Almost every project will include brainstorming of some kind at some point in the project lifecycle.  Brainstorming sessions can be a powerful gateway to unlock solutions, make issues visible, prioritize actions and bring experienced minds together.  When individuals come together as a team, innovative ideas can be born.  One of the struggles of being a part of a powerful and productive brainstorming session is that they generate many great ideas and often reveal a large amount of issues.  This can leave a group feeling overwhelmed.  Often times, the wide array of ideas can be hard to organize, understand, validate and act on.  Worse yet, many members of a team might leave feeling invalidated, unheard or completely shut down. 
  

  If you travel into any machine shop, office or hospital facility in the world guaranteed you have seen a changeover before.  The changeover occurs in between the last good part or service until the next good part or service.  Some examples would be:

1. Changing tooling.
2. Patients service completion.
3. Changing paper in a printer.
4. Taking one batch of cookies out of the oven in order to start a new batch.  

This "in-between" time is usually spent performing wasteful activities which often result in long changeovers that inevitably eat up value added time.

  The fishbone diagram, cause and effect, or ishikawa diagram is one of the most common quality tools used today.  Best known by its resemblance to a fish's body the fishbone diagram is used to show the many possible causes for an effect. The tool is used to help coordinating brainstorming in an effort to discover root causes.

​  The first day on the job is always an exciting experience for any new employee.  A new chance to show your skills, meet new people and grow in a new organization.  Excited to learn something new in training you get thrown to the wolves and here the phrase "you will figure it out."  That can be a bit scary to say the least.  Surprisingly as you start figuring out everything has procedures connected to it.  Three days later and you have mastered erp, assembly and every office function in the organization.  A bit surprised by this you're off to a great start!

   Have you ever gotten into a discussion of why? because. Why? because.  Last weekend I had the great pleasure of this discussion for what seemed to be the first time.  I never really put much thought into it but asking why never really was a difficulty for me.
  Oftentimes when we want to use the 5 whys to drill from issue to root cause we end up in a pattern of why, because. Why, because.  Or, we conduct a long analysis only to find out that none of our levels of causation matched at all.  One of the best known examples of a 5 why analysis was performed by the master Taiichi Ohno.  He used the example of a welding robot stopping in the middle of its operation.  Like a sensei does he naturally went from initial issue to root cause with almost no difficulty at all.   So, how do we begin developing this level of mastery with regards to root cause analysis?  Here are a few important things to keep in mind when looking for the ROOT cause.

  For years now teams have come together on baseball fields, football fields, soccer fields, race tracks, offices and homes in what has become known as the huddle.  These quick and spirited standups often last no more than 5 minutes and help team members refocus their efforts while planning for things to come.  Whether the purpose is to realign or align team members focus towards an objective, the daily 10 - 15 minute scrum, stand - up or huddle works. ​

   ​Many years ago, newspapers lined the streets of almost every city in the world.  People would gather at the "newspaper stands" and browse each page while sharing a story or two.  Word of mouth and the rugged ink stained paper were the main drivers of news, suggestions and ideas.
  Today we still have ideas and suggestions, but things aren't quite as simple as the good ole days.  Today making a suggestion often involves filling out a tedious small slip with more information than you can even read, shoving it in a bin that nobody collects and then hoping it gets "approved."  Here's the idea!   Workers see it all, touch it all and often have the closest connection with a process.  Why is this significant?  That connection can act as the perfect vehicle when looking to identify issues, collect improvement suggestions and or come up with innovative new ideas.   The best part is, you don't have to walk to a newspaper stand to do it.  

  The Kaizen template or improvement newspaper is a powerful tool that can be used with employees. They can suggest improvements, possible solutions and even create opportunities for improvements without necessarily having any idea of a solution.  Sounds a bit crazy doesn't it?  Well it is!  We’ve all been there before, a problem you see all the time and no ideas on how to solve it.  The Kaizen template enables employees to support improvements whether they have a fix or not. So how will this tool help employees?  To start, the suggestion or person filling out the kaizen template will need to capture a few pieces of information and document the information on the kaizen sheet.
  Here's the important thing to understand, no matter how much information you capture, it will do no good if it's shoved in a box waiting for review or hidden on a desktop only to become trapped in cyberspace.  
  Like any other lean tool, the kaizen template works best when it is made visible.  Here are a few important things to keep in mind when using improvement newspapers for a suggestion system.

1. Make it Visible
  Like we mentioned earlier improvement newspapers should not be contained within a network or hard drive, they need to be visible. Think for a second to a problem you’ve had before but couldn’t solve.  Eventually you share with a friend and they share a possible solution.  Immediately you think, “why didn’t I think of that?”  When opportunities are visible everyone can see, understand and help each other.  One advantage when using a computer to fill out the suggestion is that there will be no sorting through legible and illegible papers.  You can fill the paper out and print it out, placing it in an area where everyone can see the idea and before you know it someone is there to support you in finding a possible solution.

2. Keep them Alive
  About the era when tv was in full swing and computers began to emerge newspaper stands were laid to rest.  Now we get quarter machines by selected restaurants and no more standing with our friends talking and sharing the latest news on the front page.  Fortunately, Kaizen templates are far from dead.  They are in fact one very effective way to obtain opportunities for improvement but they must be kept alive.  Monitoring the suggestions during a huddle is one way to keep status up to date and ensure that each suggestion is moving forward.  In a huddle you can address the needs of the suggestion and help ensure ideas continue moving forward.  Possibly the most valuable aspect of this constant and continuous activity is that the people who make the suggestions will begin to understand that they are part of a team and their ideas mean something to others.  When people get a sense of belonging, support, action and appreciation your possible improvements will increase sufficiently.

3. Simple
  If you have ever used a new tv changer there is a bit of a learning curve to it.  Directions in hand and a thousand different settings to program it will never be as simple as walking to the newspaper stand to get some information.  The same principle should apply to our kaizen templates or improvement papers.  Not everyone knows how to use excel and not everyone will understand the process right from the start.  That makes it the perfect opportunity to train employees and go for a Gemba walk.  The bottom line, make it easy for the people filling the papers out.  The only thing that employees should be responsible for is filling out the template and doing their best to discover the root cause.  

  Although we may never see newspaper stands lining the streets again, kaizen templates or improvement newspapers could line the huddle boards of your organization.  They could fill white boards, line the walls and flow from the mouths of team huddles.  All while capturing innovative ideas from talented employees and driving improvement initiatives day in and day out.  The best part about this great tool is that it won't even cost you a quarter.  

  If you would like a template for a Kaizen/Improvement newspaper to get started click on the button below and begin experimenting with different tools that will help transfer improvements from idea to action.

  Almost every organization in the world knows by now that the 5S system is an efficient, low maintenance and high impact means of driving continuous improvement.  The system itself can be used in offices, shop floors and software systems.  So why is it that many who have tried this powerful tool only yield small returns or feel as though something is hiding?

  1. Missed sorting or tagging of items -  "We'll use it someday."  If you have heard that phrase before chances are you didn't capture all the benefits of your 5S initiative.  Be sure that if an item has been collecting dust for over 30 days and an agreement can't be reached the item is tagged and addressed in a 5S auction.  

  2. Unsure what to look for - Another very common reason why the 5S feels like a cleaning event that yields minimal returns, is that people are not exactly sure what to look for or where to look.  Here is a fun little list of some things to look for in your 5S event:

• ​Computers -  performing 5S on your computer can keep the system running quickly, minimize clicks and help you find and execute tasks much easier on a daily basis.
• Inventory - Inventory can be one of the biggest savings in any type of kaizen.  Look for extra raw materials just sitting around, WIP that might signal Overproduction, finished goods awaiting transfer and MRO items that are outdated, broken or worn out.
• Tool Boxes -  Tool boxes are often a missed opportunity in 5S events.  Just because it's in a toolbox does not mean it is need, set-in-order or in the shiniest condition.  Looking through toolboxes for tools or supplies can eat up a lot of time, damage items that are not organized and often times create frustration on simple projects.  Bringing tools out and in the open makes access easier and allows you to use the benefits of shadow boards to create a visually managed area.
• Paper Stacks - Many times inboxes, outboxes and mailboxes will be filled with "inventory" in the office (Raw,WIP,FIN,MRO).  When 5S is applied to these stacks of office work space can be saved, efficiency created and priorities better managed. 

 3. 5S removes waste and cleans - There are no two ways about it; some people will say spring cleaning and other people will say waste removal.  Can't we all just get along?  It does both.  Move a tool that is used everyday from one side of the shop to the point of use and your transportation is minimized.  Shine a machine up and discover not leaks, breaks or malfunctions; well, you've got a sanitary area that invites the spirit.  Whether you're removing waste or shining for inspection, hygiene or sustainment both are beneficial so why not do both?

  There are many ways to squeeze hidden waste out of an area with the 5S system.  The more events you conduct and are a part of the more hidden waste and "top secret"  items will become visible.  What are some unique things that you have found during a 5S event?