What is the A3 Event Report?
The A3 Report is a Toyota-pioneered practice of getting the problem, the analysis, the corrective
actions, and the action plan of an improvement event down on a single sheet of large (A3) paper, often
with the use of graphics.
A3 Event Reports are an important part of Lean Thinking and the development of continuous
improvement thinking:
A3’s require lean planners and kaizen team members to think together around a structured
Plan-Do-Check-Act approach. Kaizen is all about problem-solving and A3’s help build problem-
solving skills.
A3’s help managers guide lean deployment and training. Company leaders can see where
additional training, support, or resources are required. Leaders can design appropriate support
or training in response to A3 development discussions.
Event reports help company managers measure the results of lean improvement events.
A3 Event Reports create a knowledge base. An A3 library helps future kaizen teams learn
quickly and solve problems more easily. Lessons-learned help duplicate earlier successes and
avoid problems.
How to Write the A3 Event Report:
Begin putting your A3 Event Report together in the early identification of a problem and the planning of
an improvement event – capture data while it is fresh and use the A3 structure to guide your kaizen
process. The last sections of your report, Results and Lessons-Learned, should be prepared at the
conclusion of your event, and again after a period of process sustainment and stabilization, typically 30
days after the end of a multi-day event. The A3 Event Report should be prepared and updated jointly by
you and your mentor/leader, and with the involvement of your kaizen team members.
General Guidelines for Writing Your A3 Event Report:
Keep the length to one 11 x 17 sheet (or two 8-½ by 11 pages). Use 10 point font or larger – no
microprinting!
Allocate space for each section based on importance.
Use graphs, charts, drawings, and pictures wherever possible to help convey ideas simply and
graphically. Remember: “A picture says a thousand words.”
Copying information from your working papers to an A3 is rework! Legible digital photos of your
flip charts or kaizen outbrief are fine.
Use words sparingly: use bullets over full sentences to describe key points. Edit ruthlessly.
See the guidelines and examples to ensure that your report meet requirements.
Legible handwritten reports are perfectly acceptable, and preferred in many organizations.
Pencil is preferred over pen. Your A3 is a living, working document that reflects your developing
improvement story. It is an ongoing work-in-progress.
Guidelines by Section for Writing Your A3 Event Report:
Project Data:
Company/Location: Provide the company name and the location where the event was conducted.
Area: Indicate the process area upon which the event focused.
Event Date: Show the start and end date of the kaizen event. Note the period allocated to event
stabilization and sustainment, if possible.
Mentor/Coach: Indicate the coach, mentor, or consultant who supported the event. Provide email or
phone contact information, if it is readily available.
Leader/Contact, Team: Indicate the primary point of contact for the event – including name, title,
phone number, and email address – if any reader has questions about the details of the event. List the
key members or all members of the kaizen team.
Background:
Provide bullet comments that describe why focus on this area is important to the organization. Ideally,
the area should be important to the customer and the company. Keep in mind that some kaizen events
are “starter kaizens” that are modest in scope and are not necessarily central to the organization’s
immediate improvement needs or linked to a Hoshin Plan.
Current Conditions/Problem Statement:
In a few bullet points, summarize where the process stood at the start: the Current Condition. Detail
and quantify the area performance that is problematic. These metrics will be used as a baseline to
assess the size and nature of improvement results.
Use visual elements, such as graphs and maps to make your point clearly and briefly. Make it clear for
the reader: How poorly does this process perform today?
It is helpful to distill the Current Condition down to a high-level, single sentence Problem Statement
that is customer- and process-focused. Your statement should identify the problem, and should not
state or imply root causes or solutions. “Lacking” statements should be avoided, since they point to
obvious solutions. For example, a Problem Statement like “The order entry process lacks standard
work,” short-circuits the problem-solving process and reduces a kaizen problem-solving team to a
project implementation team. A better Problem Statement might be, “The time required to complete
order entry is long and highly variable, and errors and omissions found in downstream steps are high.”
Current Condition performance should be quantified whenever possible.
Goals/Targets:
Kaizen events should have some measurable and specific targets for the team to meet. The target
makes clear whether the team is aiming for a small, quick hit or an aggressive stretch goal. Targets also
help the team weed out worthy countermeasures from the field of potential ideas: “Yes, this idea is
easy to do, but how much does it contribute to achieving our targets?” Express targets as a few brief
bullets, using numbers as much as possible.
Analysis:
3
For every surface level problem are underlying root causes. The countermeasures the team uses must
be aimed at these root causes if they are to have significant and lasting effects. In this section, list the
key root causes at the heart of the current state problems. As space permits, show the highlights of
your analysis process. Use Five Whys, Fishbone Diagrams, Tools of Quality, or other simple analysis
tools. You should be able to use the Analysis section information in a meaningful way to help a layman
reader understand the analysis. Your coach/mentor should be able to follow the logical connection
linking the problem to root causes.
Countermeasures:
List bullet points of the actual lean improvements completed during the kaizen. If space permits, also
show some of the options you considered. Also if space permits, summarize your implementation plan.
Timelines or “kaizen newspapers” that list action items are often a handy way to do this. Typical lean
countermeasures include applications of standard work, 5S or visual management, mistake-proofing,
setup or make-ready reduction, pull systems/flow management, or cellular processing.
Results:
Initial process improvement results should be collected and assessed by the kaizen team at the end of
the kaizen event. However, the final results entered onto your A3 Event Report should be collected
after a period of standardization and stabilization – normally about 30 days after the end of a multi-day
kaizen event. Sustaining improvements is a common problem area that prevents actually achieving
planned results over time. The 30-day time span allows critical sustainment activities to take hold. This
includes activities such as writing and trying new procedures, operator training, full integration of area
operators in the improved process, and key supervisor and senior leader support activities.
This section should include a bullet list of both financial and non-financial results. Results should be
expressed numerically or on a percentage basis as much as possible. Ensure that the results listed link
back to the goals/targets of the kaizen. For example, if delivery performance was part of the problem
statement and established as a target, do your results show the percentage improvement in on-time
delivery?
Typical “Hard” Results: Typical “Soft” Results:
Quality Safety
Cost (cost savings, cost avoidance) Workplace Morale
Delivery Establishment of Lean Culture
Creating Support / Understanding
When taken to extremes, the drive for significant (or even positive) financial results of a kaizen can have
a corrosive effect on the establishment of a continuous improvement culture. If a kaizen is a total
disaster and does not achieve targeted results, the event and its A3 Report can be very valuable. The
Lessons-Learned section should contain some very rich material.
Lessons-Learned:
In this section, the event should be objectively assessed for lessons that can improve future kaizen
performance. One simple way to do this is to ask two groups of questions: “What supported our
success? What were the root causes? What should we continue/sustain?” and “What hindered our
performance? What were the root causes? What should we prevent/minimize/eliminate?” Lessons-
learned should be listed as brief bullet points and should be prepared with the involvement of as many
kaizen team members as possible.
Lessons-learned should go beyond simple observations and statements of fact regarding actions and
results. They should be more reflective and personal. How can you improve your continuous
improvement events? What has this event taught you personally and as a group about systematic
problem-solving that will inform your next problem-solving activity and make the next one better?