ABSTRACT
At this point you have done far more than most companies have. Recognizing the importance of developing a comprehensive kaizen program is a positive step, which will not only improve your manufacturing processes, but will also effectively create a new company culture, rich with change agents. As you can see, establishing the kaizen governing committee and creating the kaizen tracking worksheet are relatively easy tasks. However, before you can begin conducting kaizen events, all employees in your company will need some knowledge and understanding of basic lean philosophies and terminology. This chapter contains the essential information each employee needs in order to be an engaged participant and an effective contributor in kaizen events and activities. As kaizen events are scheduled and teams are selected, training should occur. You should train the kaizen governing committee first, and then the team of employees selected for the first scheduled kaizen event. Lean management in mind, it is likely you will take my suggestion and begin kaizen with the assembly line and the line operators. But, at some point, the company will require all employees to participate in a kaizen event, and they all will need this training. So let’s begin.
