The German plant of an international group of companies with 1,500 employees manufactures mechatronic parts for various automotive suppliers in a competitive market. In order to continuously increase competitiveness, the site management (CEO and COO) decided to make even better use of the skills and ideas of the entire workforce in future. The culture of continuous improvement was to be introduced with the necessary lean and kaizen tools (mindset & toolset). The main aim of the cultural change was to use the knowledge and experience of the employees to shorten the development times for new parts and the delivery times for current parts. In other words, the aim was to increase added value, reduce waste and gradually improve quality from the customer's perspective. The interim manager was in charge of the project for around seven months and was regularly available as a Kaizen coach for the entire duration of two years.
Lean and Kaizen program failed at first attempt under different leadership
Another consultant was initially commissioned to set up and introduce a corresponding Lean and Kaizen program. In this context, a Kaizen core team was formed from second-tier managers. Over a period of around twelve months, the team members completed a value stream event, lean training for managers and several kaizen workshops. However, the Kaizen spark did not spread to the team. And the pilot projects did not make any real progress either.
In the meantime, the group's executive team had given all plants worldwide the task of introducing Kaizen and linked a relevant part of the bonus of the respective plant management to the success of this Kaizen introduction. At the end of 2018, the plant in Germany was in last place in a comparison of all plants in the group.
Kaizen strategy workshop paves the way for a successful mindset
In this situation, the plant management decided to bring the interim manager on board. He first clarified the kaizen goals and scope with the site management. He then analyzed the current situation. To do this, he spoke intensively with the managers and the pilot teams. He also evaluated the available data and documents. The result was that the cultural change had failed primarily due to a lack of acceptance for the Kaizen method. The interim manager therefore agreed with the site management to develop a programme for the "Kaizen mindset" and to anchor it positively throughout the entire organization.
To this end, the interim manager initiated a Kaizen strategy workshop with the entire management team, in which the target state and the Kaizen roadmap were defined. At the end of the workshop, all members of the management team had signed a personal declaration of commitment to implementing Kaizen. This commitment was then presented to the entire workforce. It was displayed in the entrance area for all to see (including visitors and customers). The commitment of the managers laid the foundation for the successful Kaizen mindset - and the Kaizen program could begin.
Four pillars of the Kaizen Transformation Roadmap
The 24-month Kaizen Transformation Roadmap was essentially based on four pillars: Kaizen for teams in day-to-day business, Kaizen for managers, Kaizen in projects and Kaizen in infrastructure & governance. Each of the four pillars comprises four development stages, which were generally run through one after the other. The aim was to improve processes step by step without overburdening the organization and people in terms of content or speed of implementation.
Kaizen in day-to-day business
The "Kaizen in day-to-day business" pillar formed the foundation for the future improvement culture in the company. The first stage comprised measures to develop the teams and departments, such as roles and responsibilities, basic processes, morning meetings, team boards, visualization and success metrics. Stage two covered the entire workplace organization including a 5S initiative. This laid the foundations for defining work standards in the teams in stage three and continuously improving them in stage four.
Kaizen for managers
The "Kaizen for managers" pillar focused on defining goals from a customer perspective, "Go To GEMBA" (the place of value creation), "Learning To See" (learning to see waste) and, in particular, preparing existing managers for their new role as "servant leaders" (servant leadership and empowerment of teams) and coaching them on the job.
Kaizen in projects
The third pillar, "Kaizen in projects", started with a value stream analysis, combined with a cross-divisional optimization of the key value streams from the customer's perspective. The current difficulties of effective collaboration at the interfaces became particularly clear here. The Kaizen projects derived from the analysis were processed using the A3 methodology or - if sufficient - the PDCA methodology.
Kaizen Infrastructure & Governance
The fourth pillar, "Kaizen Infrastructure & Governance", managed the overall Kaizen program in a similar way to a Project Management Office (PMO). It is dedicated to know-how, competence building and the gradual, targeted development of all those involved. For this purpose, a "Mission Control Room" was set up in the plant, which is called "OBEYA" in Kaizen and is actively used as a control center on a daily basis. All the key elements of the Kaizen transformation program are displayed on the walls of the OBEYA. These include the Group's corporate values and strategy, the plant's objectives, the local Kaizen roadmap, a Kanban board, details of the four Kaizen pillars, an A3 project overview, success stories and good practices.
Kaizen transformation: from last place to first place in six months
Several projects were successfully completed in the first six months. The key figures defined in the strategy workshop developed in the desired direction. All teams and departments are now involved in the Kaizen transformation and are gradually improving their capabilities. In addition to short and practical training sessions, the Kaizen culture development was based in particular on the understanding and situational application of the Kaizen principles as well as on the on-the-job coaching of all those involved by the interim manager. The Kaizen spark has been ignited, and not just in the core team. With increasing enthusiasm, the Kaizen principles were also lived more and more day by day in the specialist departments. Processes and organization were improved step by step. Today, Kaizen is not just understood and used as a toolbox, but rather as a programme for employee, management and organizational development.
During the course of the project, a corporate audit team from the Group discovered that the German plant ultimately topped the list of all plants in terms of Kaizen transformation. This had not been expected, as it had been in last place before the project began.
German plant as a blueprint for Group-wide Kaizen program
Employees from the company headquarters and other plants visited the German plant more and more frequently to learn for their own Kaizen path. The company headquarters announced that the approach and experiences from the German plant would be used as a "blueprint" for a Group-wide Kaizen programme in 2020.
The plant management and employees are deservedly very proud to have been recognized and acknowledged as "best practice" in just over six months. This has given everyone involved additional motivation to continue on the path of continuous improvement - with the aim of strengthening competitiveness in the highly competitive automotive supply industry market.
