Kaizen & Continuous Improvement Events Flashcards
7 cards from real CLL practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Kaizen & Continuous Improvement Events flashcards as text
What does the Japanese term 'Kaizen' literally translate to in English?
Answer: Good change
Kaizen is derived from 'kai' (change) and 'zen' (good), meaning 'good change' or improvement.
A Kaizen event (also called a Kaizen blitz) is typically how long in duration?
Answer: 1–5 days
Kaizen events are short, focused improvement activities usually lasting 3 to 5 days to rapidly address a specific process problem.
Which PDCA phase involves testing a proposed improvement on a small scale before full deployment?
Answer: Do
The 'Do' phase is where the team runs a pilot or small-scale trial of the planned improvement.
In a Kaizen event, who should ideally be included on the improvement team?
Answer: Frontline workers, supervisors, and cross-functional members
Effective Kaizen teams include the people closest to the work plus support functions to ensure diverse perspectives and buy-in.
What is the primary purpose of a pre-event preparation phase in a Kaizen event?
Answer: Define scope, gather current-state data, and brief participants
Pre-event preparation ensures the team has baseline data, a clear scope, and understands the problem before the improvement week begins.
Which tool is commonly used during a Kaizen event to identify and categorize root causes of a problem?
Answer: Fishbone (Ishikawa) diagram
The fishbone diagram visually maps potential root causes across categories such as Man, Machine, Method, and Material.
What metric is most directly used to measure the success of a Kaizen event focused on cycle time reduction?
Answer: Before-and-after cycle time comparison
Comparing cycle time measurements taken before and after the event directly shows whether the improvement achieved its stated goal.