Kaizen Event Plan & Facilitator Checklist

Welcome — What this playbook does for you

This playbook helps facilitators plan, run, measure, and sustain high-impact kaizen events that produce measurable improvements and durable standards. It is focused on practical steps: choosing the right opportunities, writing a clear charter, running a structured multi-day event (3- or 5-day), tracking experiments, and preventing the usual fade-out through a simple 30/60/90 sustainment review.

Core hunger

Run focused improvement events that produce measurable gains and durable standards.

Common mal-hunger (what this prevents)

Poorly scoped events that create temporary fixes, unclear ownership, and resentment.

Before you run the event — Selection & prework

Selection criteria (use these to pick the right event)

• Clear customer or safety impact (quality, delivery, safety, cost).
• Reasonable scope — a single process or cell that a cross-functional team can study in 3–5 days.
• Data available to establish baseline and measure improvement (even simple counts or times).
• Committed local manager and a sponsor who can remove barriers and assign resources.
• Opportunity for durable standardization (not only a one-off fix).
• Team availability during the event window.

Prework checklist for facilitator (2–4 weeks ahead)

• Confirm sponsor and obtain visible charter sign-off.
• Collect baseline data (cycle time, defect rate, downtime minutes, throughput, etc.).
• Identify stakeholders and confirm team members (operator, supervisor, engineer, maintenance, quality).
• Reserve space, materials, and any safety approvals.
• Prepare visual aids: process map, current data, Gemba walk plan, metrics board.
• Send pre-read with charter, agenda, and expectations (attendance, daily cadence).

Charter template (one-page)

Use this exact structure when creating the event charter and make it visible on day one.

Roles & responsibilities (quick)

• Sponsor: Removes barriers, endorses charter, attends key reviews.
• Facilitator: Keeps agenda, forces decisions, coaches teams, documents outputs.
• Process owner / local manager: Owns implementation and sustainment.
• Operators / frontline staff: Provide process knowledge and test solutions.
• Quality / Engineering / Maintenance: Provide technical input and help validate improvements.

Measurement plan (simple & rigorous)

Every event must define baseline, target, metric, and how data will be measured and stored.

• Metric name and definition (e.g., First Pass Yield = good units produced / total units started).
• Baseline value (date-stamped) and source.
• Target and acceptance criteria for success.
• Data collection frequency and owner (who records when and where).
• Short-term validation method (pilot, pre-post comparison) and sustainment measurement plan.

Day-by-day agendas

3-day variant (fast, focused)

1. Day 1 — Understand & measure
   • Morning: Kickoff, review charter and metrics, Gemba walk, process mapping.
   • Afternoon: Root-cause analysis (5 Whys, fishbone), collect baseline samples, create idea backlog.
2. Day 2 — Design & test
   • Morning: Prioritize improvements (impact/effort), design experiments and quick pilots.
   • Afternoon: Run experiments, collect results, refine; begin drafting standard work.
3. Day 3 — Implement & handover
   • Morning: Finalize changes, update visual controls and standard work, training plan.
   • Afternoon: Stakeholder demo, sign-off on measures, assign owners, schedule 30/60/90 reviews.

5-day variant (deeper, more experimentation)

1. Day 1 — Align & observe: Kickoff, Gemba, value-stream/process mapping, baseline data collection.
2. Day 2 — Analyze: Root cause analysis, data deep-dive, define key drivers.
3. Day 3 — Ideate & plan experiments: Rapid brainstorming, prioritization, experiment design.
4. Day 4 — Pilot & measure: Run pilots, capture results, iterate on solutions.
5. Day 5 — Standardize & sustain: Update standard work, train operators, present results and sign-offs, schedule sustainment activities.

Experiment & PDSA templates (quick)

PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act)

Experiment tracker (use a simple table on the wall)

Tools checklist (bring these)

• Process maps, current state photos, metric printouts
• Large paper, sticky notes, markers, tape
• Stopwatch, measuring tools, defect tags
• Camera/phone for documentation
• Templates for PDSA, standard work, action log

Sustainment: 30/60/90-day review checklist

Schedule these short reviews with the process owner and sponsor. Use them to confirm the gain, address drift, and reassign ownership if needed.

1. 30 days: Confirm implementation, review metric vs baseline, gather operator feedback, fix immediate barriers.
2. 60 days: Verify that standard work is followed, training is complete, and the metric remains improved. Address any variation or new problems.
3. 90 days: Confirm the improvement is stable; close the kaizen and move to continuous monitoring (dashboard). Archive learning and update training materials.

Facilitator tips & common pitfalls

• Keep the charter and metrics visible — all decisions should map back to them.
• Avoid scope creep: if something is outside the charter, capture as a backlog item and get sponsor approval to expand scope later.
• Insist on testing — don't implement untested permanent changes.
• Make decisions time-boxed. Unresolved items become action owners, not debate topics.
• Document fast: photos, short videos, and simple checklists are worth more than long reports.

Deliverables checklist (end of event)

• Signed charter showing achieved metrics and acceptance criteria
• Updated standard work and visual controls
• Experiment/PDSA log with raw data
• Action list with owners and due dates (including 30/60/90 review dates)
• Handover notes for process owner and training plan

Optional: How to use platform capabilities to improve follow-through

Making the experiment tracker, PDSA templates, action lists, and 30/60/90 reviews interactive and savable improves accountability. See the Capability Enhancement Notes below.

Quick templates for on-the-wall use

Keep these short and visible: Charter (title, problem, goal, owner), Metric card (name, definition, baseline, target), PDSA card (plan/do/study/act), Action card (what, who, due).

Final note

This playbook is intentionally practical: pick the variant that fits your time and resource constraints, prioritize clear measurement and ownership, test before you standardize, and use scheduled sustainment reviews to make improvements stick.