A New Strategy for the Kaizen Blitz

We’ve initiated a Kaizen Blitz several times this year to collect information for PDCAs. In the past, the leader of a PDCA group casually emailed a question to Teammates. The responding Kaizens, generally, were a few sentences describing a possible counter measure.

For a construction PDCA initiated last week, the group leader and I decided to hit the pause button and examine our Kaizen Blitz process more closely .

This PDCA is looking into a recurring waste in which jobsite blue prints are replaced at least once if not multiple times during the construction of the home. This is costing them roughly $100 per replacement. And the PDCA group wants to initiate a Kaizen Blitz to collect info about the recurrence of this problem across all communities.  

That brought us to the purpose of a Kaizen Blitz. The PDCA group first had to define their objectives:

a) How many other communities are experiencing this waste and what are the details?

b) Are communities that are not experiencing this problem doing something that the others aren’t?

So our experiment began with the PDCA group setting up a Kaizen for every member of the Construction Team.  In this Kaizen, the problem description was clear and concise and included a photograph of a wet, tattered set of blue prints that would now have to be thrown away. (That’s $100 in the trash, and another $100 for a new set of prints.)  

Rather than a casual email, the PDCA group gave the Construction Team information to build a worthwhile Kaizen. Next the PDCA group leader wanted to ensure the Construction Team understood the group’s expectations.

He said he wanted each Construction Professional to put some thought into what they see in their environment, then write a thought-out explanation for causes and counter measures. That led us to the next step.

In the Kaizen we set-up for the Construction Team, the PDCA group pre-set questions in the root cause and counter measure fields. For the root cause, they asked the Construction Professional to fill-in the “why, where and who.” Then in the counter measure field, they asked, “What have you done to prevent this and did it work?”

Some Construction Professionals may only be able to answer one section and not the other. That’s okay. If a community is experiencing blue print re-order waste, the Construction Professional should be able to point where and why he sees it happening, even if he’s not sure what to do about it. Another community that isn’t experiencing this waste may be taking preventative steps without fully realizing why. (“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”)

Finally, this Kaizen Blitz should achieve something that no other blitz has managed to achieve: 100% participation. Past Kaizen Blitz have always had strong participation, but generally if a Construction Professional doesn’t have that problem in his community or has no ideas for a counter measure – even if he’s experiencing the problem — he doesn’t participate in the Kaizen Blitz.

Because this PDCA group set-up a Kaizen for every member of the Construction Team and set clear expectations, they are expecting feedback from 100% of the team.

© October 2009 Homebuilding Partners, Inc.