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How do I calculate cost of sales for my products after I moved to one piece flow in production?

This is a very astute question – you have recognised that as production methods change so do the methods we have to use to account for the true cost of production. Batch processing requires allocation methods such as standard cost, but these are just guesses. With one piece flow we are now using up value stream capacity in production and that is all we really need to worry about measuring. Lean Accounting provides the methods we need to work all of this out. In essence we need to work out the material costs and conversion costs of the entire value stream and compare them to the revenue of the whole value stream to get a value stream’s contribution. In lean accounting we are less concerned about the costs of individual products and more concerned about whether we are maximising the return from the available capacity within the value stream.

In which year was the Kaizen coined?

The KAIZEN Institute as a company was founded in 1985 in Switzerland. The KAIZEN term itself was introduced as a business term to help organizations in their improvements, with Mr. Masaaki Imai’s first book “KAIZEN – The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success” in 1986.

What´s FTQ?

First Time Quality

The percentage of good outputs off the line…the balance either being rework or scrap possibly

Which should be first to be implemented in an organistion, is it 5S or KAIZEN, or lean or am.

This depends on the organisation of course, however our advice is to start with 5S with introducing KAIZEN and the 7 wastes as this give a chance for everyone to get involved. Lean is not a philosophy, you become lean if you apply KAIZEN, which is a common misconception. Autonomous Maintenance is a good early technique to use, and comes from the TPM methodology but 5S and KAIZEN comes first!

Can you implement the 5's,KAIZEN without any finance?

There is plenty of information available on the internet regarding implementing 5S and what KAIZEN is. Our advice is to give it a go for yourself first, however it is often best to get some specialist helpfrom an expert or to attend a training seminar to help you truly understand.

Is KAIZEN appropriate for educational institutions? How?

KAIZEN is definitely appropriate for educational institutions. Like every other service organisation, educational institutions' administrative and other management processes include a high proportion of non-value adding activities. The Kaizen philosophy, tools and techniques helps everyone in the organisation to continuously improve everything they do every day.

For instance, we are currently supporting Tertiary Education providers to improve the efficiency and accuracy of student enrolments, course material development, production, inventory management, as well as academic registry processes. We rely on Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen events and several other tools and techniques. One of our Tertiary Education clients have now been on their KAIZEN journey for more than four years and three on their internal Kaizen champions have already completed their KAIZEN Practitioner certification through our Kaizen college.    

What are the characteristics of a KAIZEN organization?

Philosophical and People Related
Leaders embrace their primary role as strategists and delegate tactical decision making t the workers, creating a top driven, bottom executed improvement model.

A passion for improvement permeates the organization

An awareness exists that even well performing processes and work environments can be improved upon.

Patient persistence drives the organization’s continuous improvement efforts.

The organization thinks long term and globally with a bias toward local incremental action.

The organization promotes a spirit of “calculated experimentation” and creates a structured environment for encouraging workers to “challenge everything” which promotes innovation and reduces the risk of stagnation.

The organization promotes discipline, precision and standardization as core values.

The process for problem solving is held in higher regard than the solutions themselves.

Employees are motivated to reap small rewards associated with incremental change and recognize that small improvements add up over time.

Employees receive recognition for small improvements as well as breakthrough efforts.

Accountability includes rewards for performing to standards---and consequences for performing otherwise.

Methodology Related
Performance metrics emphasize leading (vs. solely lagging) indicators and incorporate operational (vs. solely financial) metrics.

Relevant standardized workforce education ( to develop knowledge—how we think) and training ( to develop skills—what we do) is provided on a ongoing basis to both new and existing employees. New hire orientation includes indoctrination into the organization’s continuous improvement philosophy and information about how it expects its employees to perform in that environment.

Processes are monitored consistently and adjusted as needed.

The Plan Do Check Act approach (Deming cycle) shapes problem solving and improvement activities. 

Problem solving occurs through cross functional teamwork.

Short management time frames enable real-time performance assessment and adjustments as needed

All processes are performed according to documented standard work.

Visual management and controls are evident throughout the organization.

Masaaki Imai      Kaizen: The Key to Japans Competitive Success

Please give me examples of One Point Lessons for an office situation

- Copy machine (How to scan)
- Repeated tasks (How to make a proposal)
- IT knowledge (How to burn a CD)

How can KAIZEN be applied to organisations offering IT Software Development, Maintenance and Outsourcing sevices?

It could be applied in the same way as in other companies.

We just work with a 6 level model for the service industry.
Find more on www.total-service-management.com

What forms & applications should a company fill to register KAIZEN?

• A company should have the management commitment
• A clear target what they want to achieve with KAIZEN
• A support organisation
• A roadmap

Process mapping vs. Value stream design

The two best methods for process optimization and the recognition of waste are Process mapping and Value stream design. The question is often asked: Which of these methods is better and what are the differences between them. Both methods are ideal for bringing transparency to a process. Which method to choose; is dependant on the type of process and its strategic significance. A goal driven approach usually brings a drastic reduction of Lead Times and considerable cost reduction.

For the administrative and service areas recommend Process mapping. The approach is simpler and quick to explain. The employees l are immediately inspired by the method and can have fun while searching for forms of waste and losses.

In production areas, where the processes are much more complex, is the Value stream design the usual method of choice.

Where can KAIZEN be applied?

KAIZEN methods can be applied to any type of business.

Is KAIZEN also working in the Hospitality, for example in a Hotel/Restaurant?

With KAIZEN’s Methodology, Tools and Techniques,
our clients achieve World Class Operations

Following things we could improve in Hospitality:
- Uninterrupted Flow of guest experience
- Alignment of the corporate values in the entire organisation
- Eliminate waste and non value added activities
- Increase guest loyalty
- Apply Problem Solving techniques and tools to eliminate operational issues
- Creating standardised processes
- Implementing Cross-functional training mechanisms
- Employing team oriented methods and practices

Is LeanKAIZEN also working in the Healthcare sector?

Sure. It is possible to improve the following items:

• Improve Patient Wait Times
  Using Lean in Diagnostics will allow patients to receive response to their results in a more timely fashion but will also allow them to move to the next part of their treatment opening up a bed for the next patient.
  
  
• Improve Patient Turn Around Time
  Decreases in Turn Around Time (TAT) can only have positive effects for patients in our healthcare system and for the healthcare professionals waiting for the information and/or the results.
  
  
• Error Proofing
  Effective error-proofing is able to detect and prevent errors reliably and consistently without being affected by emotion or distractions.
  
  
• Quick Setup and Changeover
  By first observing and then doing a detailed analysis of the current 'setup - changeover' process you can design a new standardized system that will not only decrease the amount of time taken but will also ensure that rooms have been properly set up according to what you need, and where and when you need it.
  
  
• Improve Patient Safety
  Improve patient safety by preventing errors.
  
  
• Improve Productivity
  Most employees come to work wanting to do a good job. Most employees also think they are working hard and are doing a good job. The fact is they are working hard but that does not mean that they are working smart or working on value activities.
  
  Reduce Operating Costs
  Operating costs are something else that can be dramatically affected by eliminating many of the different types of wastes that currently exist in our healthcare system.

What does 5S mean?

STEP 1 – SEIRI or Sort
Deals with the contents of a workplace, and removes all items that are not needed there.

STEP 2 – SEITON or Set in Order
Refers to "a place for everything, and everything in its place" to enable easy access to needed items.

STEP 3 - SEISO  or Scrub
Refers not just to cleaning, but to "being proud" about the way the workplace is organised and kept in good condition.

STEP 4 – SEIKETSU or Standardise
Refers to having standards that everyone has to adhere to. Visual management is an important aspect to facilitate easy undersanding of these standards.

STEP 5 – SHITSUKI or Sustain
Refers to training of all employees and communication to all employees to ensure 5S application.

How important is leadership for Lean Office?

Lean Office requires organizations to rely more on leadership than a strict command and control structure. Leadership emphasizes modelling the way, inspiring shared values and encouraging the heart, enabling others to act in concert - as opposed to giving orders. Leadership involves skills such as inspiration, persuasion, and creativity, so those without direct authority can still positively influence others.

What are the elements of Lean Manufacturing?

The basic elements of Lean Manufacturing are waste elimination, continuous one-piece workflow, and customer pull. When these elements are focused in the areas of cost, quality, and delivery, this forms the basis for an effective lean production system.

What is Lean Manufacturing?

Lean techniques are, in their most basic form, the systematic identification and elimination of waste (80%), and the implementation of the concepts of continuous flow and customer pull (20%). The benefits of lean production systems are 50% lower production costs, 50% less personnel, 50% less time to field new products, higher quality, higher profitability, higher system flexibility, and more...

However, by continually focusing on waste reduction, there are truly no end to the benefits that can be achieved.