The Journey Toward Lean Manufacturing: Applying The Kaizen Blitz Method To Improving Operations

Abstract

The authors researched an interesting example of the application of the Kaizen Blitz method to improving operations in a clean-room plant located in a suburb of Minneapolis, MN, USA, which is part of a division of a large, international medical products manufacturing company. Heart-lung devices used in open heart surgery are manufactured in the plant. Under pressure to reduce medical costs and having benchmark data from competitors, it was clear that operations involved in manufacturing the heart-lung devices had lead times that were too long, required far too much inventory, were too labor-intensive in spite of using several expensive automated procedures, and had comparatively low yield rates, resulting in far too much waste. The information and data gathered by the authors were organized into a case study that is suitable for teaching process improvement methods in a university course as well as for industry training. The case details the context in which the Kaizen Blitz method was used, how it was applied, documents before and after conditions with key performance statistics, as well as provides background information on the Kaizen Blitz method. Selected references and sources are also provided.

Redesigning and optimizing an electronic device assembly cell through lean manufacturing tools and kaizen philosophy: an application case study

“…Value stream mapping (VSM) is a tool that visualizes the material and information flow and helps identify bottlenecks that impede the flow. It is a tool that helps see and understand the flow of material and information as the product progresses through the value stream (Hines et al, 1998;Gander and Snyder, 2002;Rother and Shook, 2003;Singh et al, 2011).…”

Pendekatan Value Stream Mapping Pada Optimalisasi Proses Dan Peningkatan Produktivitas

“…Value stream mapping adalah alat yang menggambarkan aliran material dan informasi dalam proses manufaktur mulai dari hulu ke hilir (Deshkar et al, 2018), menjelaskan hubungan antar beberapa bagian dalam proses manufaktur (Gander & Snyder, 2011), dan digunakan sebagai alat perbaikan proses agar menjadi lebih efisien (Verma & Sharma, 2016).…”

“…Kaizen blitz merupakan rincian proses pada suatu pemetaan hasil observasi, yang terdiri dari masalah dan hambatan yang harus segera di tanggulangi dengan mempertimbangkan persyaratan tertentu (Stonemetz et al, 2011). Eliminase pemborosan pada proses menjadi fokus perbaikan, pada konsep kaizen blitz umumnya terdapat empat tahap: a) analisis kondisi proses yang sedang berjalan saat ini, b) membangun rencana aktivitas secara detail, c) pelaksanaan perbaikan dan sosialisasi kepada anggota, d) mempertahankan atau meningkatkan perbaikan secara terus-menerus (Gander & Snyder, 2011).…”

“…Seperti dalam penelitian sebelumnya, metode VSM ini dapat menemukan pemborosan yang belum terlihat (Kundgol et al, 2021). Pemborosan hanya menambah waktu, biaya, serta tidak memberikan nilai tambah pada proses (Gander & Snyder, 2011). Sesuai identifikasi pemborosan menggunakan kaizen blitz, dapat diidentifikasi pemborosan terbesar pada lead time stagnasi sebesar 69895 detik.…”