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Kaizen project plan (Gantt chart)
A kaizen project plan is the schedule of one improvement project: the tasks from charter to close-out in order, who does each, how long it takes, what it waits for, and when it should start and finish, drawn as a Gantt chart so the team can see at a glance what is running and what is late. This template has the project, sponsor, lead and goal metric at the top, then task rows with a phase (plan, do, check, act), owner, predecessor, start, working days, finish and % done against a 16-week grid, milestones and reviews, and a plain status rule: compare the % planned by the status date with the % done. Page 2 works an example. The Excel version works out each start and finish from the project start and the predecessor in working days (finish to start, with your holidays), draws the bars, marks milestones and the status date's week, flags late tasks and adds up each phase and the project, weighted by days.
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
When to use it
When to use a kaizen project plan
- For an improvement project that runs for weeks, with tasks that wait on each other: a changeover reduction, a layout change, a quality fix with parts on order.
- When a kaizen event leaves follow-up work that needs dates and owners after the event week.
- To show a sponsor in one picture what is done, what is late and what it holds up.
- To plan one project from a value stream plan in detail, task by task.
How to fill it in
- 1
Fill in the project header
Project name, sponsor, project lead, the goal metric with its baseline and target, and the start date. One metric and one target, as on the charter.
- 2
List the tasks by phase
Write the tasks in the order they happen under plan, do, check and act, each with one owner. Add milestones, such as the results review, as tasks with 0 days.
- 3
Give each task its days and predecessor
Working days for each task and the number of the task it has to wait for. A task starts the next working day after its predecessor finishes; give it an earliest start if it also has to wait for a date, like a 30-day check.
- 4
Work out the dates and draw the bars
Finish = start + working days − 1, skipping weekends and holidays. Shade every week the task runs on the grid and mark milestones with a diamond. The Excel version does both.
- 5
Update % done at every review
Write the status date and each task's % done. % planned is the working days passed ÷ the task's working days.
- 6
Read the status and act on red
Green: no more than 10 points behind plan. Amber: 10 to 25. Red: more than 25 points behind, or past its finish and not done. Look first at the red and amber tasks that hold up others.
A filled-in example
Illustrative, not a benchmarkAn example: cutting the changeover on press 2 from 60 to 20 minutes, starting Monday 5 October, with 25 December and 1 January as holidays, status on Friday 20 November (illustrative numbers).
- Fourteen tasks over 92 working days: plan (charter, filming three changeovers, splitting internal and external work), do (the kaizen workshop, a second die cart, quick-release clamps, standard work, training), check (timing 10 changeovers, the results review on 14 December) and act (standards, sharing with press 3, a 30-day check on 13 January, close).
- The clamps run 27 October to 23 November, 20 working days. On 20 November 19 days have passed, so 95% planned against 80% done: 15 points behind, amber.
- Training finished on 16 November at 60%: red, 4 working days late. The 30-day check follows the results review but has an earliest start of 13 January, 30 days later.
- Do phase: 98% planned, 84% done, amber. Project: 60 of 92 task days planned (65%) and 53 done (58%), 8 points behind, so green.
The project as a whole looks green, but the late clamps hold up the check phase: timing the 10 changeovers cannot start until they are fitted. The sponsor chased the clamp supplier and moved night shift training forward, and the finish date of 13 January stayed.
Common mistakes
Tasks with no predecessor
If every task starts on the project start date, the chart hides what waits on what. Link each task to the one it needs, and the late ones show what they hold up.
Calendar days instead of working days
A 10-day task that spans two weekends takes 14 calendar days. Count working days and list the holidays, or every date slips.
Updating % done from memory
Ask each owner at the review, and look at the work where you can. A task that is 90% done for three weeks is not 90% done.
Only watching the project total
The project can be green while one task on the critical chain is red. Check the late tasks and what follows them, not just the overall %.
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.
Run this template in LeanSuite
In LeanSuite every action in a Kaizen has an owner and a due date, projects line up on a Gantt timeline with the reason for each delay, and owners are alerted when a phase runs late.
In the lean glossary
Guides
- Lean Project Management: Framework and Tools for Manufacturing
- Running Lean Improvement Projects: From Scope to Verified Results
- Kaizen Event as a Project: Scoping, Executing, and Closing Improvement Events
- PDCA Cycle: The Foundation of Continuous Improvement
- The Best Strategies to Reduce Changeover Time in Manufacturing
FAQ
Kaizen project plan (Gantt chart): common questions
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A shift handover sheet, a red tag log, a changeover checklist for one machine: if your team uses it on the floor, ask.