Lucid Facilitator’s Guide

KAIZEN EVENT
A kaizen event, also known as a kaizen blitz or lean event, is a 4-hour
to multiple-day working session aimed to remove process “wastes”.
Wastes include over-production, over-processing, lost time, defective
products, poor service, extra inventory, information gaps, poor
ergonomics, and untapped employee abilities. All improvements
are aimed to make the product or service deliver more value to
customers.

Use this template to set up and help guide your team through your
next kaizen event.

Contents
Introduction......................................................................2
The 7 Types of Process Waste................................. 4
Kaizen Blitz & Follow-Up Meeting Agendas........5
Step-by-Step Instructions.......................................... 6
Before the First Session............................................. 6
Three Ways to Document Results...........................8
Running Session 1.......................................................... 9
Core Tool: Dot Voting................................................. 13
Core Tool: The 5 Whys...............................................14
Between Meetings....................................................... 15
Running Session 2+..................................................... 15
Resources for Achieving Meeting Mastery ....... 18
About the Author......................................................... 19

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 1

INTRODUCTION

Kaizen came out of Toyota, where it was the key to its ability to build
high quality and low cost parts and cars. It has been a “movement”
in big companies for years, and it can now be of great benefit to
smaller enterprises as well.

Toyota invented the idea of process “waste”, a concept that is

different than “problems”. We normally consider a problem as
something that is “broken”, such as a tool or system that is so
marginal that it likely should be replaced. In the early days of
Japanese industry, they had little money and few natural resources
available. To make the most of this challenging situation, companies
like Toyota learned to utilize their peoples’ creativity to solve
operating problems, like finding and eliminating waste in their
office or factory work. This made it possible for them to become
competitive with big companies while operating on a smaller volume
of sales.

Kaizen is defined as:

Small changes, involving everyone, that don’t cost a lot
of money.

The concept of lean production uses kaizen in all parts of a “value

stream” to create a steady flow of high quality, low cost products
and services to customers.

Success Story
In Oregon, one company applied lean thinking to their metal
molding operation. The kaizen was managed visually by the
team and achieved over 50% increases in output, safety,
quality, and cost reduction. The improved process worked
right away and was still in place three years later.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 2

Kaizen, Lean, and Six-Sigma: What’s the difference?
A “kaizen blitz” and “lean event” differ only in scope; both engage
employees, supervisors, maintenance and technical resources
to identify waste in the work and redesign the work flow so that
it delivers more value to customers with less waste and better
conditions for employees.

“Lean production” increases the scope of kaizen to a full flow of

products or services to customers, looking at everything involved in
delivering value to customers from start to finish.

In contrast, “Six-Sigma” is a quality analysis that narrows the scope

by drilling down on a particular job, machine, or work center using
data. Six-Sigma is especially useful in manufacturing and large
businesses, where teams have a lot of data about each element in
the work flow.

Lean is more about “velocity and flow” throughout the system, while
six-sigma aims to get better product yield or quality in a limited
scope.

About the Kaizen Event

A kaizen working session is aimed to remove process wastes. All
improvements are aimed to make the product or service deliver
more value to customers. In a kaizen event, a team is formed,
oriented and then observes and prioritizes waste in the targeted
work flow or customer-facing service center.

Led by the facilitator or manager, the team prioritizes the top few
wastes, then discusses and tries solutions or counter-measures for
each one. The deliverables from a kaizen on a process are: improved
delivery, lower cost, higher quality to customers, and making the
work safer and easier for employees to do.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 3

THE 7 TYPES OF PROCESS WASTE

Rework
1
Work that needs to be done again due to defects or
mistakes made the first time.

Over-Production
2
Making too much of something, or making it too early.

Over-processing
3
Doing the same thing more than once, or doing more than
needed to deliver value to the customer.

Inventory
4
Storing products or materials that aren’t needed in the near
future.

Transportation
5
Moving people or objects farther or more often than
needed.

Waiting
6
Any time when a person or object sits idle, waiting for the
next step in the process to begin.

Motion
7
Ergonomic issues such as repetitive physical motion, mental
fatigue from staring at small type on a screen, lifting too
much weight, etc.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 4

 KAIZEN EVENT & FOLLOW-UP
MEETING AGENDAS
There are two meetings in this process. In the first, your team will
identify wastes and develop experiments to improve the process.
In the second meeting, your team will review how well the improved
process works in practice, and document the improved process as
the standard work flow for everyone to follow from then on.

Meeting Opening
SESSION 1

Waste Walk

Discuss and Group Waste

Prioritize Opportunities

5 Brainstorm Solutions

6 Plan Kaizen Experiment

7 Review and Closing

Meeting Opening
SESSION 2+

Review and Approve New Process

Plan Kaizen Experiment #2+

Review and Closing

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 5

STEP-BY-STEP
INSTRUCTIONS

Before the First Session

Pre-work for a kaizen event starts with defining the purpose, scope,
deliverables, and agenda with the sponsor of the event. The sponsor
is the company owner, plant manager, or functional manager who
has the power to break barriers and put the proven kaizen ideas into
practice.
Once the sponsor has defined the direction, the manager or
facilitator prepares to deliver the agenda and facilitate the “waste
walk” and kaizen identification process.

Who to Invite
A kaizen team should be a mix of those who do the job, supervisors,
and technical resources like engineers, maintenance personnel, and
suppliers. Many of the people invited should have direct experience
with the work involved.

Schedule the first session at least

one week in advance.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 6

Scheduling
The room and timing of the event must be coordinated into all
participants’ schedules and a one-page description of the event
discussed with everyone. (You can download or request an example
of this one-page description at Senseiway.com.) Those employees
not directly involved in the kaizen event should be briefed on its
purpose and process, and on when they will get the opportunity for
input. Typically this happens during a trial and/or review conducted
before kaizen changes become standard procedures.

Preparing Examples
Next, the kaizen team leader prepares for the event by reviewing
the agenda, developing a personal way of defining kaizen and lean
production, giving specific examples of the seven kinds of waste, and
preparing for anticipated questions or resistance to change.

Send Out Pre-Reading

Find and email participants one or two short articles you like about
using kaizen and lean in your type of business. These may be
downloaded from the resource list provided here or other sources,
such as Harvard Business Review and Industry Week.

Dealing with Resistance to Change

In some businesses, lean production has been misused as a
job cutting program. The sponsor of the event or the kaizen
team leader should assure employees that the aim of a
blitz is improving quality and delivery to customers, not job
reductions in the organization.
If this cannot be guaranteed by the sponsor, question if the
event should even be held or perhaps held later. For instance,
if a layoff is under consideration, delay the kaizen event until
after it is over. Then, improve the work with those who will stay.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 7

Three Ways to Document Results

Using Paper, Whiteboads and Sticky Notes in

Face-to-Face Meetings
Before the meeting, prepare clipboards for each group to use during
the “Waste Walk” in agenda item 2. Prepare the meeting space with
a whiteboard, markers and sticky notes for:
1. Listing individual examples of waste.
2. Grouping waste by type.
3. Voting and prioritizing the most important wastes to
address.
4. Brainstorming solutions and listing next steps.

Using an Online Co-Editing Document Application

(Google Docs, Microsoft Word Online, etc.)
Before the meeting, create a new document that everyone in the
group can access and edit together. Include a link to this document
in your meeting invitation. Add the meeting name as the document
title.
Create a heading for “Priorities”. The group will list wastes
here during the Waste Walk, and then copy and paste to re-
organize these later.
Create another heading for “Possible Solutions”. Write
notes under each heading during the meeting, and edit the
proposed solutions as needed.

Using Lucid Meetings

Each template includes built-in space for documenting results.
• Add notes to each agenda item by clicking the “Add
Notes” button.
• Tag notes to group related types of waste.
• Document solution ideas and the final experiments to be
tried in notes.
• Add and assign Action Items to capture next steps.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 8

 Running Session 1
1 Meeting Opening
Begin by welcoming everyone and then conducting a
round of introductions. Ask each attendee to briefly
note any prior experience in kaizen, lean or lean six-
sigma. You may need to clarify the differences. If the
team is unfamiliar with this kaizen process, or if it has
been more than 6 months since your last lean event,
provide a quick overview.
For example, you might say:
A kaizen event is a workshop where a team
aims to recognize and eliminate waste in
their workplace. Wastes such as lost time,
materials movement (and others) can be
found and eliminated in every factory,
business process, transactional office,
warehouse, and restaurant or small business.
Next, ask the sponsor to provide an introduction
covering why the event is being held and what he or she
wants to see as a result.
Finally, ensure everyone is prepared to identify wastes
in the target process by reviewing the 7 types of waste
and discussing examples.
For example, you might say:
Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning, “Small
changes, made by everyone, that don’t cost
a lot of money”. The goal of kaizen is to find,
prioritize and eliminate the seven working
wastes: over-production, over-processing,
inventory, rework, motion, transportation,
and waiting.
Who has a quick example of one of these
wastes in our work?
When you’re confident everyone understands the goal
and process, click “Next >” to get started with the
waste walk.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 9

2 Waste Walk
Next, the team does a “waste walk” in the workplace
and lists actual examples for later discussion. For the
waste walk, divide the team into one or more pairs
or trios of participants, and arm each team with a
clipboard or tablet they can use to write down the
wastes they observe.
Direct each group to go and simply observe and list
wastes they witness. If it has been pre-approved by the
local area supervisor, they may ask job holders how they
do their tasks. They are not to discuss any solutions at
this point as they may be premature and a distraction.
At the conclusion of the agreed upon time, bring the
group back together and click “Next >” to move to
next step in the process.

3 Discuss and Group Waste

Re-grouping in the conference room or online meeting,
the kaizen team turns their lists of wastes into individual
notes. Include the initials of the author on each note in
case of questions later on. The team leader then works
with the team to group these notes under the broad
headings of “people”, “process”, and “tools/systems”.
Teams using Lucid can tag notes to group similar items
together.
You may end up with notes for items that don’t quite fit
the scope and intent of this kaizen event. To make sure
these observations don’t get lost, and to help keep the
team focused on the intended topic, the team leader
should add these to a parking lot. For example, systems
changes, personnel, new equipment, policy issues, legal
issues, suppliers, etc may all be beyond the scope of this
kaizen event.
Once all the notes have been shared, grouped, and
clarified to make sure everyone understands them, click
“Next >” to advance the agenda to the next step in the
process.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 10

4 Prioritize Opportunities
Now your group discusses and prioritizes the top few
wastes from the three headings above: people, process
and tools/systems. If the top targets for kaizen are
unclear, use dot-voting to prioritize the top few dot-
getters. In Lucid, participants can add an X or other
mark to a note in place of a sticky dot.
Pick the highest priority waste and discuss the root-
cause that fuels it. The typical process is called the
“5 Whys”. Begin by asking why, for instance, do the
cashiers fail to give back the customer’s card after a
purchase? It could be because they set it aside out of
direct view in a non-standard place, for example. Then
why do they not have a standard, visible place to see
and return the card to the customer? And so on.
When the group has identified the top few wastes and
found root cause for the top one, click “Next >” to
begin brainstorming possible solutions.

5 Brainstorm Solutions
Once the root cause of a waste is clear, the team begins
to brainstorm solutions. Discuss possible solutions until
you have a solution identified for the first top priority
waste.
For example, in not returning the card to the customer
above, perhaps it would work to install a tray to hold
the card until it has been approved online, then return it
with the receipt for signature. This is but one example of
a possible solution to try.
Other typical solutions: lack of specific training could be
countered by cross-training, a confusing process could
be resolved by written standards for specific tasks,
missing or defective tooling or equipment might be
replaced or fixed right away, or begun as a lean project.
In some cases, a solution will not be apparent. When
that happens, discuss what are called ‘counter
measures’; ways to limit the waste or errors while
continuing to seek a full solution.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 11

 Once you have a solution identified, click “Next >” to
move on to planning your kaizen experiment.

6 Plan Kaizen Experiments

Once the team has preferred solutions and counter
measures, they define a way to do a trial run. that tests
the kaizen ideas for a few minutes, hours, or a day or so.
Plan each trial so that team members can be present to
observe how well the proposed kaizen works and ask
for additional input from other employees
For example, in the card return example above, they
might simply place colored tape on the desk next to the
register as a simulation of a tray to hold the card. They
might also train the clerk to pair the receipt printing
with returning the card every time. These kinds of
solutions are then tried in practice for the agreed upon
time with observation by members of the kaizen team
and suggestions solicited from the people who do the
job.
Clearly define each experiment. In Lucid, create action
items for each experiment, assign an owner, and set
a due date by which the experiment needs to be
completed.
Once you have each experiment documented, click
“Next >” to conduct a final review and close the
meeting.

7 Review and Closing

Conduct a final review of the kaizen and next steps.
Then, quickly review any items remaining on the parking
lot for clarity and assign individuals to pursue them
with the sponsor after the meeting. Make sure everyone
fully understands and commits to their action items and
thank everyone for their participation.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 12

CORE TOOL: DOT VOTING
What Is It?
Dot-voting is a fast and easy voting system for determining the
highest priority items on a list. The technique is called “Dot Voting”,
because in face-to-face meetings, votes are cast by placing a sticky-
dot or using markers to make a dot next to an item pasted on the
wall.

How it Works
After assembling a list of options, the group starts a dot-vote to
determine which few high-priority items to focus on.
The leader will share any criteria that participants should keep in
mind when placing votes, then ask participants to cast their votes.
Each person gets a fixed number of votes (or dots) that they can
cast however they want; they can place all their votes on the same
item if they wish, or vote for several different items. This allows
participants to vote for multiple options, and reveals relative
priorities rather than declaring any single item a “winner”.
Everyone votes at once.
After participants place all their dots, the leader counts the dots to
identify the preferred options. The color of the dots does not matter.
The items with the most dots rank highest.

How many dots should each person get?

Everyone needs enough dots to vote on multiple items. This makes
it possible to express relative priorities by putting more dots on one
item about which one feels strongly. You also need to ensure that
when voting concludes, the group will see a clear set of priorities.
To ensure a clear result, the number of allowed votes can be no
more than 30% of the available options. For example, if the list
contains 12 items, each person would have no more than 4 votes to
cast.
To keep it simple, many teams use 3 dots per participant every time.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 13

CORE TOOL: THE 5 WHYS
What Is It?
Developed by the Toyota Production System in the 1950s, this
technique is a popular way to determine the root cause of problem.
It works by repeating the question “Why?” at least 5 times, with each
question digging deeper into the answer of the previous question.

How it Works
After you’ve identified a problem, ask “why” the problem occurred.
Continue to ask “why” until you reach the underlying source of the
problem. Most often, the root cause of a problem is a faulty system
or process.
A key phrase to keep in mind in any 5 Whys exercise is:
People do not fail; processes do.

Example
Problem: The customer refuses to pay for the soup.
1. Why? The soup was cold.
2. Why? It took too long to get the soup to the
customer’s table.
3. Why? The waiter was busy with another customer and
couldn’t get back to the kitchen when the soup was
ready.
4. Why? The waiter was the only person available to take
orders and deliver food.
5. Why? We didn’t have anyone else trained to deliver
food.
Counter-measure:
We need to train other staff to deliver food when it’s hot, for
those times the waiter is busy.
Solution: Check the soup with a thermometer, or set a timer with
a limit visible at the server’s pick up and reheat as necessary.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 14

 Between Meetings
Immediately after the meeting
Send out the follow-up email to all involved staff,
which makes sure everyone gets their action items
and a full report in their email.

Results of the Experiments

When kaizen experiments have proven successful, the
new methods should be written up as a standard work
procedure. Conduct each experiment, and send the
results to the leader and sponsor, who will update the
kaizen action list off-line and send it to the kaizen team
for a final review.
The final step is to document the standard work
procedure on paper and share with all staff doing the
job.

Running Session 2+
1 Meeting Opening
Welcome the team back and take a moment to ensure
everyone had a chance to read the list of kaizen
improvements that received follow-up or experiments
sent before the meeting. After everyone’s had a chance
to re-acquaint themselves with the work, click “Next >”
to move to the next agenda item.

2 Review and Approve the New Process

Now that the team has validated a solution by an
experiment, the kaizen team writes up the new
standard work procedure, including a picture. This
new procedure circulates to all involved operators for
final approval. Once approved, it is to be the new best
practice for everyone to follow.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 15

 2 After this new standard is distributed, it is to be the
official process all employees use to do the task. In our
continued
example, this will be the way every cashier returns a
credit or debit card to a customer every time.

Review the change with everyone again briefly during

this meeting and get their commitment. Then, assign
someone to distribute the new ‘standard work’
procedure for everyone to follow; this critical step
ensures the kaizen improvements are put into practice.

3 Plan Next Kaizen Experiment

Select another kaizen in the same area from the
list of wastes you developed earlier and develop an
experiment. If there are no significant wastes left to
address, or if a different work area or process needs the
team’s attention, plan to begin another kaizen or lean
event.

For example, after the initial kaizen of eliminating

the waste of an unreturned card is finished, the team
would proceed to the next biggest waste and kaizen
opportunity on the earlier list, and select the next
highest priority, then repeat the kaizen process.

If there are systems, policy, or supplier problems

causing the waste, such as a cash register that is slow or
fails to process card information intermittently, a longer-
term project may be required. When that happens, a
site manager or business owner may have to provide
the experts and resources needed to complete such a
project.

Whether you design a new experiment or plan a new

lean event, capture action items documenting the steps
to be taken, an owner, and an anticipated due date.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 16

 In some cases, a longer-term project or new financial
resources may be required.

After the team has clear plans, click “Next >” to move
to the final agenda item.

4 Review and Closing

Review any items remaining on the parking lot for
clarity and assign individuals to pursue them with the
sponsor after the meeting.

Then, quickly review all action items, ensuring each task

is fully understood and that the assigned task owners
commit to completing each task by the due date.

Finally, thank everyone for their participation and end

the meeting. You’re done... until next time!

More Kaizen Success Stories!

The automotive supplier production line had been running for over
a decade at one midwest US company, and the engineers believed
it couldn’t be improved significantly. Yet after just four days of
applying kaizen improvements, the line produced 18% more good
parts per day, with 18.2% less staff time required. There were also
improvements in inventory and quality.

The legal department of a Fortune 100 company needed to improve

its process for patent filing due to a new American law. After 3
months, the new lean patent-filing lead-time had declined from 222
to 173 days, eliminating 49 days from the process.

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 17

RESOURCES FOR ACHIEVING
MEETING MASTERY
By Dan Prock
The Sensei Way
http://www.senseiway.com/

Dan’s work with Lucid Meetings

http://www.lucidmeetings.com/templates/designers/
dan-prock

On the Web
Monthly meet-ups among lean practitioners are
listed online.

The Lean Enterprise Institute

The Lean Enterprise Institute provides blog posts,
books, or other resources on kaizen blitz events and
lean production implementation.
http://www.lean.org/

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence

http://www.ame.org/

The American Society for Quality

http://asq.org/

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence and

American Society for Quality are also sources of
information on kaizen and lean production.

Related Templates
The Urgent Problem Solving Meeting
http://www.lucidmeetings.com/templates/urgent-
problem-solving

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 18

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

This template was designed by Dan Prock,

President of Sensei Way L.L.C.

Dan Prock is a graduate engineer with a

Masters and Ph.D. in psychology. He has been
a lean enterprise facilitator, coach and “train
the trainer” workshop leader for over 20 years.

Over that time, Dan led hundreds of kaizen

events in factories and knowledge work areas
including product design, quality assurance,
software development, marketing, law,
restaurants, and small shop operations.

Dan Prock is author of the Sensei Way and can

be contacted at dan@senseiway.com.

Provided under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike

4.0 International License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Kaizen Blitz Facilitator’s Guide 19