![\"kaizen_7steps\"](\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/kaizen_7steps-300x291.png\")
There are 7 steps for the VAK.\u00a0 They are:<\/p>\nKaizen (or commonly referred to as Value-Add Kaizen) is a problem solving tool used for process improvement by identifying if an activity (which is part of a process flow) is Value Add (VA) or Non-Value Add (NVA), then take steps to either remove or reduce these NVA activities. As these NVA activities are eliminated, the sequence of the process flow may need to be redesigned to be more efficient. This method can be used to improve throughput, cycle time, cost and reduce any type of waste in the organization.<\/p>\n
A good definition of Kaizen (\u6539\u5584), Japanese for “improvement”, or “change for the better” refers to philosophies or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, game development, and business management.<\/p>\n
Value Add Kaizen, (VAK) is a problem solving tool used when designing or improving processes, or part of a process against a specific loss in the organization.<\/p>\n
There are 7 steps for the VAK.\u00a0 They are:<\/p>\n
We shall use an example to go through all the steps in this VAK.<\/p>\n
PREPARATION: ESTABLISH THE THEME, TEAM AND PROJECT PLAN<\/strong><\/p>\n We can use the Business KPI data to establish a theme.\u00a0 Often, in a fab environment, the common continuous improvement required is in areas of throughput, cycle time, cost and yield.\u00a0 Once a theme is selected, a \u201cProject Charter\u201d requires a Sponsoring Manager, who can help provide guidance, secure resources and approval, and link to higher management required for the success of the project.<\/p>\n The scope has to be clearly defined in the project charter, which includes deliverables (target) and time-frame.\u00a0 Typically, a VAK project can get to define a solution and a future state plan within a couple of months.\u00a0 Driving implementation and sustaining the improvements can have a wide and longer time-frame.<\/p>\n Next, the team must have a lead, process owner and relevant stakeholders.\u00a0 It will also be good to include an independent facilitator to advice on the technique.\u00a0 The roles, responsibilities and deliverables of the team members must be clarified during team formation.\u00a0 As the project may run over several months, approval from the member\u2019s manager is required to allocate sufficient time for the project meetings and activities.\u00a0 A draft master plan should be prepared together during the first few meetings.<\/p>\n For our illustration of deploying the VAK methodology, we selected a recent cycle time reduction case study for a new product development (NPD) process of a LED manufacturer.\u00a0 At the start of this engagement the product development cycle normally took between twelve to fifteen months.\u00a0 MAX was engaged by this client to drive and achieve a target of 6 months for the NPD cycle.\u00a0 Our team consisted of a Program Manager, Technical Project Leads, Process Engineers, Manufacturing and Quality Engineers.\u00a0 The project scope spanned across all the development and manufacturing sites world-wide and it consisted in delivering an \u201cAs Is\u201d state within 3-months (Steps 1-5) and to drive implementation in the following 15 months (Steps 6-7).<\/p>\n STEP 1: DEFINING THE PROBLEM<\/strong><\/p>\n Now we are ready to walk and map out the entire process from the beginning to the end.\u00a0 Nash and Poling (2008) devoted an entire book for the mapping process.<\/p>\n We can map the process using flow charts or list the processes in a table.\u00a0 We started by mapping the process at a slightly higher level for a start to look at the big picture using Value Stream Mapping (VSM).\u00a0 We can always do a \u201cdeep dive\u201d at a later stage for further analysis.<\/p>\n During the mapping process, all stakeholders should be present to contribute and participate to help draw the process flow.\u00a0 The starting point or \u201cstarting block\u201d of the diagram is determined by the scope of the project.\u00a0 This flow can be drawn on a whiteboard as the facilitator help guide in the \u201cwhat is the next process.\u201d \u00a0This can be done in a single or several sessions depending on the complexity of the flow.<\/p>\n After we completed mapping the processes, we put in the process and the waiting time for the activities.\u00a0 Next, for each of the activities, we determined if the activity is Value Add (VA) or Non-Value Add (NVA) to the process.\u00a0 A VA activity adds value to the product based on customer\u2019s expectation.\u00a0 An NVA activity could be a redundant transport, take time and space but does not add value to the product.\u00a0 We have now completed the \u201cAs Is\u201d process flow of the current situation and this is illustrated in in the figure below.<\/p>\n STEP 2: STUDY THE SYSTEM<\/strong><\/p>\n We then study the process map for the product flow.\u00a0 We have to verify that the NVA activities identified do not add value and can be removed, if not reduced from the flow.\u00a0 We then reviewed if this flow is closer to that of an ideal state with minimum or no wastage (time, material, space, etc.).<\/p>\n An example of NVA activity is inspection because from the customer\u2019s standpoint inspection is wasteful.\u00a0 Inspection can be reduced, if not eliminated by having better quality inputs (better material from the supplier), training and certification of operators and having better designed \u201cidiot proof\u201d procedures or systems which can prevent errors from occurring.<\/p>\n Other examples of NVA activities are long approval loops, transportation and storage.<\/p>\n STEP 3: CHALLENGE THE SYSTEM After removing the NVA activities, we needed to establish the real gap in performance and set SMART targets to achieve for the project.\u00a0 SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bounded.\u00a0 If the targets cannot be defined as SMART targets, the project can quickly lose focus and derail.<\/p>\n We have to keep in mind that there may be multiple layers of NVA activities.\u00a0 In our case study, the removal or reduction of the NVA activities identified were sufficient for us to achieve our SMART targets.\u00a0 If removing the NVA activities does not meet the required targets, for example, cycle-time, we shall have to revisit the flow and further identify more opportunities for improvement.<\/p>\n STEP 4: DETAILED ANALYSIS<\/strong><\/p>\n We studied in depth all the NVA activities listed.\u00a0 This means, studying their specific problems and seek their root cause to solve them.\u00a0 One of the methods to find the root cause is the \u201c5-whys\u201d.\u00a0 We continued to ask, \u201cWhy\u201d until we isolate the \u201cSymptoms\u201d from the \u201cRoot\u201d or \u201cMain\u201d reason.\u00a0 We can then use one of the following to mitigate the NVA activities, ECRS: Eliminate, Combine, Reduce or Simplify.<\/p>\n The table below\u00a0lists some of the activities we looked into for cycle time reduction in our new Product Development, which compared against industrial standard benchmark as a guide. Setting realistic goals is important.\u00a0 Therefore, benchmarking data or another form of comparison is a good metric to keep the team focus on achievable results.<\/p>\n STEP 5: SOLUTIONS AND “TO BE” DEVELOPMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n After studying in depth the NVA activities, we developed a working solution to improve the process flow and implemented the solutions on selected pilot or small scale runs.\u00a0 Quick improvements are important to validate the findings and back them up with actual measurable data.<\/p>\n As an example, we worked on the Design of Experiments (DOE) to optimize the runs and material usage.\u00a0 In the process flow diagram, this is embedded in the \u201cMaterial 1\u201d box and this is mentioned again in the table above.<\/p>\n Prior to this, 3 processes were evaluated by changing 1 parameter of the process at a time.\u00a0 This is both time consuming and does not give the \u201cbest combination\u201d for the 3 processes.\u00a0 We used the \u201cMinitab\u201d software to generate a standard DOE matrix which allowed us to evaluate all factors in parallel. This reduced the time required for the runs by 50% as all runs are planned and defined so they do not depend on previous runs. \u00a0Using the \u201cMinitab\u201d also allowed analysis of results and subsequent generation of predictive models to be automated.<\/p>\n After the model generated an optimum setting for the parameters, we did some verification runs to ensure that the new \u201csolution\u201d achieved the same objective or better as the old setting, without creating new issues (defects, wastage, rejects).<\/p>\n A \u201cTo Be\u201d value steam map should be generated at this step which illustrates all improvements and the expected total cycle-time targets.\u00a0 The \u201cTo Be\u201d or future state should be distributed across the entire organization.\u00a0 Communicating the new goals is critical and all stakeholders need to buy-in for improvements to stick.<\/p>\n STEP 6: RESULTS\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n We tracked and recorded the relevant improvements against the old process flow.\u00a0 A good measure here is on cycle time reduction, NVA activities were either reduced or eliminated or problems were resolved.<\/p>\n In our case, we were able to save close to 50% reduction in CT during the DOE.\u00a0 As the runs we optimized, we were also able to save close to 30% of material usage.\u00a0 This translated to reduced man-hours (labour cost) and material wastage in the line.<\/p>\n STEP 7: SUSTAINING\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n This step is essential to ensure that the new process flow is formally replacing the old flow and the organization does not revert back to the old flow.<\/p>\n As an example, the new procedure for DOE is documented for traceability purposes to record when the old process flow was switched to a new one.\u00a0 This impact will trigger down to other adjacent processes.\u00a0 Documenting was also critical for change control, risk management and will serve as a training tool for future education reference.<\/p>\n Other than documenting the new procedure, the new flow should now be tracked as one of the performance matrices with an owner. An easy way to embed improvements is to force checklist items at phase gate reviews and ask the team to provide metrics for the questioned step or process.<\/p>\n As in any problem solving tool, Value Add Kaizen will only be effective when this knowledge is put into practice continuously<\/em>, as the name implies.\u00a0 The steps may seem trivial and straight forward but the challenge will be for the team to question convention, solicit support and approval to change what has been practiced in the organization for a long time.<\/p>\n In a successful implementation of Value Add Kaizen, the organization will have real savings in cycle time, material (WIP) and labour which in turn translates to reduced cost and faster time-to-market for new products.<\/p>\n The authors would like to thank the Product Development group of the LED manufacturer for their helpful discussion and support during the execution of this project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kaizen (or commonly referred to as Value-Add Kaizen) is a problem solving tool used for process improvement by identifying if an activity (which is part of a process flow) is Value Add (VA) or Non-Value Add (NVA), then take steps to either remove or reduce these NVA activities. As these NVA activities are eliminated, the… Using the Lean Kaizen Method to Unlock Great Potential<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":2445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[29,23,1102,1103,1101,1100],"class_list":["post-2444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-operations","tag-kaizen","tag-lean","tag-nva","tag-smart","tag-va","tag-value-add-kaizen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2450,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444\/revisions\/2450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"processflow\"](\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/processflow.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Summary](\"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/table.png\")
<\/a>Conclusions<\/h2>\n
Acknowledgements<\/h2>\n