What is the difference between kaizen and a kaizen event?

Kaizen is continuous improvement through small, frequent changes made by the people who do the work. A kaizen event is one short, focused project, usually a few days to a week, in which a cross-functional team improves one defined process.

How long is a kaizen event?

Usually a few days to a week. This template uses the common five-day format, but the schedule can be shortened to suit a smaller scope.

Who should sign the kaizen event charter?

At least the sponsor, who owns the result and provides the people and time, the process owner, who has to live with the new method, and the team leader. Signing means they agree the scope, team, targets and dates.

What happens after the kaizen event?

The open actions are tracked with owners and dates, the new standard work is checked on the floor, and a follow-up review, often at 30 days, confirms the results held against the targets in the charter.

Is a kaizen event charter the same as an A3?

No. The charter plans an event: scope, team, targets and schedule. An A3 tells the story of solving one problem. A team may use an A3 during the event to work through the problem it was set up to fix.

Free template

Kaizen event charter template

A kaizen event charter is the short agreement, signed before a kaizen event starts, that sets its scope, the team and their roles, the metrics it will move from baseline to target, the day-by-day schedule, the risks and who signs off. It keeps a short, intense improvement event focused on one process and one goal. This template covers all of that on two portrait pages, with a typical five-day schedule you can change.

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Page 1 of the kaizen event charter template: fields for event name, dates, sponsor and team leader, and sections for the problem, scope, team and roles, and metrics. — Scope in and outTeam and rolesBaseline and target metricsDay 1-5 scheduleRisksSign-off

When to use it

When to write a kaizen event charter

Two to four weeks before a kaizen event, when the sponsor and the team leader agree what it is for.
When the event needs people, time or money from more than one department.
To brief the team on day one, and at the report-out to compare results with the targets.

How to fill it in

1
Name the event and the people
The event, the area or process, dates, location, sponsor, process owner, team leader and facilitator.
2
Write the problem and the reason
What is wrong today, with the data that shows it, and why it matters now.
3
Set the scope
Where the process starts and ends, what is in scope and what is not. The out-of-scope list prevents arguments on day three.
4
Choose the team and roles
Include people who do the work every day, plus support from maintenance, quality or engineering as needed, and check they are free for the whole event.
5
Fill in the metrics
For each metric, the baseline, the target, the unit and how it is measured. Measure the baseline before the event, not during it.
6
Adjust the schedule
The template has a typical five-day plan. Write your own plan, times and people next to it.
7
List risks and constraints
For example production that cannot stop or parts that arrive late, with how you will handle each one and who owns it.
8
Sign it off
The sponsor, the process owner and the team leader sign before day one, and set the report-out and 30-day follow-up dates.

A filled-in example

Illustrative, not a benchmark

A five-day event to cut lead time through a packing area.

Scope: from the packing line infeed to wrapped pallets; the warehouse is out of scope.
Metrics: lead time through packing from 2 days to 1, work in progress from 120 cases to 60, first pass yield from 94% to 98%.
Team: two packers, a forklift driver, a maintenance technician, the area supervisor as team leader and a CI engineer as facilitator.
Risk: packing cannot stop for more than four hours a day, so trials run on the second shift.

Everyone knows before day one what the event is for, where it stops, and how success will be measured at the report-out.

Common mistakes

A scope that is too big
“Improve the plant” is not an event. One process, one goal, one week.
No baseline before day one
Without a measured starting point, the results cannot be proved at the report-out.
No one on the team who does the work
The people who run the process know where the waste is and have to live with the new method.
An absent sponsor
The sponsor should clear obstacles during the week and attend the report-out.
No plan for open actions
Some actions always remain after day five. Give each one an owner and a date, and hold the 30-day review.

In LeanSuite

Use this as a Lean Studio board

The same method is one of the 30 ready-made board templates in Lean Studio, LeanSuite's whiteboard: Kaizen Event Report, summarize a kaizen event: before and after states, measured results, and the actions.

Start from the Kaizen Event Report template once the charter is agreed: before, after, results and actions on one board.
Fill the before panel from the charter and the after panel on the last day, with a Column Graph widget for before-and-after numbers.
Move the actions to a Kaizen Action Tracker board and give each an owner and a date.

Worked example · sample data

The sample report closes a changeover event on press 2. Before: 42 minutes on average, with the die pre-heated inside the press and tools fetched from the tool room part-way through. After: 29 minutes across 12 changeovers, with the die pre-heated off-line on a stand and a changeover cart carrying every tool. Results: 13 minutes saved per changeover, and with three changeovers a day, 39 minutes of press time back each day. Three follow-up actions carry the gain: a second pre-heat stand by 30 June (T. Nguyen), the updated standard by 14 June (M. Osei), and training for the night setter by 21 June (A. Kaur). The actions moved to the kaizen action tracker, and the 30-day check was booked for the week of 7 July.

Before

Changeover on press 2: 42 min average
Die pre-heated in the press
Tools fetched from the tool room mid-changeover

After

Changeover 29 min on 12 runs
Die pre-heated off-line on a stand
Changeover cart with every tool

Results

13 min saved per changeover
3 changeovers a day: 39 min of press time back

Actions

Second pre-heat stand · T. Nguyen · 30 Jun
Update the standard · M. Osei · 14 Jun
Train the night setter · A. Kaur · 21 Jun

Open this board in LeanSuite

Kaizen Event Report is one of the 30 ready-made boards in Lean Studio, LeanSuite's whiteboard. Try LeanSuite in your browser, or run it on your own lines for 90 days.

See it in action Start a 90-day pilot

What Lean Studio is

How to run a Kaizen Event Report session

1Fill the before panel from the charter before the event starts: the problem, the baseline numbers and a photo of the area.
2Update the board each day of the event so the team sees the story forming, and so the report is written by the end of the last day, not the week after.
3Measure the after state the same way the before was measured, on the last day, and put both numbers side by side.
4List every follow-up action with an owner and a date, then move them to a kaizen action tracker for the 30-day follow-up.
5Present the report at the board in ten minutes to the sponsor and the area, and check the result again at 30 days.

Common mistakes

Before numbers estimated after the event. Measure them before, or the result cannot be trusted.
A report full of activities and no measured result.
Follow-up actions with no dates, so the gain erodes within a month.
Writing the report a week later, when the details have gone.
Not training the other shifts. An event that changed the day shift changed a third of the line.

Where it goes next in LeanSuite

The event runs as a Kaizen project: projected and actual savings, hard and soft, are recorded against plant targets, every action has an owner and a due date, and Presentation mode turns the project into slides for the review. Kaizen & Projects
Training the night setter is a skill level on the skills matrix that rises when the trainer signs off on a tablet. Competency Management

Download the template

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

Do this in LeanSuite

LeanSuite manages every improvement project, from a small Kaizen event to a full DMAIC project, in one visual hub and tracks each one through to results.

Kaizen event charter template

When to write a kaizen event charter

How to fill it in

Name the event and the people

Write the problem and the reason

Set the scope

Choose the team and roles

Fill in the metrics

Adjust the schedule

List risks and constraints

Sign it off

A filled-in example

Common mistakes

A scope that is too big

No baseline before day one

No one on the team who does the work

An absent sponsor

No plan for open actions

Use this as a Lean Studio board

Open this board in LeanSuite

How to run a Kaizen Event Report session

Common mistakes

Where it goes next in LeanSuite

Download the template

Do this in LeanSuite

In the lean glossary

Free tools

Guides

Kaizen event charter template: common questions

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