Kaizen Events
There are always several Kaizen Events taking place across the Michigan Tech campus. Many departments use these events to improve their processes and reduce waste. If you are interested in holding a Kaizen Event at Michigan Tech, contact the Office of Continuous Improvement at improvement@mtu.edu or call 906-487-3180.
| Event Name | Sponsoring Department | Team Leader | Problem Statement | Applicable Tools |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admin Files 5S | AVP - Admin | Brenda Randell |
Some admin paper files have been moved from the Lake Shore Center to the MUB. As there are now files in both locations, this leads to difficulties finding specific files. This is compounded by the fact that there is not a standardized system to organize the files. |
5S |
| Waste Management Contract | Facilities | Robert Hiltunen |
Currently, the school has to many trash vessels, and these vessels are potentially not distributed around campus correctly. Furthermore, different parts of the school have different instances of billing. This leads to a loss of leverage to reduce the price of the contract with waste management. The recycling efforts are likewise effected. |
Process Mapping, Gemba Walks |
| Third Attempt Process | Dean of Students | Laura Bulleit |
The lack of awareness on the part of the student, poor guidance on the part of the advisors, and an unfriendly permission process, leads to confusion for the students and wastes the time of all those involved with the permission process to retake a class for the 3rd time. |
Standard Work |
| Alley Maker Space Improvement | Memorial Union | Gi West |
Currently, time-wasting and unclear processes with respect to training and tool checkout limit the number of time coaches can be engaging and coaching makers. Also, this opens the door for unsafe situations, with untrained users using tools. |
Swim Lanes, Process Mapping, 5 Whys |
| Financial Value Stream Process Mapping | Purchasing | Danielle Cyrus |
Currently, there are many different processes and tools (electronic, manual, etc.) to purchase items, both intra and inter-departmentally. Many steps of these processes are redundant, and there is a lack of procedures to control, track and audit current processes. The inefficiencies in these processes lead to a waste of time and money, as well as creating potential legal issues.
|
Process Mapping, Swim Lanes |
| Utility Bills Payment Process | Finance & Administration | Larry Hermanson | The process for utility bills payments is repetitive and has many ambiguous steps. This leads to many errors occurring during the payment of bills. | Process Mapping, Standard Work |
| Facilities Work Order System | Finance & Administration | Dan Liebau | Facilities work order data entry process is not consistent throughout maintenance, grounds, and trades. This isn't preventing work from being completed, but it is preventing the department from utilizing the data to make data-driven decisions surrounding staffing, supplies order/purchasing, and other strategic maintenance. Ultimately, these do negatively impact customer service, since making these data-driven decisions have potential to hugely benefit customers. | Standard Work |
| Custodial Cleaning Standards | Facilities Management | Wendy Hackman | There is not a formal training program for custodians. There is inconsistent cleaning around campus based on how the individual is trained. Some buildings/floors are cleaned vastly different because there is no set standards. | Standard Work, Visual Controls, Shadow Board |
| Process Mapping of Time Clock Plus | Dining Services | Colin Neese | Dining Services utilizes Time-Clock Plus (TCP) to track employee hours, however, there was concern that Dining Service Managers spent too much time maintaining TCP data. Lack of reporting ability out of TCP increased the time spent maintaining data. Also, many students worked in multiple areas of dining and therefore had different TCP codes, this allowed for students to get paid out of the wrong code, or receive duplicate pay. | Swim Lanes, Kata |
| 5S of MUB Storage Rooms | Memorial Union | Kari Pietrzyk | The disorganization of the furniture storage rooms on the 2nd floor of the MUB lead to broken equipment, injuries, and inventory issues. This was hypothesized to be a result of lack of training in place and no active organization processes | 5S, Spaghetti Diagram, Gemba walks |