Digital Kaizen for Toyota
... how the improvement process can be improved
When companies want to optimize work processes in a production facility, it makes sense to seek suggestions for improvement from the people closest to production: the employees. More and more companies are encouraging their employees to contribute ideas and suggestions. Many use Kaizen, a work improvement method from Japan.
For our customer Toyota at its engine plant in Waldenburg, Poland, we developed vKaizen, a digital solution that makes it possible to improve and expand management and production processes at every level in a simple and intuitive way.
Japanese perfection
The rules for Kaizen are very simple: everyone in the company tries to optimize work processes and workflows. Since every employee knows their own work processes best, they are also best placed to submit meaningful suggestions for improvement. According to Kaizen, every employee works consciously and looks for ways to improve their workflow and thus the entire production process.
Traditional Kaizen...
This is how Toyota Motor Manufacturing Polands plant in Wałbrzych works, for example. Employees pass on comments and (repair) suggestions to their supervisors, who evaluate their validity and feasibility. Accepted changes are implemented and introduced.
How effective is this method? In the past, the entire process was based on Microsoft Excel sheets. Unfortunately, this also meant that the data was spread across many individual files – and that the acceptance process for suggestions was lengthy. Although the reported changes were implemented effectively, it took a lot of time and effort.
Kaizen would be much more convenient and efficient for employees if everyone in the company had easy access to this process. Every employee would have an overview of who reported which improvement and when, how the company evaluated it, and whether the proposed solution was implemented and is working. This is precisely the idea behind an electronic Kaizen system, which Vialutions proposed and implemented at Toyota.
... and modern Kaizen
In principle, the tool is a digital representation of the suggestion system. Instead of surveys, forms, or Excel files, employees have access to an easy-to-use app. Change suggestions can be submitted with just a few clicks and by adding a short description or photo. The suggestions can then be discussed directly in the system and the status of the request can be tracked. Once a suggestion has been accepted, further implementation and task allocation can also be carried out in the tool. Thus, vKaizen is an interface for managing ideas and their implementation.
Conclusion
Within a year and a half, the average processing time was reduced from six weeks to just one week. Employees also submitted 18% more suggestions and ideas. This solution has now been rolled out to a second Toyota plant in Poland, and another Toyota supplier is considering introducing it.
Every company has its own unique way of working. Having proven solutions is good, but sometimes new tools can bring about a leap in efficiency, as was the case at Toyota: The “Excel Kaizen” solution worked well on its own. Thanks to the simple and user-friendly Vialutions solution, employees now use Kaizen much more frequently and intensively.
Technologies
Backend
- .NET
- C#
- Entity Framework 6
- MS SQL Server 2016
Frontend
- ASP .NET MVC 5
- Javascript