ABSTRACT
Holding weekly post-event follow-up meetings is arguably the most important activity in the Kaizen Event process for stabilizing the new process, assuring sustainability, and demonstrating the effectiveness of rapid improvement. Without a formal structure to monitor progress, track results, and conduct valuable lessons-learned activities, Kaizen Event improvements often slip and diminish over time. Consistent focus on the process will ensure that old work habits are broken and replaced with new ways of operating. These follow-up meetings should be scheduled before the Kaizen Team disbands at the end of the event
The entire Kaizen Team should be present for these 30 to 60-minute follow-up meetings. Members who traveled to the event can attend the meetings by phone; however, to achieve the greatest effectiveness, all other team members should be required to attend in person. Supervisors and/or managers in the areas impacted by the improvement should also attend the meetings to begin transferring authority for process design and implementation from the Kaizen Team to frontline management, who may or may not have been on the Kaizen Team. Additional participants could also include a representative from a centralized continuousimprovement department, if one exists.
