Kaizen

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Gradual, continuous (incremental) change (improvement). Explanation of Kaizen.

What is Kaizen? Definition

The Kaizen method of continuous incremental improvements is an originally Japanese management concept for gradual, continuous (incremental) change (improvement).

Kaizen is actually a way of life philosophy. It assumes that every aspect of our life deserves to be constantly improved. The Kaizen philosophy lies behind many Japanese management concepts such as: Total Quality Control, Quality Control circles, small group activities, labor relations.

Key elements of Kaizen are: quality, effort, involvement of all employees, willingness to change, and communication.

Japanese companies distinguish between: Innovation, a radical form of change, and Kaizen, a continuous form of change. Kaizen means literally: change (kai) to become good (zen).

The five foundation elements of Kaizen

1. Teamwork.
2. Personal discipline.
3. Improved morale.
4. Quality circles.
5. Suggestions for improvement.

Out of this foundation, three key factors in Kaizen arise

• Elimination of waste (muda) and inefficiency.
• The Kaizen five-S framework for good housekeeping.
•       1. Seiri - tidiness
•       2. Seiton - orderliness
•       3. Seiso - cleanliness
•       4. Seiketsu - standardized clean-up
•       5. Shitsuke - discipline
• Standardization.

When should the Kaizen philosophy be applied? Although it is difficult to give generic advice it is clear that it fits well in gradual, incremental change situations that require long-term change and in collective cultures. More individual cultures that are more focused on short-term success are often more conducive to concepts such as Business Process Reengineering.

Kaizen compared to Business Process Reengineering

When Kaizen is compared with the BPR method it is clear the Kaizen philosophy is more people-oriented, more easy to implement, but requires long-term discipline and provides only a small pace of change. The Business Process Reengineering approach on the other hand is harder, technology-oriented, it enables radical change but it requires considerable change management skills.

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- Slovakia

Kaizen in my Company

"We use Kaizen to improve continuously. We also hang the tools on a board, but someone is working with it and they have to report to me. As a lean manager I follow up on them and facilitate them. We work with a quick Kaizen sheet as we call it for the details, a hybrid 5why analysis sheet and a Kaizen journal. The Kaizen events in our company have to generate improvement which contribute to the strategic goals. And for sure it needs discipline and team work. So for me it is a great tool to improve continuously."

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Manjiri Kale - India

To Follow Kaizen

"I observed that in many offices this theory is run only for formality. The notes about Kaizen are hung on walls, notice boards etc. but nobody can use this theory in daily routine. So, what is the meaning of this thing? The Kaizen is not only used for office work but also in our mentality."

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- Venezuela

Kaizen in Human Resources

"I agree that Kaizen is the right way to increase organizational efficiency... Recently, an article came in my hands about Kaizen applied to human resources of organizations.... Reading that article the term "people positioning into the organization" hit my mind... In fact, several organizations do not achieve their productivity and quality goals because the executive and manager levels do not contribute deeply in educating people about: what is the real position they occupy in the organization? And what the organization is expecting they contribute if with high competency level?.... It is very important people understand what to do, what are clients and providers expecting people do for them with accuracy, in time and quality..."

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Dela Agbo - Ghana

Kaizen 5S Framework Workplace Organization

"I think the author has interchanged the definitions of Seiri and Seiton. Please note and amend."

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Chandra S Dwivedi - India

Kaizen and SOP Creation

"I find the biggest role of Kaizen in SOP creation of the defined task and it is this SOP that helps in standardising of the processes and the system."

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Editor - NL

Quotes on Kaizen

"Do you know some deep, famous or funny quotes on Kaizen? Quotations? Proverbs? Please share them as a reaction to this posting and mention the author. To get started, here's my favorite: 'Constant dripping hollows out a stone.' - Lucretius 98-55 BC, Roman poet"

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- NL

Comparison Kaizen vs. Innovation

"In 1992, A. Meckel made this useful comparison of Kaizen (K) versus Innovation (I): 1. EFFECT - K: long term and continuous, but not dramatic; I: short term, but dramatic. 2. TEMPO - K: small steps; I: big steps 3. TIME WINDOW - K: continuous and increasing; I: unbroken and temporary 4. CHANCE OF SUCCESS - K: steady high; I: abrupt and not constant 5. PROTAGONISTS - K: every employee; I: few selected 6. HOW THINGS HAPPEN - K: collective spirit, teamwork, systematically; I: me first, individual ideas and efforts 7. MOTTO - K: maintain and improve; I: break down and build new 8. RECIPE FOR SUCCESS - K: conventional know-how and current technology; I: technological achievements, new inventions and theories 9. PRACTICAL PREREQUISITES - K: small investments, big maintenance effort; I: big investments, small maintenance effort 10. SUCCESS ORIENTATION - K: people; I: technology 11. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA - K: performance and procedure for better results; I: profits 12. ADVANTAGE - K: well suited for slow, steady growing economy; I: mainly suited for fast growing economy Source: A. Meckel, Kaizen - Vorschlagswesen in Japan, Betriebliches Vorschlagswesen, Nr. 4, 1992, p. 177-181"

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Anthony - India

Building blocks of Kaizen: QCD

"Imai mentions three main building blocks of Kaizen, known as QCD: 1. A continually improving Quality assurance system; 2. A continually improving Cost management system; 3. A continually improving Delivery system."

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- Nederland

Standardization

"Your Kaizen action must be followed by standardization so you can see your improvement in the process. My trigger for a kaizen project is the result of my visual management what is based on the 6 big losses in a process."

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William - US

First stabilize the process

"There is a key element to the Kaizen method that is missing in your synopsis. Kaizen should not occur until the process is stable as is. Many make the mistake of Kaizen'ing before the process has stabilized and that created problems with the process and those trying to do the right thing. It ends up back firing on the change implementor and destroying the Kaizen Philosophy in the eyes of those that need to embrace it."

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Eshwar Nayudu - India

Loss Function Analysis

"Loss function analysis can be used for controling loss incurred during production, the smaller the tolerance the less is the loss in production."

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Daisyqin - China

Kaizen basis for Lean Six Sigma

"I think the Kaizen is the same as Lean Six Sigma, if we want to get more sucessful in the manufacturing field, we need start from the Kaizen."

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- Brazil

Kaizen, 5S,TWI, improve Lean - 6 Sigma results

"According to my experience here in Santa Catarina, south of Brazil, Kaizen, 5S and TWI strongly improve results on Lean - 6 Sigma projects."

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Nduati Mbugua - Kenya

Kaizen and Organisational Culture

"Kaizen is indisputably one of the best methods of increasing efficiency and of introducing organizational change in an organization. However it requires organizational cultural change before it is implemented for people to be disciplined and to embrace teamwork."

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Jjuuko Joseph - Uganda

Kaizen vs Business Process Reengineering

"In ideas companies like film production, television etc, business process re-engineering has been found very applicable because it involves the fundamental realignment of resources and rethinking the organizational processes to enable it move in tandem with the fast moving global industrial requirements. The application of Kaizen has always proved to like laggards as compared to the BPR/innovation model."

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