Idea bank · Kaizen and continuous improvement
Kaizen ideas: 120 improvement examples by department
Short answer
A kaizen idea is a small change, made by the people who do the work, that removes a waste, a defect or a risk. Below are 120 ideas that work in most plants, from shadow boards and first-piece checks to two-bin replenishment and quick near-miss reporting. Each one names the problem it fixes, how much effort it takes and the free template that helps you put it in place. Filter by department, by the waste it removes or by effort.
These are common shop-floor practices, not results from any one plant, so we give no savings figures. Measure the problem before you start and again after the change.
Department
Effort
Showing 120 of 120 ideas
Production (24)
Ideas for the line and the cell: walking, waiting, changeovers, flow and standard work.
- Low effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Operators walk to a shared toolbox or search for hand tools during the shift.
- Idea
- Hang the tools each station uses on a shadow board at that station, with an outline for each tool so a missing one is obvious.
- Medium effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Operators leave the station to fetch parts, gloves, labels or tape from a central store.
- Idea
- Store what each station uses at the station in labelled bins sized for a shift or less, and have a material handler refill them on a set route.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Nobody knows the line is behind until the end of the shift, when it is too late to recover.
- Idea
- Post an hour-by-hour board with the planned and actual count for each hour, and write a reason next to every missed hour.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- The machine stops while tools, dies, paperwork and material for the next job are found and brought over.
- Idea
- List everything the next job needs on a changeover checklist and stage it at the machine before the current run ends, so those steps happen while the machine still runs.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Changeovers lose minutes to undoing and refitting many bolts that are only loosened to swap a part.
- Idea
- Replace them with quarter-turn fasteners, clamps or locating pins, after engineering confirms the new fixing holds.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Nobody agrees how long a changeover really takes or where the time goes.
- Idea
- Film one changeover, list every step with its time, and mark each step as done with the machine stopped or running before choosing what to improve.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Operators who hit a problem wait until a supervisor happens to walk past.
- Idea
- Give each station an andon signal (a light, cord or button), agree who responds and within how long, and log every call with its response time.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Some stations are overloaded while the operators next to them wait for parts.
- Idea
- Time each work element, stack the elements by operator against takt time, and move work from the busiest station to the lightest.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Each shift runs the same station a slightly different way, and quality varies with it.
- Idea
- Agree the best current method, write the sequence, key points and timing on a standard work sheet, post it at the station and check it is followed.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- A wrong setting after a changeover is found only after a batch has been made.
- Idea
- Check the first good part against the specification after every changeover or adjustment, and do not release the run until it is signed off.
- Medium effort
- Overproduction
- Problem
- An upstream cell builds to its own schedule and piles work in progress in front of the next cell.
- Idea
- Link the two cells with kanban cards so the upstream cell only builds what the downstream cell has used.
- Low effort
- Inventory
- Problem
- Work in progress spreads over the floor between stations with no limit.
- Idea
- Mark a fixed WIP square between stations sized for the agreed amount. When it is full, the upstream operator stops and helps elsewhere.
- High effort
- Overproduction
- Problem
- Large batches mean long waits between operations and a lot of stock to clear when the product changes.
- Idea
- After changeover time comes down, cut batch sizes step by step and recalculate how often each product can be made (EPEI).
- High effort
- Transportation
- Problem
- Parts travel between distant departments for each operation and wait at every stop.
- Idea
- Draw the current flow of one product family, then group its machines into a cell in process order.
- Low effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Operators walk a lot during each cycle, but nobody has measured how far or why.
- Idea
- Trace one operator's path for a full cycle on a layout drawing, count the trips and move the most-visited items closer.
- Low effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Operators bend, twist or stretch for parts and tools many times an hour.
- Idea
- Rearrange the workstation so frequently used items sit between waist and shoulder height within easy reach, using angled or gravity-feed racks where they help.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- A machine keeps running after a fault and makes a run of bad parts before anyone notices.
- Idea
- Add a sensor or limit that stops the machine at the first abnormal condition and signals for help.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- When one experienced operator is absent, a station stands idle or runs slowly.
- Idea
- Use a skills matrix to find stations with fewer than three trained people and schedule cross-training for those first.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- The next shift starts by rediscovering problems the last shift already knew about.
- Idea
- Use a short handover sheet at the line covering safety, quality issues, machine status and open actions, signed by both shift leads.
- Low effort
- Unused talent
- Problem
- Operators hear about targets and problems second-hand, if at all.
- Idea
- Stand at the team board for ten minutes at the start of each shift: yesterday's results, today's plan, safety and one problem to work on.
- Low effort
- Unused talent
- Problem
- Operators' ideas get lost because there is no simple way to raise them and no reply when they do.
- Idea
- Put an idea board or card box in the team area, review new ideas at the daily huddle and answer every one within a week.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Supervisors cannot tell from the aisle which machines are down or why.
- Idea
- Fit a stack light or status card to each machine showing running, stopped, waiting for material or waiting for maintenance.
- Medium effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Assemblers pick dozens of small parts from bins for each unit and sometimes miss one.
- Idea
- Deliver the parts for each unit in a kit tray with a place for every part, so a missing part shows before assembly starts.
- Medium effort
- Extra processing
- Problem
- Parts are polished, deburred, inspected or packed to a higher standard than the customer asks for.
- Idea
- Walk the process with engineering and quality, check each step against the drawing and customer requirement, and remove the ones that add nothing the customer needs.
Maintenance (20)
Ideas that keep machines running: operator care, preventive maintenance, spares and learning from breakdowns.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Small problems such as loose bolts, leaks and dirt build up until the machine fails.
- Idea
- Give operators a short daily routine to clean, inspect, lubricate and retighten their machine, with a picture for each check.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Operators notice leaks, noises and loose guards, but the information never reaches maintenance.
- Idea
- Hang a tag on each abnormality, log it on a tag board and review open tags with maintenance every week.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Lubrication points are missed or get the wrong lubricant.
- Idea
- Colour-code each lubrication point to match its grease gun or oil can, and list every point with its interval on a lubrication schedule.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Operators cannot tell whether a pressure or temperature reading is normal.
- Idea
- Mark the normal range on each gauge face with a green band so an out-of-range reading stands out at a glance.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Bolts loosen on vibrating equipment and nobody notices until something fails.
- Idea
- Paint a line across each critical nut and the surface behind it, so a nut that has turned is visible during daily checks.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Breakdowns are fixed but not recorded, so the same failures keep coming back.
- Idea
- Record every stop with the machine, start and end time, cause and fix, and review the top causes each week.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Every machine gets the same maintenance effort, whatever a failure would cost.
- Idea
- Rank equipment by what a failure would do to safety, quality and output, and set preventive maintenance and spare parts by that rank.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- How well preventive maintenance is done depends on which technician does it.
- Idea
- Write a checklist for each machine with the tasks, intervals, tools and acceptance values, and record each completion.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Preventive maintenance slips when the schedule is busy, and nobody notices until something fails.
- Idea
- Track the share of PM work done on time each week on the maintenance board and review every missed job.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Big breakdowns are repaired quickly, but the cause is never investigated.
- Idea
- For every breakdown longer than an agreed time, run a short why-why analysis with the technician and operator and record the countermeasure.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- A failed part has to be ordered and the machine waits for days.
- Idea
- List the spares for critical machines, set a minimum stock for each and use two bins so reordering starts before the shelf is empty.
- Low effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Technicians spend time looking for parts and tools in the maintenance store.
- Idea
- Red-tag obsolete parts, label every location and put shared tools on a shadow board.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Requests arrive by radio, phone and sticky note, and some are forgotten.
- Idea
- Use one work order form for every request, with the machine, priority and description, and one queue the planner works from.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Technicians spend the day reacting and planned work never starts.
- Idea
- Agree next week's maintenance work with production every Friday and protect the time for preventive maintenance and backlog jobs.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- The quality of a repair varies between technicians doing the same job.
- Idea
- Write step-by-step procedures with photos for frequent repairs and rebuilds, starting with the jobs behind the most repeat failures.
- Low effort
- Unused talent
- Problem
- A fix one technician found is unknown to the others, so they solve it again from scratch.
- Idea
- Capture the fix on a single page with photos and go through it at the next shift meeting.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Nobody can say whether maintenance is getting better or worse.
- Idea
- Work out mean time between failures and mean time to repair each month for the ten machines that stop most, and post the trend.
- Medium effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Covers are slow to remove, so inspections inside the machine get skipped.
- Idea
- Fit clear inspection windows or hinged covers where a check needs a view inside, after a safety review of the guarding.
- Medium effort
- Extra processing
- Problem
- Dust, chips or leaks keep fouling a machine, and cleaning takes longer every week.
- Idea
- Find where the contamination comes from and contain it with shields, drip trays or new seals instead of cleaning more often.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- The maintenance backlog keeps growing and old jobs are never closed.
- Idea
- Review the backlog every week, close jobs that are no longer needed and give the rest a priority and a planned date.
Quality (20)
Ideas that stop defects being made or passed on: error-proofing, checks at the source and fixes that hold.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Defects are fixed on the spot and never counted, so nobody knows which ones are common.
- Idea
- Keep a check sheet at the station listing the common defect types and tally each one by hour, so the pattern shows by the end of the week.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- The team chases whichever defect was complained about last.
- Idea
- Make a Pareto chart of last month's defects by count and by cost, and pick the top one or two for a root-cause project.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- A part can be fitted the wrong way round, and sometimes is.
- Idea
- Change the fixture or the part so it only fits one way, for example with a pin, a notch or an asymmetric shape.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- An assembler sometimes misses a screw or a clip.
- Idea
- Give out the exact number of fasteners per unit in a tray, or use a counter on the tool, so a leftover or a short count stops the unit.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Inspectors disagree on what counts as a cosmetic defect, so the same part passes on one shift and fails on the next.
- Idea
- Make good, borderline and reject samples with photos for each defect type, post them at the inspection point and train every inspector on them.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- An escape is found, but other shifts and lines keep making the same mistake.
- Idea
- Post a one-page alert with photos of good and bad at every affected station within the shift, and take it down only when the fix is confirmed.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Suspect product keeps moving while the cause is being investigated.
- Idea
- Agree a containment routine (stop, quarantine, sort, record quantities) that runs before any root-cause work starts.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Corrective actions treat the symptom and the defect comes back.
- Idea
- When a defect returns after being closed, run a 5 Whys or fishbone session with the people who do the work before agreeing a new action.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Customer complaints get a quick reply but no proof that the fix worked.
- Idea
- Answer complaints with an 8D report that covers containment, root cause, corrective action and a check that the action worked before closing.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Corrective actions agreed in meetings are forgotten.
- Idea
- Keep one log with an owner, due date and verification step for every action, and review overdue items weekly.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Process checks drift once the launch team moves on.
- Idea
- Run short audits of the critical process steps, with supervisors, managers and plant leaders each auditing on a set frequency.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Settings are adjusted after every measurement, which adds variation instead of removing it.
- Idea
- Plot one critical dimension on a control chart and adjust only when a point falls outside the limits or shows a non-random pattern.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Two inspectors measure the same part and get different results.
- Idea
- Run a gage R&R study on the gauges used for critical checks and fix the measurement before acting on its data.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Gauges go out of calibration and nobody knows which parts they measured.
- Idea
- Label each gauge with its calibration due date and keep a calibration log, so an overdue gauge is taken out of use.
- High effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Process risks are reviewed only when a new product launches.
- Idea
- Update the process FMEA whenever a defect escapes or the process changes, and work down the highest-risk failure modes.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Bad supplier parts are found on the line instead of at receiving.
- Idea
- Inspect the parts with the worst history at receiving, with a sampling plan and a clear routine for rejects.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Suppliers hear about quality problems only when there is a crisis.
- Idea
- Send key suppliers a monthly scorecard on quality, delivery and response time, review it with them each quarter and raise a SCAR for repeat problems.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Defects are caught only at final inspection, after more work has been added to the part.
- Idea
- Move simple checks to the station that makes the defect and give operators the authority to stop and fix it there.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Scrap and rework are counted in units, so their cost is invisible to management.
- Idea
- Each month, cost scrap, rework, returns and extra inspection on one worksheet and share the total with the plant team.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Defects rise after a new operator, a new material lot, a repaired machine or a changed method.
- Idea
- Record every such change on a change-point board and add extra checks on the first parts after it.
Warehouse and logistics (20)
Ideas for receiving, storage, picking, line feeding and shipping.
- Medium effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Fast-moving items are stored at the back, so pickers walk furthest for the most common picks.
- Idea
- Rank items by how often they are picked and move the fastest movers closest to where picking starts and ends.
- Low effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Pickers hunt for items that have no fixed location.
- Idea
- Give every item a labelled location and update the location list whenever an item moves.
- Low effort
- Inventory
- Problem
- The system shows a part in stock, but the shelf is empty.
- Idea
- Count a few locations every day, the fastest movers most often, and fix the cause of each error you find.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Consumables run out on the line because nobody noticed they were low.
- Idea
- Use two bins per item. When the first is empty it goes back to stores as the reorder signal while the second is used.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Deliveries sit on the dock because nobody knows they have arrived.
- Idea
- Log each delivery with time, supplier, order number and status, and track the time from dock to stock.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Trucks arrive together and queue at the dock, while other hours are quiet.
- Idea
- Give suppliers and carriers delivery slots and track arrivals against them.
- High effort
- Transportation
- Problem
- Material reaches the line in large, irregular forklift loads.
- Idea
- Set up a fixed route with a tugger or cart that visits each line at a set interval and replaces what was used.
- Low effort
- Transportation
- Problem
- Pallets and carts left in aisles block forklifts and walkways.
- Idea
- Mark storage, work in progress, walkways and forklift lanes with one colour code and keep marked areas clear.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Line stops for missing material are blamed on purchasing with no detail.
- Idea
- Log each shortage with the part, time, line affected and cause, and review the top causes with purchasing and planning.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Wrong items or quantities reach the customer.
- Idea
- Check labels, quantities and packaging against the order before loading.
- Medium effort
- Inventory
- Problem
- Racks are full of stock that has not moved in a long time.
- Idea
- Tag items with no movement in an agreed period and decide with finance whether to use, return, sell or scrap them.
- Medium effort
- Extra processing
- Problem
- Parts arrive in packaging that has to be opened and repacked into line bins.
- Idea
- Agree returnable containers or line-ready packs with key suppliers, so parts go straight to the point of use.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Forklift faults are found only after something goes wrong.
- Idea
- Make the pre-shift inspection a signed checklist and take a truck out of use when a safety item fails.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Damaged racking goes unreported until it gets worse.
- Idea
- Inspect racking on a schedule, mark damage by severity and unload damaged bays until they are repaired.
- Low effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Pick lists are printed in order-line order, so pickers zigzag through the warehouse.
- Idea
- Sort each pick list in the order of the walking route through the locations.
- Low effort
- Transportation
- Problem
- Finished goods wait in random places before shipping and some go on the wrong truck.
- Idea
- Mark a staging lane for each carrier or route and stage shipments in loading order.
- Medium effort
- Inventory
- Problem
- Reorder points were set years ago and no longer match demand.
- Idea
- Recalculate minimum and maximum levels or kanban quantities from current usage and lead time, starting with the items that run out most.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Goods are damaged in handling and the cause is never found.
- Idea
- Record each case with a photo, location and handling step, and chart the causes monthly.
- Low effort
- Inventory
- Problem
- Nobody can see at a glance which items are running low or overstocked.
- Idea
- Mark minimum and maximum levels on the rack or bin with coloured lines.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Housekeeping and safety in the warehouse slip between formal audits.
- Idea
- Walk the warehouse weekly with a short checklist and fix the findings before the next walk.
Safety (20)
Ideas that find and remove hazards before anyone is hurt.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Near misses go unreported because the form is long or people fear blame.
- Idea
- Use a one-page form or a QR code in each area, allow anonymous reports and tell people what changed after each one.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Unsafe habits are addressed only after someone gets hurt.
- Idea
- Have supervisors and peers make short observations, talk with the person observed and record safe and at-risk behaviours.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Non-routine and high-risk jobs start without anyone reviewing the hazards.
- Idea
- Fill in a job safety analysis with the crew before the job, listing each step, its hazards and the controls.
- Medium effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Lockout relies on general rules, but the isolation points differ from machine to machine.
- Idea
- Write a lockout procedure for each machine with a photo of every energy isolation point, and post it on the machine.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Safety briefings are generic and people stop listening.
- Idea
- Start the shift with a five-minute talk on one hazard that applies to that day's work.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Every hazard on the list gets the same attention.
- Idea
- Score each hazard for severity and likelihood on a risk matrix and work on the highest scores first.
- Medium effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Lifting, twisting and repetitive motions cause strain and fatigue.
- Idea
- Assess the stations with the most complaints with an ergonomic checklist and fix the riskiest tasks first, for example with lift assists or height-adjustable benches.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- The team does not see safety performance from day to day.
- Idea
- Keep a safety cross calendar on the team board and colour each day by what happened: nothing, a near miss, first aid or a recordable injury.
- Medium effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Incident investigations stop at "operator error" and nothing else changes.
- Idea
- Use a structured report that asks why the error was possible and records a change to the job, the equipment or the system.
- Medium effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Pedestrians and forklifts share the same aisles.
- Idea
- Separate them with floor marking and barriers, and add crossing points with clear sight lines.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Safety checks are irregular and depend on who is on shift.
- Idea
- Audit each area monthly with the same checklist and track every finding to closure.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- PPE is not where it is needed, so people skip it for short tasks.
- Idea
- Put a PPE station at the entrance to each area that needs it, with a sign showing what to wear.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- A spill sits on the floor while someone looks for the right materials.
- Idea
- Place labelled spill kits near where oils and chemicals are used and add them to the area audit.
- Medium effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Guards are removed to clear jams and not always put back.
- Idea
- Add guard and interlock checks to the operator's start-up checklist, and treat frequent jams as a problem to fix.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Clutter, cables and offcuts on the floor cause slips and trips.
- Idea
- Run a 5S sort and shine in the area, then agree a short clean-up standard for the end of every shift.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- New and temporary workers start on the line before they know its hazards.
- Idea
- Add an area-specific safety walk and sign-off to onboarding before anyone works unsupervised.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Teams stop noticing hazards they walk past every day.
- Idea
- Send small teams on a short hazard hunt in an area that is not their own, and act on what they find.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Emergency stops are hard to reach or have not been tested.
- Idea
- Check that every emergency stop is visible and reachable, test each one on a schedule and log the result.
- Low effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Chemicals decanted into bottles and buckets are not labelled.
- Idea
- Label every secondary container with the product name and its hazards, and remove any unlabelled container.
- Medium effort
- Safety risk
- Problem
- Poor lighting at a station causes mistakes and eye strain.
- Idea
- Measure light levels at the stations with the most errors or complaints and add task lighting where it is low.
Office and admin (16)
Ideas for paperwork, approvals, meetings and handoffs between departments.
- Low effort
- Motion
- Problem
- Shared folders are full of old files, so finding the current version takes time.
- Idea
- Archive or delete old files, agree a folder structure and a file naming rule, and audit the folder each month.
- Medium effort
- Extra processing
- Problem
- The plant runs on dozens of paper forms that are retyped into spreadsheets.
- Idea
- List each form, who fills it in and where the data goes, then retire duplicates and move the most-used forms first.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Purchase requests and changes need many signatures and wait days at each one.
- Idea
- Map the approval route, note the waiting time at each step and remove approvals that do not change the decision.
- Low effort
- Extra processing
- Problem
- The same customer and supplier questions are answered from scratch every time.
- Idea
- Write standard replies and short checklists for the most common requests and keep them where the team can find them.
- Low effort
- Extra processing
- Problem
- Meetings run long and end without decisions.
- Idea
- Use a fixed agenda with a time limit for each item and close every meeting with actions, owners and dates.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Tasks fall between departments because nobody is sure who owns them.
- Idea
- Agree who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed for each process that crosses departments.
- Low effort
- Overproduction
- Problem
- Reports are produced every week that nobody reads.
- Idea
- List the regular reports, ask who uses each one and for what decision, and stop or merge the rest.
- Low effort
- Inventory
- Problem
- Office work in progress is invisible, so priorities change every day.
- Idea
- Put the team's work on a board with to do, doing and done columns, and limit how many items can be in progress.
- Low effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Order entry mistakes lead to the wrong product being made or shipped.
- Idea
- Add a short checklist or required fields to order entry and tally the types of error that still get through.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Invoices are held because the order, the receipt and the invoice do not match.
- Idea
- Record the reason for every mismatch for a month and fix the top cause with purchasing and receiving.
- Low effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- New starters wait days for accounts, equipment, PPE and access.
- Idea
- Use one onboarding checklist that HR, IT and the manager start before the first day.
- Low effort
- Unused talent
- Problem
- Only one person knows how to run month-end or another periodic task.
- Idea
- Write the steps as an SOP with screenshots and have a second person run the task once using it.
- Low effort
- Unused talent
- Problem
- Office staff do not think lean applies to their work.
- Idea
- Walk one office process with the people who do it, using the eight wastes as the checklist, and pick one waste to remove.
- Medium effort
- Defects
- Problem
- Engineering changes reach the floor late or without updated documents.
- Idea
- Route every change through one request form that lists the documents, training and stock affected before release.
- Medium effort
- Waiting
- Problem
- Problems raised on the floor wait for the next weekly meeting.
- Idea
- Set up short team, area and plant meetings in sequence each day, with a rule for which unsolved problems move up a tier.
- Low effort
- Unused talent
- Problem
- Implemented ideas are never acknowledged, so people stop putting them forward.
- Idea
- Thank the people behind each implemented idea at the team meeting or on the board, soon after it is done, and show what changed.
How to use this list
- 1
Start from a problem you can see
Pick the department, then the waste that hurts most in your area: walking, waiting, defects or a hazard. An idea that fixes a problem the team already complains about gets tried.
- 2
Try the low-effort ideas first
Low-effort ideas fit inside a team's own area and authority. Use a just do it card, make the change this week and note what changed.
- 3
Measure before and after
Count the stops, defects, steps or minutes for a few days before the change and the same number of days after it. Without a before, nobody can tell whether it worked.
- 4
Make it the standard, then share it
Update the standard work, checklist or one-point lesson so the change survives the next shift, and show it to the teams with the same problem.
Low effort
The team can do it within its own area in a day or two, with little or no spending.
Medium effort
A few weeks, a small budget or help from another department, such as maintenance or engineering.
High effort
A project: capital spending, layout changes or several departments, run with a charter and a plan.
What each waste type means
- Defects
- Scrap, rework, returns and errors that need fixing.
- Overproduction
- Making more, or earlier, than the next step needs.
- Waiting
- People or machines idle for parts, information, a decision or a repair.
- Unused talent
- Not using people's knowledge, skills and ideas.
- Transportation
- Moving material further or more often than needed.
- Inventory
- Stock and work in progress beyond what the process needs.
- Motion
- Walking, reaching, bending and searching that adds no value.
- Extra processing
- Work the customer does not need or pay for.
- Safety risk
- Not one of the eight wastes, but a hazard most teams fix with the same routine.
More on each waste in the glossary entry on the eight wastes.
Templates for running the ideas
Free templates for collecting ideas, making small changes and running bigger ones as a team.
- Idea suggestion formA one-page idea form with the supervisor's answer and points, and an idea log that tracks days to answer.
- Just Do It (JDI) card templateSix Just Do It cards per sheet for quick fixes, with the rules for what counts and a log of every card.
- Quick kaizen templateOne page for a small improvement: before and after, the cause, the countermeasure, the results and whether the standard changed.
- Waste walk checklist (TIMWOODS)32 things to look for across the eight wastes, with where and how much, and a findings log with dot votes, owners and dates.
- Kaizen event charter templateScope, team and roles, baseline and target metrics, a five-day schedule, risks and sign-off.
Read next: Kaizen teian, the individual suggestion system, what a kaizen event is and the kaizen and continuous improvement topic.
By industry: food and beverage, automotive and industrial and HVAC equipment lean playbooks.
Choosing software: best kaizen software and best idea management software, compared.
Running ideas in LeanSuite
- Idea ManagementCollect ideas from frontline teams in one place, review them quickly and turn the best ones into improvement projects.See Idea Management
- Continuous Improvement SoftwareManage every improvement project in one visual hub, from a small kaizen event to a full DMAIC project, and track each one through to results.See Continuous Improvement Software
FAQ
Kaizen ideas: common questions
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