Implementing the Kaizen Blitz with Security Cameras
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Improving Processes & and Reducing Wastes with Security Cameras
The Kaizen Blitz is a method for performing a short-term project designed to improve upon a single process, work center, or production line in a manufacturing facility in an extremely short amount of time (normally only one business week). Using the Kaizen Blitz, a manufacturing plant can cut back unneccessary wastes and improve the efficiency of the manufacturing process.
Getting security cameras before implementing a Kaizen Blitz project can help your continuous improvement efforts by showing you where, when, and how waste is occuring, and it will also improve the quality of information you recieve from any improvement events in the future. Video footage from our manufacturing plant security cameras offers a candid view of the operation that is valuable in each of the four steps of the Kaizen event, which are: plan, do, check, act.
Kaizen Blitz
Manufacturing Plant Cameras
Plan - Review camera footage of events which seem to be lacking efficiency. Observe the process and document the current state of affairs. Gather baseline data. Look for the seven wastes common in the manufacturing process: transportation, inventory, motion, waiting, over-processing, overproducing, and defects. Wastes such as transportation, motion, and waiting can be easily spotted by someone familiar with the manufacturing process who is reviewing security camera footage. Security cameras may also help with participant buy-in since it is hard to argue that a process isn't inefficient with camera footage that displays a visually apparent wastes.
Do - This stage involves the actual implemenetation of your Kaizen event. For a Kaizen Blitz to succeed, it is vital that the "Do" phase of the operation is ran properly. To get the "do" phase right, the actions performed in the Kaizen event must be easy to understand and objectives given must be direct, resources needed by team members must be readily on hand, and the Kaizen event's schedule must be air tight. When doing a Kaizen Blitz, the less days you are doing it, the better. Keep it under a week, even if you have to divide the event into two seperate weeks over a longer period of time.
Check - Review changes in productivity and wastes that you witnessed during the Kaizen Event. If the results at the end of the week indicate improvement, ensure that you monitor the new process with surveillance cameras to ensure that changes occur when you move on to the fourth stage of improvement following the Kaizen Blitz. This is also the stage in which camera footage can be used to compile and deliver a report to management.
Act - The "Act" stage is where surveillance camera footage is utilized. Recordings from the Kaizen Event can be used to aid in follow up meetings and training sessions, and the new process can be implemented if it is deemed less wasteful and more efficient. Camera footage of the event can also be used to evaluate and reward participants who did well during the test of the new process.