LEAN

Kaizen Charter Worksheet

Identification Number (from your project tracking tool) :
Team Name (50 words or less) :

Local Champion Name :

Assignment Priority :

High

Medium

Assignment :

Team Leader:
Finance Rep Name :

BMGI. You may freely modify, distribute and/or reproduce this only if BMGI's logo is not altered or removed.

Low

LEAN Kaizen Charter Worksheet

Team Launch

Financial Impact
(Clarify Phase)

Determine Event Metrics and Team Members (Clarify

Phase)

Describe the Business Problem

Phase)

(Select

Event Identification
(Select Phase)

Process Area Identification

(Select Phase)

Step

Element
How has the process been documented? (existing Process Maps; Current state, SIPOC-R, Spaghetti
Diagrams)
Is the Kaizen idea tied to business strategy? Yes / No
Is the Kaizen important to achieving the strategy? Describe.
What business objectives are endanger of being missed?
What key Lean learnings would be valuable to the organization? Are there any tool knowledge issues?
Will the improvement effect the Customer directly? Yes / No (CTx's)
Will this improvement create value for the Customer? Describe.
Can the improvement be completed in less than 7 weeks? The SCORE cycle is 7 weeks. Yes / No
What is the Team Name? Should be a unique descriptor to enable future cross referencing.
Where does the improvement opportunity reside? (Process Area)
Is there a Champion(s) identified to remove barriers and provide resources? Who?
What is the Run Date for the Kaizen Event? This should be at least three weeks after the beginning of the
SCORE process.
Is there more than one Kaizen Team running during that event that week? If yes, what is your Team
Number?
What Product or Service does the process area provide?
Who is the Customer of the output of the process?
What other business processes are impacted by the selected process area's performance?
What historical conditions have existed in the process area? Current conditions?
From the above information, create a brief Background Statement which will let someone unfamiliar with
the process area understand the business climate that has created the need for a Kaizen event.
Create a Problem Statement which concisely describes the most significant business problem(s) created
by the current situation in the process area. The problem statement will be on a more detailed level than the
background statement. This is a description of what is wrong.
Create an Objective Statement which, using the S.M.A.R.T. method, clearly defines what specific aspect of
the process area will be changed in order to begin addressing the problem statement. This is an action
statement. What are you going to accomplish, but not specifically how you are going to accomplish it.
Review Charter with Champion and Process Owner (if different) to confirm direction and relevance.
Review key process information concerning Quality. Are you having customer complaints? What is your
process FPY? What metrics are you missing?
Review key process information concerning Delivery. Can you meet Takt Time? What are your process
constraints? How level is demand?
Review key process information concerning Cost. Is your unit cost in line with business demands? Scrap?
Labor? Materials?
Conduct a "Waste Walk" looking for sources of variation, overburden and non value activities. Highlight key
wastes that have an impact on the problem statement.
Select 2-4 Improvement Metrics. These should be metrics that if improved, will have a direct positive
impact on the problem statement and accomplish the objective statement.
Determine current state for improvement metrics and select appropriately aggressive targets for the amount
of targeted improvement. This should be seen as a stretch for the team to avoid "tweaking" the process.
Based upon the Improvement Metrics and identified problems, select the number and composition of your
Team Members.
If all improvement metrics are met what financial impacts are expected? Consider all Hard Benefits such
as inventory reduction, space utilization, reduction of scrap, labor utilization and other overhead cost
improvements.
What are the Soft Benefits such as morale improvement, idea generation, etc.
What are the Potential Benefits such as cost avoidances or delayed hard benefits.
Based upon the above information, complete the Financial Impact section of the team charter.
What potential issues could prevent the successful completion of the Kaizen team objectives? Consider
issues such as management support level, facilities needs, communications, cultural ramifications and other
historical considerations.
Are there other process initiatives (in the works) that would be affected by this project? If yes, what are they?
Complete the Potential Roadblocks section of the team charter.
Obtain the necessary approval signatures to launch the Kaizen team.

Actual

Process Current State Map

 BMGI. You may freely modify, distribute and/or reproduce this only if BMGI's logo is not altered or removed.

Process Future State Map

 BMGI. You may freely modify, distribute and/or reproduce this only if BMGI's logo is not altered or removed.