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Quick Look Course Summary:Kaizen Training Course – Continuous Improvement (2 days)
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Length: 2 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 14,642 EX VAT 3 Person R 9,476 EX VAT 10 Person R 6,474 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Kaizen Training Course – Continuous Improvement (2 days)
Your teams learn to find and remove waste every day, with small improvements that add up to lower costs, faster work and fewer errors.
Most organisations know their processes could run better. The trouble is that improvement is often treated as a project for managers or consultants, and once the project ends the old habits return. Kaizen training teaches a different approach: small, steady improvements made every day by the people who do the work. Each change is modest – a shorter handover, one less approval, a form that no longer comes back for corrections – but over months they add up to lower costs, shorter lead times, fewer errors and safer work.
Day one builds the kaizen way of thinking and seeing: the principles behind continuous improvement, the eight wastes, gemba walks to see how work really happens, simple process mapping and the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. Day two turns that into results: root-cause problem solving with the 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams and Pareto analysis, choosing countermeasures, running a kaizen event, writing standard work and holding the gains with visual management and short daily team meetings.
The course is hands-on. Delegates do a waste walk, map a process and work through an A3 on a real problem from their own workplace, then leave with a 30-day improvement plan for their team. Kaizen works in factories, mines, warehouses, hospitals, call centres, municipalities and offices alike.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Lower costs and shorter lead times from many small, practical improvements
- Staff who spot and fix problems instead of working around them
- Fewer errors, less rework and fewer customer complaints
- One improvement method shared across shifts, teams and departments
- Improvements that last because they are written into standard work
For your delegates
- A simple, repeatable method for improving any process you work in
- Practical tools: waste walk, process map, 5 Whys, fishbone diagram and A3
- Confidence to run a short improvement event with your own team
- A 30-day improvement plan for a real problem at work
What delegates will be able to do
- Explain the principles of kaizen and how it differs from one-off change projects
- Identify the eight wastes in production, service and office processes
- Plan and carry out a gemba walk and map how a process really works
- Apply the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle to test improvements in small steps
- Find root causes with the 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams and Pareto analysis
- Plan, run and follow up a focused kaizen event
- Write simple standard work and use visual management to hold the gains
- Summarise an improvement on a one-page A3 and present it to management
Who should attend
Supervisors, team leaders, production, operations, quality and maintenance staff, process owners, continuous improvement coordinators and managers in manufacturing and service organisations alike. It suits teams starting continuous improvement for the first time, sites where an earlier improvement drive has stalled, and organisations that have introduced 5S and want the next step. No statistics or prior Lean knowledge is needed.
Course outline
Day 1 – Kaizen thinking and seeing waste
What kaizen is and why it works
- Kaizen as small, continuous improvement by everyone, every day
- Kaizen versus large one-off change projects
- Origins in Japanese manufacturing and the Toyota Production System
- How kaizen relates to Lean, Six Sigma and 5S
- Why improvement drives fade and what makes them last
Kaizen principles and roles
- Respect for people: those who do the work know it best
- Go and see: decisions based on facts, not assumptions
- Fix the process, not the person
- Small steps and quick tests instead of big plans
- What leaders, supervisors and team members each contribute
Seeing waste
- Value as the customer defines it
- The eight wastes: transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over-processing, defects and unused skills
- Waste in office and service processes: approvals, handoffs, rework and searching for information
- Unevenness and overburden as hidden causes of waste
- Waste walk exercise
Gemba walks and mapping the current state
- Planning and carrying out a gemba walk
- Observing and asking questions without blame
- Simple process mapping with SIPOC and swim-lane maps
- Spaghetti diagrams for the movement of people and material
- Measuring the current state: lead time, waiting time and error rates
The PDCA improvement cycle
- Plan, Do, Check, Act in practice
- Writing a clear problem statement
- Setting a measurable target
- Running small tests of change and checking the results
- A3 thinking: from problem to follow-up on one page
Day 2 – Solving problems and sustaining improvement
Finding root causes
- The 5 Whys and how to avoid its common traps
- Fishbone (cause-and-effect) diagrams
- Check sheets and simple data collection
- Pareto analysis to focus on the few causes that matter most
- Confirming the root cause before acting
Choosing and testing countermeasures
- Generating ideas with the people who do the work
- An effort-impact matrix for choosing quick wins
- Error-proofing (poka-yoke) to stop mistakes at source
- Piloting a change and measuring the effect
Running a kaizen event
- What a kaizen event is and when to use one
- Choosing the scope, team and sponsor
- Preparation, the event days and follow-up
- Daily reviews and the report-out to management
- Tracking open actions after the event
Standard work and sustaining the gains
- Standard work as the current best way and the starting point for the next improvement
- Writing simple work instructions and one-point lessons
- Visual management and team improvement boards
- Short daily team meetings to review performance and problems
- Regular checks by supervisors and managers
Building a continuous improvement culture
- Suggestion systems that give every idea a response
- Recognising improvements and the people behind them
- Measuring improvement with a few meaningful indicators
- Involving staff, shift teams and employee representatives early when work methods change
- Common reasons kaizen programmes stall
Improvement project and action plan
- Group exercise: an A3 on a real problem from your workplace
- Presenting the A3 and receiving feedback
- Your 30-day improvement plan
- Evaluation and close
How it is delivered
Two days, 08:30-16:00. Best run at your site anywhere in South Africa so delegates can walk and improve a real process; also available at a BOTI venue or live online, using photo- and video-based exercises. One delegate or a group of up to 20; examples tailored to your sector on request. Workbook, waste-walk and gemba-walk checklists, A3 and standard-work templates and a 30-day action plan included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“The training was practical, engaging and relevant to our workplace environment, providing participants with valuable knowledge and practical skills that could be applied in their respective roles.”
“All training programmes were delivered in a highly professional manner, with effective coordination and strict adherence to our scheduling requirements. The facilitators demonstrated a commendable level of expertise, and the quality of delivery consistently met our expectations.”
“The facilitator was excellent and took time to ensure that the employee understood the content and was able to apply the learning in order to develop the portfolio of evidence.”
Frequently asked questions
Can the course run at our site?
Yes, and we recommend it. On site, delegates do the waste walk and gemba walk in a real work area and use a live problem for the A3 exercise. We can also run it at a BOTI venue or live online.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to groups of about 20. The price per delegate drops as the group grows – see the price table, or ask us for a quote.
Is it accredited?
No – it is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
Does kaizen only work in manufacturing?
No. Kaizen started in manufacturing, but the same method works in warehouses, hospitals, call centres, finance and HR departments and government offices – anywhere work follows a process. Examples and exercises are tailored to your environment.
How does this course relate to 5S and Lean?
Kaizen is the daily improvement habit; 5S and Lean supply many of the tools. The 5S Training focuses on organising the workplace, and the Lean Process and Six Sigma Training gives a broader introduction to Lean and Six Sigma. For certification, see the Lean Six Sigma belt courses.
Can we bring a real problem to work on?
Yes. Send us one or two improvement topics beforehand – a slow approval process, a recurring defect or a bottleneck – and the facilitator builds them into the day-two exercises.
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