There is more to implementing Kaizen than we can
include on a single web page. However, the following
serves as an overview of introducing Kaizen into an
American workplace.
For most American companies Kaizen involves a significant
change in the corporate culture. This is key. The
attitudes of employees - from top management down
to new hires will need to change. Kaizen needs to
become something all employees do because they want
to, and because they know it is good for them and
the company. It can not be something employees do
because management dictates that it be done.
That means that if management isn't ready to lead
by example, Kaizen will not get off the ground.
Employee training and communication is important.
Combined with that, direct involvement
by the management is critical. For example, a manager spending a week
on the shop floor working with employees to help
and encourage them to develop suggestions will help.
That manager should also ensure employees see their
suggestions acted on immediately. Suggestions should
not be implemented next month or next week, but today.
In some cases, a suggestion submitted in the morning
can be implemented that afternoon, or sooner
Keep employees informed about what happens with their
suggestions. Don't have suggestions disappear into
a management "black hole."
To get Kaizen started it can be helpful to bring
in outside experts. They can work in your facility
identifying problems that those close to the work
may not see. This serves as a "seed" allowing
employees to see how Kaizen works and to experience
the benefits of Kaizen.
A significant obstacle to Kaizen in many corporations
is that problems are seen as negatives. We don't like
problems. Someone who is associated with a problem
is likely to be negatively impacted (a lower raise,
missed promotion, or even fired). In Kaizen, problems
are opportunities to improve. With Kaizen we want
to find, report, and fix problems. Kaizen encourages
and rewards the identification of problems by all
employees.
To encourage the submission of suggestions, a part
of each supervisor's evaluation should be based on
the number of suggestions submitted by those they
supervise. Don't evaluate employees on the number
of suggestions they submit, evaluate your supervisors
and managers and how well they are doing at getting
those who work for them to actively participate in
Kaizen.
Managers should develop methods to help create suggestions
and increase the number of suggestions. For example,
set up teams of five to 12 people to evaluate work
areas, processes, quality, productivity, and equipment
availability/reliability. The team then makes suggestions
for improvements, and they may even implement those
improvements.
Train employees in using Kaizen tools such as 5S,
Kanban, and Line Balancing.
Keep in mind that Kaizen is about action. Taking
action to generate suggestions, and taking action
to implement those suggestions immediately.
More information about Kaizen:
Introduction to Kaizen
The Benefits of Kaizen
The above Kaizen article by: Steve Hudgik
