Case Study 002: 3-Years period on Developing Kaizen Personnel who can Promote Voluntary Improvement

Results 24% Reduction in End-of Month Inventory 44% Reduction in Warehouse Logistics Lead Time Shortening by 5 Days ＜Quality Technology Department/ Quality Control Section> 45% Reduction of Defects Rate in Total of All 10 Supplier Company

Kaizen Case with Company-wide improvement activities under the theme of visualisation of 2S and operations led by the CEO.

Full support from the start of improvement activities.

The plan based on the Toyota Production System (TPS / JIT), with the aim of “cultivating human resources” who can continuously promote improvement with the practice of on-site improvement rather than classroom lectures, matched with the company S policy.

How it was deployed

For the first two years, we implemented KAIZEN (improvement) activities focused on production-site and from the third year we expanded the activities to company-wide by involving administrative departments. At last, we targeted to develop human resources who can proceed improvements by themselves.

Problems/opportunity

1. Operations of members are invisible for managers.

2. Progress of operations cannot be controlled.

3. Lack of nurturing of Multi-Skilled Workers.

Details of KAIZEN Activities of First Year Involving Administrative Areas

No.	Department	Main Improved Items	Contents of Improvement
1	Production Control Department	Improvement of receiving cargo works Removal of the multi-level storage warehouse Dividing overseas procurement into four	Prohibition of using folk lifts by installing pallets with casters dedicated to receiving cargo Relocated the parts warehouse of the multipurpose building to the site where the multi-level storage warehouse was removed, which reduced the flow line to one quarter Reduced inventory by dividing the number of deliveries of procured items from China from once a month to four times a month
2	Manufacturing Department	Waste removal strategy Parts serving improvement Categorization of work Adapting Marshalling method	Implement the principle of motion economy and minimize the motion of arms, shoulders, waist, and legs Adoption of aligned serving method for harnesses, wire clampers etc., Reduced number of walks by separating assembly works to parts and the main body area, which reduced the number of repetitive transportations between parts and main body Applied Marshalling method for parts supply in the assembly/final inspection process to reduce the number of walk steps
3	Quality Department	Visualization of operation Promotion of non-inspection Strengthening quality of outsourcing Cost reduction activities for defects	Using sticky notes enabled to visualize operations, mutual supports of operators, and delivery dates If there are no defects in 3 lots of domestically procured products, they should be accepted automatically to abolish the inspection By instructing quality guidance directly to the 10 worst suppliers, halving the occurrence of defects Review operations to halve operations such as repairing defective products and re-inspection
4	Production Engineering Department	Full support for improvement activities Improvement in improvement speed	Participation of production technology members to the KAIZEN team and establishment of a support system for improvement activities Visualize requests from the manufacturing site for improvement and manage delivery thoroughly
5	Materials Department	Enhancement of 2S for filing Visualization of operation Developing multi-skilled workers Cost table maintenance EOP (End of Production) Parts Management	Adopt diagonal lines for all material files, review shelf display and thorough 2S Visualize operations by sticky notes so that operators can help each other Review materials and implement training to develop multi-skilled workers for parts procurement and cost determination Create and maintain the cost table to reduce the cost of newly developed products Switch the monthly parts shipment to factories in other prefectures to the escrow method

Key Achievements toward Targets

Target	Achievement
15% Reduction in end of month inventory 40% Reduction in logistics in warehouse Lead Time Shortening by 5 days (1 week) Halve the occurrence of defects in parts suppliers	⇒Reduced 24% ⇒Reduced 44% ⇒Shortened 5 days ⇒Reduction of defects in all 10 companies (45% reduction in total)）

Efforts to develop Human Resources who can perform Improvements by themselves

Target	Achievement
(1) Holding Seminars	30-minute mini-seminar is held at each guidance session. Educate KAIZEN-personnel and managers involved in improvement activities about how to think, how to find wastes, and how to carry out.
(2) Formation of a Voluntary KAIZEN-team	Organize a voluntary KAIZEN-team consisting of production site and production engineering members and instruct the team to carry out voluntary improvement activities for the target line at least once a week.
​(3) Strengthening Management by Objectives	Although the number of improvements was increased, it is necessary to give top priority to items that should have large effects.

Summary

Through company-wide efforts for KAIZEN led by the representative of the Company S, we could develop KAIZEN activities not only at production site but also at the indirect department, and that led to the achievement of the target. What pointed out by the consultant was improved promptly, and they were rolled out well, so that I was able to focus on training KAIZEN personnel.Regarding the development of KAIZEN personnel, it is necessary to focus on fostering a KAIZEN mind, recognising the need for improvement, and developing eyes to see waste for improvement. Also, through holding seminars, forming a voluntary KAIZEN-team, and strengthening management by objectives, it is necessary to think about what should be done to clear the goal, what should be prioritised, and acquire an attitude toward working on improvement.It was the project that was able to promote company-wide improvement smoothly by promoting education at the same time with promoting KAIZEN activities.