About Learn Kaizen

I'm Chad Burroughs

I created Learn Kaizen to help anyone learn how to improve processes through Kaizen! Enabling people just like you, to increase their value to the market-place with a unique skill all companies want and need! 

How it all started for me

I started my manufacturing journey in 1994 working as a spot welder for a company that manufactured frames, cases and bezels for the computer  industry. Basically the internal hardware (minus the electronics), the metal covers and the plastic bezels assembled to the frame...batch manufacturing facility. I was going to school during the day and working what they called the twilight shift (4pm - 9pm). Think old school manufacturing where swearing was just as normal as the humming of injection molding machines. It was a great place to start! Under one roof, I got to see: Metal Stamping and Forming, Assembly, Injection Molding, Powder Coating and of course spot welding! 

On my line were 3 operators about the same age (18-20 years old) including myself. We were responsible for spot welding three pieces of metal together. Each person operated a separate spot welding machine and when the last person was finished, that equalled one unit. At the end of our line was a big white board. On that white board were targets we had to achieve every hour, and every hour the supervisor would write down how many units we actually achieved - right next to the target. Little did I know, this would be a tool I'd use and implement the rest of my career (scorecards). If you are competitive, you know that a target number staring you in the face every hour is a hurdle that you MUST jump over! Not to mention, the board was divided into three shifts (First, Twilight and Third), so we could see the numbers each shift completed. Twilight was the shortest shift (5 hours). It was great for college kids, however, we weren't too smart.

We would take the competition to a whole new level. We found ways to improve our process...we learned that stacking material a certain way, created less defects...we discovered that part placement is important, to make it easier for the next person to pick up (fighting for seconds) ...eventually we were finishing our work an hour early! The supervisors let us goof off after we achieved our targets. This was short-lived.

Eventually, the supervisors asked us to keep the pace and work the full five hours - just to see how many we could make! What do you think happened next? Yep, they increased the hourly rate and adjusted the rate for all three shifts! Needless to day, the other shifts were not happy! This was the start of my Kaizen journey, although I had no Idea at the time. 

Shortly after, I transitioned into the Automotive industry. There, we manufactured engine control units with 17 second cycle times and one piece flow manufacturing. I had Japanese sensei's that taught me all about Lean, Kaizen and Root Cause analysis. I worked there for just over a decade and moved into Aerospace where I continued practicing, learning and growing. The great fact about these skills is that you can use them in any field, any job, role, and company. 

Why I Created this Site

Kaizen courses can be extremely expensive making it difficult for most people to afford. Many Kaizen Courses fail to teach you exactly how to deliver a Kaizen Event from start to finish. I created this site to help anyone learn how to deliver a Kaizen Event that gets sustained results, without paying thousands of dollars. If you want to learn a truly valuable skill that will enable you to stand out from the crowd while improving companies and helping people, consider trying the Kaizen Advantage. You have 30-days to try it out.