Kaizen Convention 2021

“Virtual” competition, real success

The much-anticipated annual Kaizen Convention was held virtually, for the second year in a row, on November 11, 2021. The well-attended event is in its 29th year and continues to be a source of inspiration and information to all members of the SEKISUI America Corporation (SAC) companies. Hosted by SAC and coordinated by Kaizen Manager Seth Knowles, the convention centered around a spirited competition involving projects that demonstrated problem-solving and issue resolution using the Kaizen principles.

Each of the 10 teams gave formal, 12-minute presentations of their Kaizen project, followed by a brief Q&A period. After the presentations, the judges determined the gold, silver and bronze winners using a standardized score sheet. The scores were based on how well each project satisfied competition guidelines.

All winning teams received a cash prize: $1,500 for gold, $1,000 for silver, and $500 for bronze. In addition to the traditional gold, silver and bronze winners, the event premiered the “People’s Choice/Honorable Mention Award.” The winner of the $250 cash prize was chosen by participants voting in real time via a live poll.

Judges look for specific elements

When evaluating the projects, judges were asked to use a set of 16 criteria, and they were not permitted to vote on the presentation made by their own site’s team. The criteria included:

• Logical storytelling and the ability to make a potentially complicated situation easy to understand
• Coherent and organic explanation of the links in each step of the project
• A scientifically elucidated phenomena-generating mechanism, with the root cause becoming clear through factor analysis equaling specifying cause
• The degree to which the audience can understand and follow the ingenuity of the team, from the selection of the theme to the reporting of the effects and outcome

“I’m specifically looking for the storytelling and logic,” said judge Ching Huang from SEKISUI Diagnostics in San Diego, CA. “Projects can be unique and complicated and often the effort is in how to make explanations simple and clear. There is a challenge in that.” Kaizen projects are also about continuous improvement and the Monozukuri mindset—sharing best practices, problem solving strategies, and team culture.

The teams and their projects

The projects presented at the Kaizen Convention 2021 offered an interesting glimpse into the variety of challenges that SEKISUI employees frequently encounter:

• SEKISUI Voltek, the bronze winners, collaborated to solve a raw material shortage issue for one of their largest customers.
• “PNW Razor Clams,” the SEKISUI Aerospace team new to Kaizen and the competition, submitted a project aimed at reducing physical injuries due to the in-situ process of cutting by hand. From a safety perspective, their project resonated well with the audience and the degree of effort they invested was readily apparent.
• SEKISUI S-Lec Mexico, a.k.a. “The Changemakers,” who also won the People’s Choice/Honorable Mention Award,” looked at ways to reduce ‘width-change’ defective PVB rolls.
• SEKISUI Diagnostics PEI, the gold winners, set out to improve packaging to protect, maintain, and reduce costs of a particular raw material.
• SEKISUI Specialty Chemicals, from Pasadena, TX, known as “Team SOS,” tackled the problem of reducing alarm flood periods in the acetic acid unit.
• SEKISUI Diagnostics, from San Diego, CA, the silver winners, sought to increase filling capacity on a line that was seeing increased demand on product.
• SEKISUI S-Lec America, the “Creative Counters,” focused their presentation on improving their expense reporting process.
• SEKISUI KYDEX, from Bloomsburg, PA, aptly named “Flying Colours,” reported on decreasing colour scrap amounts for KYDEX 6503.
• SEKISUI Specialty Chemicals, Calvert City, KY, presented a project focused on solution degradation analysis and prevention.
• SEKISUI Rib Loc, from Gepps Cross, Australia, called their team “OZ” and their project dealt with labor cost reduction strategies.

Winners

This year the winners and their projects were:

Gold

SEKISUI Diagnostics, PEI
Team: True North Tetris
Members: Amritpal Singh, Jason Pereira, Erina Lewis, Alexis Duffy
Project: Maximize load capacity of incoming
cartridge shipments
Coaches: Darren Cash, Greg Hardy, Chad Atkinson, Gene Howatt

Silver

SEKISUI Diagnostics, San Diego, CA
Team: T.G.I.F. Tremendous Growth in Filling
Members: Orlando Uribe, Mickey Willrodt, Adina Uribe, Briana Tyler, Zachary Parks
Project: Increase filling capacity for single-dose reagents to meet demand for FY20

Bronze

SEKISUI Voltek
Team: Reservoir Dogs
Members: Clay Wulliman, Heath Gillette, Shelby Frailey, Max Pelaez, Cathy Douglas, Gary Gray, Rob Holt, Brandon Johnston, Aaron Boehmke, Paul Hutchins, Erik Crull, Justin Losey, Jorge Hiraldo, Dylan Doty
Project: Prevent stockout of HP products

Honorable Mention

SEKISUI S-Lec Mexico
Team: The Changemakers
Members: Edwin Arguelles, Steven Rendon, Daniel Guerrero, Juan Gonzalez, Oliver Vivero
Project: Reduce class 40 PVB rolls
Coaches: Mauricio Sanchez, Eduardo Estillo

The winning teams were elated, and their reactions—captured post-convention—exemplify the pride they felt from having their hard work recognized and appreciated. There was also mutual respect between all the teams for their project submissions and successes. Amrit Singh, from the gold-winning SEKISUI Diagnostics PEI team, stated, “It was amazing to participate in the project. I realized that it would be tough competition, but in the end, we worked hard and gave everything to win.” Briana Tyler of the San Diego office said, “It was fun to see the diversity of other projects and problems from other sites.”

Kaizen and the idea of continuous improvement takes time to learn, understand, and put into practice. Orlando Uribe of SEKISUI Diagnostics stated, “You have to put in the effort to understand the problem before you try to improve or come up with solutions.” Jason Pereira added, “It helps me look for more efficient, safer ways to work.”

The projects that culminate at the Kaizen Convention are often worked on for several months, with many meetings and multi-department input from the labs to top management. Heath Gillette of the SEKISUI Voltek bronze-winning team remarked that he was “…very proud of our efforts. What we accomplished was very special.”

“Kaizen impacts every area of our business.”

Seth Knowles summed up the event by saying, “This year’s Kaizen Convention brought people together on a virtual platform once again. We’ve learned a lot in the last year… how to run meetings with more interaction and efficiency, so we even applied Kaizen to this convention. Seeing all these organizations continue to work through problems is inspiring and the reality is that although the root problems may be different, the problem solving has important similarities.”

Judges

Teams

Sumner, WA

Team: PNW Razor Clams
Members: Stephen Baertschiger, Armand Herold, Angie Agreda, Edward Cranford, Shawn Bishop, Karina Amezcua, Matt Miller, AnnMarie Vasquez, DereDeri (Dee) Roe, Laureen Johnson, Jacob Anderson, Angela Sorenson, Chris Hessman, Daniele Cagnatel

Prince Edward Island, Canada

Team: True North Tetris
Members: Amritpal Singh, Jason Pereira, Erina Lewis, Alexis Duffy
Coaches: Darren Cash, Greg Hardy, Chad Atkinson, Gene Howatt

San Diego, CA

Team: T.G.I.F Tremendous Growth in Filling
Members: Orlando Uribe, Mickey Willrodt, Adina Uribe, Briana Tyler, Zachary Park

Bloomsburg, PA

Team: Flying Colours
Members: Misty Carew, Amika Huntington, Matt Giger, Ross St. Clair, James Bricker

Winchester, KY

Team: Creative Counters
Members: Rebecca Wilhoite, Katie Calvert, Michelle Wilson, Stephen Shackleford

Cuernavaca, Mexico

Team: The Changemakers
Members: Edwin Arguelles, Steven Rendon, Daniel Guerrero, Juan Gonzalez, Oliver Vivero
Coaches: Mauricio Sanchez, Eduardo Estillo

Pasadena, TX

Team: SOS
Members: Nick Costello, Phil Sayles, Kevin Therault, Mike Rico, George Kelly,
Gary Heintschel
Coaches: Sharon Huang, Charlie O’Rear

Calvert City, KY

Members: Emily Hurley, Keith Martin, Michael Ward, Jeremy Littlejohn, Josh Shoulta, Terry Hofer

Coldwater, MI

Team: Reservoir Dogs
Members: Clay Wulliman, Heath Gillette, Shelby Frailey, Max Pelaez, Cathy Douglas, Gary Gray, Rob Holt, Brandon Johnston, Aaron Boehmke, Paul Hutchins, Erik Crull, Justin Losey, Jorge Hiraldo, Dylan Doty

Gepps Cross, Australia

Members: Darryl Whiting, Michael Turner, Patrick Rosby, Michael Alcroft, Bradly Muller
Leader: Brett Pinnegar