We'll look at Kaizen by answering three questions:
What is Kaizen? What are the benefits of Kaizen? What
do you need to do to get started using Kaizen principles?
Kaizen was created in Japan following World War II.
The word Kaizen means "continuous improvement".
It comes from the Japanese words "Kai" meaning
school and "Zen" meaning wisdom.
Kaizen is a system that involves every employee -
from upper management to the cleaning crew. Everyone
is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions
on a regular basis. This is not a once a month or once a year activity. It is continuous. Japanese companies,
such as Toyota and Canon, a total of 60 to 70 suggestions per
employee per year are written down, shared and implemented.
In most cases these are not ideas for major changes.
Kaizen is based on making little changes on a regular
basis: always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness while reducing waste.
Suggestions are not limited to a specific area such
as production or marketing. Kaizen is based on making
changes anywhere that improvements can be made. Western philosophy may be summarized as, "if
it ain't broke, don't fix it." The
Kaizen philosophy is to "do it better, make it
better, improve it even if it isn't broken, because
if we don't, we can't compete with those who do."
Kaizen in Japan is a system of improvement that includes
both home and business life. Kaizen
even includes social activities. It is a concept that
is applied in every aspect of a person's life.
In business Kaizen encompasses many of the components
of Japanese businesses that have been seen as a part
of their success. Quality circles, automation, suggestion
systems, just-in-time delivery, Kanban and 5S are
all included within the Kaizen system of running a
business.
Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually
improving those standards. To support the higher standards
Kaizen also involves providing the training, materials
and supervision that is needed for employees to achieve
the higher standards and maintain their ability to
meet those standards on an on-going basis.
More information about Kaizen:
Benefits of Kaizen
- What Kaizen can do for you. Read about how Kaizen
helped Fleetwood and Sony.
Getting Started
With Kaizen - A brief overview describing how
to start to use Kaizen in your company.
5S - A 5S Program is often associated with Kaizen.
Lean
Manufacturing - A case study at Mathers Controls.
The above Kaizen article by: Steve Hudgik
