Two-day Toyota Kata Training (EU tour)

In September and October 2014 we gave several Two-day Toyota Kata Trainings throughout Europe. Below you can find some details and an impression of our tour.

Participant Benefits

During this workshop, participants will:

Obtain a basic understanding of the Toyota Improvement Kata trajectory (i.e., Vision/Challenge, Current Condition, Target Condition, Obstacles, PDCA)
Have an appreciation for the value of the Toyota Coaching Kata Methodology (i.e., how the Value Adders, Learner and 1st and 2nd Coaches interact)
Gain an appreciation of how the Toyota Improvement and Coaching Kata can rejuvenate a Lean Initiative and provide a basis for moving confidently/successfully into the future.

Who should attend?

Leaders who are responsible for setting a new direction for how their organization views management, improvement, adaptiveness and innovation.
Anyone interested in learning how to focus their valuable and, oftentimes, limited resources on only those specific obstacles that lie along the path that leads toward the accomplishment of their Vision/Challenge.
Those wishing to engage their teams in daily PDCA continuous improvement activities that will guide them along their Lean Journey’s path to perfection

Introduction

Are you searching for an answer to,

“How can our continuous improvement process survive and thrive?”

Toyota Kata addresses this challenge by providing the framework for a sustainable problem solving culture incorporating targeted experimentation and personal learning. In this practical workshop you will learn about two specific behavior routines, or Kata as we will review a lot of the Toyota Kata Handbook slide material found on Rother’s website regarding:

First, the Improvement Kata is a repeating routine of establishing challenging target conditions, working iteratively through obstacles and learning from problems encountered along the way. The Improvement Kata is a scientific 4-step iterative routine that addresses only those obstacles that lie on the path of a trajectory that leads to the achievement of short term Target Conditions that are in line with a long term Vision/Challenge.
Second, the Coaching Kata is a pattern of teaching the Improvement Kata to employees at every level, ensuring that it permeates their thinking and actions. The Coaching Kata is a daily routine that utilizes The Five Questions to help teach the Improvement Kata thinking pattern and ensure that it is imbedded within an organization via team accountability.

Participation in the Improvement Kata simulation makes it easy to understand how the Kata components come together. The interactive simulation brings Kata “to life” as team members systematically improve their way toward a target condition by using the Improvement Kata steps. The simulation, that is progressively interwoven in with the slide material to make it easy to understand how the Toyota Kata trajectory components come together. (i.e., Vision/Challenge, Current Condition, Target Condition, Obstacles, PCDAs and Coaching).

If you are seeking a better way to lead, manage and develop people to produce continuous improvements with superior results, this session is for you!

“The daily Coaching Kata is where the learning takes place. It is important for people to understand that this is not a project or kaizen or a technique to address specific issues. This is a lifelong way of approaching our job – learners and coaches need to get to where this becomes second nature and becomes the way we look at everything. This can only happen with frequent practice. I have seen the transformation take place and once it does, the process becomes self-sustaining.”
Bill Hays, Director of Quality, La-Z-Boy Tennessee

“Our company has had the privilege of working with Brandon on several improvement projects, most recently the use of Kata methodologies. His knowledge of the concepts and his focus on results have exceeded our expectations. I would recommend his services to anyone interested in Kata.”
Kevin Harmon, General Manager, La-Z-Boy of Arkansas

Course overview

DAY ONE:

Kata Overview
Direction
Current Condition
Round 1 Simulation (block diagrams, obstacles, exit-cycle times, run charts)
Round 2 Simulation (planned cycle time, run charts, current conditions)
Target Condition
PDCA Cycles (systematic iteration)
Round 3 Simulation (1st PDCA on a selected obstacle)

DAY TWO:

Coaching Kata
Round 4 Simulation (2nd PDCA on a selected obstacle)
Participants experience the roles of Learner and 1st Coach
Overview of Example Kata Journeys. Examples of La-Z-Boy and other company Kata deployments and details of their journey.
Participants share individual/team observations and participate in group Q&A
Wrap up, evaluations and feedback

Teachers

Brandon Brown, P.E. serves as Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions Business Development Specialist based at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Brandon received a Masters in Engineering from the University of Arkansas and brings 18 years manufacturing and engineering experience to the AMS staff. Prior to joining AMS Brandon worked in Operations with Central States Manufacturing and has served as a visiting professor at the University of Arkansas teaching Operations Management courses. Brandon serves as SE Board Member from The Association for Manufacturing Excellence. He has spent the past three years working with companies implementing Lean and Toyota Kata.

Emiel van Est is Toyota Kata ambassador based in The Netherlands. Since 2010 Emiel has concentrated his learning, teaching and practice on the deployment of “Toyota Kata” as described in the book of the same name by author Mike Rother.

In 1997 he started improving and designing processes for Hewlett Packard and has since then helped a diverse group of clients in many different industries with their Lean efforts. He also introduced Lean to many people by engaging them in different simulations. Emiel was involved in the development of simulation material that Scania uses worldwide and also taught many classes for Scania.

Prior to consulting, Emiel was engineering special equipment to make new production processes feasible. Emiel holds a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Hogeschool Haarlem, The Netherlands.