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Title: Kaizen Desk Reference Standard by Raphael L. Vitalo, Frank Butz, Joseph P. Vitalo ISBN: 0-9722810-4-5 Publisher: Vital Enterprises Pub. Date: April, 2003 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $99.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: This book provides much needed detailed information
Comment: The authors have performed a great service to those wishing to make improvements in their workplace by eliminating waste and improving efficiency. The Kaizen Desk Reference Standard provides much needed detailed information about the process and the approach to make those necessary improvements.
This reference for conducting a Kaizen event is full of very useful worksheets that structure the event. A detailed example of a simulated project is thoroughly documented providing completed worksheets demonstrating their use. Of particular interest, the text provides tips that are generously scattered throughout to help those with little experience to prepare for handling the road blocks that often occur in implementing change strategies. There are many forms that provide structure in conducting meetings, brainstorming sessions, documenting improvements, tracking changes, and taking corrective actions. As a bonus, the accompanying CD provides the templates of these forms either in PDF, M/S Word, or M/S Excel format. These useful templates are very well structured and apply to many improvement tasks attempted in the development of a high-performing organization.
Many of the resource tools demonstrated in the text apply to those trying to implement LEAN in manufacturing applications for the first time and serve to help structure a strategy for doing so. The step-by-step process demonstrated in the text combines many of the organizational and team leadership strategies to identify sources of wastes, develop process flow charts, handle team dynamics, developing consensus, identifying root causes, and documenting gains. Also, the text stresses the need for standardization of processes and the commitment of management in the process of change. Standardization requires accountability and responsible leadership in which there may be reluctance to adopt.
This text is a must read primer for anyone attempting to lead a Kaizen event or attempting to make changes within their workplace to foster the development of a high-performing organization. The step-by-step approach demonstrates a strategy that should yield greater success on the first attempt. Anyone involved in recommending change, should keep a copy of this text on their desk. It is easy to read, if full of examples, and is accompanied with a very useful selection of forms available to use for process improvements.
I would like to extend my thanks for a job well done.
James P. Wallace
Program Manager for TEEX Electronics
Regional Director for TMAC Statewide
Rating: 5
Summary: No Other Single Source Offers More and Better Guidance
Comment: Here in a single volume is indeed a (not necessarily "the") complete guide for applying Kaizen to continuously improve business results in any organization, regardless of size or nature. After providing brief Introduction, Overview of Kaizen, and Kaizen in Action sections, the co-authors carefully organize the substance of their material within a clever sequence of "Milestones":
A Document a Scope for the Kaizen Event
B Analyze Whether or Conduct a Kaizen Event
C Prepare for the Kaizen Event
D Perform the Kaizen Event
NOTE: Milestone E is the heart of the volume, once a commitment has been made. However, I strongly recommend that the preceding material (pages 1-161) be carefully re-read at least once (preferably twice) before proceeding. The road to Kaizen Hell is paved with good intentions.
And finally E, Institutionalize the Process Improvements. The authors are quite correct when noting that Kaizen makes two demands. "First, it requires that you commit yourself to bettering others as well as yourself because only then will you effectively engage a team of workers improving their workplace. And only when you think beyond yourself [beyond bunkers, silos, stovepipes, turf issues, etc.] will you [and associates] recognize all the issues that affect the production of successful and lasting improvements. Second, Kaizen demands that you risk failure. Only when you are willing to fail in the pursuit of excellence [viewed less as a destination than as a process] will you challenge -- and work to improve -- the status quo."
There are specific reasons why a substantial majority of process improvement initiatives (Six Sigma, Kaizen, etc.) fail. The reasons include lack of sufficient support from senior management, incompetent project leadership and management, unrealistic expectations (usually announced with fanfare), incomplete and/or defective measurement, breakdowns in communication, and lack of buy-in at the "shop floor" level. In fact, any one of these can result in eventual failure; combine two or more and you'll have a disaster. Of course, the authors of this book understand all this. That is why they also include two chapters which conclude their book: Customizing the Kaizen Process and Ending Note: Of Sanctity and Sacrilege. No two organizations are exactly the same. Moreover, the organization which launches a Kaizen process will undergo significant changes no matter how well or how badly that process proceeds.
Obviously, it makes no sense for a senior-level executive (even a CEO) to purchase this book and then announce to his associates "We're doing Kaizen!" It is absolutely essential for there to be a sensible and sensitive process of cultivation and solicitation by Kaizen advocates to gain the support of their colleagues BEFORE the word "Kaizen" is even mentioned. That is, engage colleagues in a dialogue to determine the nature and extent of what is in urgent need of improvement. The authors offer some excellent advice on what is, in effect, recruitment of interest and support. I presume to offer two suggestions of my own: Ask many more questions than the answers you provide (the fewer answers the better), and, use "fishboning" in conversations to penetrate beneath symptoms of problems to identify their root causes. Whatever the desired results may be, achieving them depends upon effective (continuously improving) communication to ensure cooperation, collaboration, and thereby sustainable consensus.
Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out other excellent sources which include Laraia, Moody, and Hall's The Kaizen Blitz: Accelerating Breakthroughs in Productivity and Performance; Womack and Jones's Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated; and Henderson's Lean Transformation: How to Change Your Business into a Lean Enterprise.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent book finally someone tells us how
Comment: I purchased this book thinking it might be of some help but I was really surprised to find that it does tell you step by step on how to do a kaizen event. I can tell the authors put a lot of work into this. They have made the process really easy to follow and they have included a CD with tools you can use. I love it and if you are looking for the real deal here it is.
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Title: Office Kaizen: Transforming Office Operations into a Strategic Competitive Advantage by William Lareau ISBN: 0873895568 Publisher: ASQ Quality Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Value Stream Management for the Lean Office by Don Tapping, Tom Shuker ISBN: 1563272466 Publisher: Productivity Press Inc Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: Quick Changeover for Operators: The Smed System (Shopfloor Series) by Productivity Press Development Team, Shigeo Shingo ISBN: 1563271257 Publisher: Productivity Press Inc Pub. Date: 01 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Practical Lean Accounting: A Proven System for Measuring and Managing the Lean Enterprise by Brian H. Maskell, Bruce Baggaley ISBN: 1563272431 Publisher: Productivity Press Inc Pub. Date: 01 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
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Title: 5S for Operators: 5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace (For Your Organization!) by Hiroyuki Hirano ISBN: 1563271230 Publisher: Productivity Press Inc Pub. Date: 01 November, 1996 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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