up to implement the improvement calendar, to share the acquired knowledge with each other and to stimulate a culture of continuous improvement.

Start with continuous improvement!

To streamline (production) processes and eliminate waste, Kaizen is a commonly used improvement method. The naturally Japanese method is based on improvement by continuously progressing in small steps. This often refers to the 'Kaizen culture' in which the ideas of Kaizen are institutionalized in the organization and / or in the team. An important principle of Kaizen is that there is always room for improvement. No day may, so to speak, go by without improvement. In addition, a starting point is that the Kaizen principle can be applied to everyone within the organization, from operational employee to director. This means that all layers of the organization are involved in making a first step in the 'Kaizen culture', so that the entire organization can think along and cooperate according to these principles.

One effective method to initiate the Kaizen culture with an organization or team is to organize a Kaizen event. This is an intensive session in which the Kaizen method is applied in practice to one or more processes. The focus here is on improving a specific process or solving an urgent problem. A multidisciplinary team of stakeholders from all layers of the organization meets to design and also implement improvements to a specific process or work area. This leads to quick results and a unique learning experience. For example, a problem has been tackled from head to tail in the short term, integrated, chain-wide solutions are found and various departments work together on the end result.

Sustainable results

A Kaizen event also yields a lot in the long term. This often results in more efficient cooperation between the participating departments. Because they have experienced that they can realize a shared responsibility together by understanding and solving problems together, they also find each other easier after the event. In addition, the event contributes to a culture of continuous improvement. During the Kaizen event, you will be encouraged to be vulnerable and to really look for opportunities to improve, not to point out a guilty party. This can create a positive and motivating working atmosphere, in which everyone is driven to move forward, by reflecting on the realized improvements every day and celebrating these successes. In addition, people have experienced that asking for help from other departments pays: they can and do want to help you. In the best case, improvement will be fun and your employees will look for new opportunities to excel together.

Do you want a stubborn process kick start? Do you want to stimulate collaboration between the departments in your organization? Do you want to foster a culture of continuous improvement? And are you interested in how a Kaizen event can help your organization get started? Download the entire article below, or contact Renée directly +316 25 16 86 47 or r.poppel@supplyvalue.nl.