Kaizen Success Stories
Real Manufacturing Results. One Kaizen at a Time
Explore real-world Kaizen success stories showing how manufacturing teams solved critical problems, improved performance, and created sustainable results.
What Are You Going to Screw Up Today?
A historic winter storm shut down the plant, stranded team members, and cut a four-and-a-half-day Kaizen nearly in half. Most people would have postponed the event. Instead, the team cut changeover time by nearly 50% and turned one skeptic into one of its biggest supporters.
From Tool Boxes to Tool Stations
In 2011, I was asked to facilitate a changeover reduction Kaizen event at a ceiling tile plant in Florida. Most changeover reduction events have a goal of reducing time by 50%, while maintaining or improving quality and safety. In this case, the team was asked to reduce changeover time by 90%. This would be a challenge for the team and my ability to facilitate them to a solution.
Improving Changeover Time in 4 Simple Steps
Have you ever watched an auto race? If so, you probably noticed what happens when a car enters Pit Row and is tended to by a whole team of people trying to get it back on the track as fast as possible. If you wondered how they knew what to do and how they didn’t get in each other’s way, the answer is SMED.