KAIZEN

INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION

Japanese term that means continuous improvement, taken from words

'Kai' means continuous and 'Zen' means improvement. Some translate 'Kai' to

mean change and 'Zen' to mean good, or for the better.

The same Japanese words Kaizen that pronounce as 'Gai San' where,

Gai = The action to correct.

San = This word is more related to the Taoism or Buddhism Philosophy in

which give the definition as the action that 'benefit' the society but not to one

particular individual. The quality of benefit that involve here should be sustain

forever, in other words the 'san' is and act that truly benefit the others.

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" i.e. 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 year, or

monthly activity. It is continuous. At Japanese companies, such as Toyota and

Canon, 60 to 70 suggestions per employee, per year are written down, shared

and implemented.

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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, and 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. The Kaizen philosophy is to "do it

better, make it better, and improve it even if it isn’t broke, because if we don't,

we can't compete with those who do."

Western philosophy can be summarized as, "if it isn’t broke, don't fix it."

The Kaizen philosophy is that everything, even it isn’t broke can be improved.

Kaizen is a system of improvement that in Japan includes both home life

as well as business improvements. 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.

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Kaizen often takes place one small step at a time, hence the English

translation: "continuous improvement," or "continual improvement." Yet

radical changes for the sake of goals such as just in time, and moving lines also

gain the full support of upper level management. Goals for kaizen workshops

are intentionally set very high because there are countless examples of drastic

reductions in process lead time to serve as proof of their practicality.

The cycle of kaizen activity can be defined as:

Standardize an operation – measure the standardized operation (find cycle time

and amount of in-process inventory) – gauge measurements against

requirements – innovate to meet requirements and increase productivity –

standardize the new, improved operations – continue cycle ad infinitum.

Learn-by-Doings

The "Zen" in Kaizen emphasizes the learn-by-doing aspect of improving

production. This philosophy is focused in a different direction from the

"command-and-control" improvement programs of the mid-20th century.

Kaizen methodology includes making changes and looking at the results, then

adjusting. Large-scale preplanning and extensive project scheduling are

replaced by smaller experiments in improvement, which can be rapidly adapted

as new improvements are suggested.

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HISTORY OF KAIZENHISTORY OF KAIZEN

The history of this philosophy can be traced to as back as 1950’s.

Although the term ‘KAIZEN’ first became apparent in the west in the mid

1980’s, its roots lie in the aftermath of the Second World War. The ‘birth’ of

Kaizen as a management concept is closely bound up with Japan’s recovery &

growth after world war-II, as a management concept, however it was first used

in 1970 within post-war Japan there was clearly a pressing need to make

manufacturing industry efficient, this led some of the major manufacturer ways

to build on the ways of the team structures in their companies & to harness the

full contribution of their system, became increasingly common. Then in 1986,

Masaaki Imai published his influential book entitled Kaizen: ‘the key to Japan’s

key to success’ in which he showed a number of companies were successfully

using this ideas in an integrated way : kaizen as a management concept had

been born.

The Global economic situations which lead to evolution of KAIZEN as an

important management tool are:-

Sharp increases in the cost of material, energy, labour.

Overcapacity of production facilities.

Increased competition in already saturated market.

Changing consumer values.

A need to have a lower breakeven point.

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The traditional Japanese approach to Kaizen embeds it in a hierarchical

structure, although it gives considerable importance to the employees as well,

but within fixed limits. The key to applying this principle in practice the main

points to be considered are:-

Attention to process, rather than end results.

Cross-functional management.

Use of QC’s and other tools to improve communication.

Japanese organizations over the years have applied this philosophy and

have reaped huge benefits. Unlike in the West where the emphasis is on one

goal that is profit, in Japan the motto is to produce something in the best

possible manner and in the process if possible try for profits. They have over

the period put more stress on research and development to improve the existing

process and make it more productive and also satisfy high quality standards.

Japanese organizations believe it’s better to continuously improve the

process rather than to go for innovations. According to theory its great strength

of the Japanese companies to pay attention on the process rather than the

results.

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REASONS BEHIND THE WORKING OF KAIZEN IN JAPAN

The essence of implementing Kaizen is the “attitude” & it is the attitude

of the Japanese people (now known as Kaizen Attitude) that helped them in

implementing Kaizen successfully.

Many of Japanese people by nature are hardworking, attentive, training

oriented and most importantly they feel a strong obligation to be responsible for

their work. This is one of the basic reasons of success of kaizen philosophy in

Japan. The following examples would throw light on the above mentioned

point:-

WESTERN ATTITUDE: -

“As long as the targets are met don’t interfere.”

KAIZEN ATTITUDE: -

“Don’t aim for perfection it isn’t good enough.”

WESTERN ATTITUDE: -

“It’s a Marketing problem not a production one right.”

KAIZEN ATTITUDE: -

“There is a problem here; lets see what we can do about it.”

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PRINCIPLES OF KAIZENPRINCIPLES OF KAIZEN

There are certain basic principles which are followed in various Japanese

companies which are listed below: -

Focus on customers:

The Kaizen philosophy has only one prime objective of customers’

satisfaction. Kaizen permits no middle ground its either you provide best

products and customer satisfaction or not. All the activities should aim at

providing customer with whatever he wants and should help the firm’s

long term objective of customers’ satisfaction at the same time building

up good relationship. It is a responsibility of each and every person

working in a Kaizen company to make sure that the product is up to the

mark and it satisfies customers need.

Make improvements continuously:

There is not a best way to do a thing; there is still a better way. In a

Kaizen company, the search for excellence just does not end. We should

work on the improvement implemented and see if we can make it even

more effective.

Develop self-discipline:

The most important evidence of existence of Kaizen in a company is the

level of self-discipline in an employee.

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Acknowledge problems openly:

Every company has certain problems related to finance, competition,

change in demand etc. Kaizen companies are no exception, but by

fostering an appropriately supportive, constructive culture it becomes

easier for any team to get its problem in the open.

The whole organization works as a team to solve the problem:

The problems are openly shared by the management with the employees

which avoids rumours. It simply means “FIGHT WITH YOUR

PROBLEMS DON’T RUN AWAY FROM THEM”.

Promote openness:

There seems to be less functional ring fencing i.e. only the senior

managers have private cabins. Otherwise the workplace is generally open

and in many companies even the dress code and canteen for everyone is

the same.

Create work teams:

Each individual in a Kaizen company belongs to work team headed by a

leader. Working in various overlapping teams draws employees into

corporate life and reinforces the mutual understanding.

Cross- functional teams:8

KAIZEN

Kaizen states that no individual or team has all the required skill and

knowledge to complete a task. Cross-functional teams help in getting all

the valuable information’s from the view of all the related people. It calls

for letting ideas to flow as wide as running on moon.

Right relationship process:

This principle can be explained in one word as harmony. Harmony means

a complete mixture of the best process and also the best results.

Inform every employee:

Kaizen requires all the staff to be given all the information at the time of

their induction and throughout their working tenure. This is very

important to make sure that the employees have the right attitude and also

that they respect their culture and help their co-workers.

Enable every employee:

Enabling employees gives those skills and opportunity to apply the

information provided. In a Kaizen company it is also important to give

employees adequate training to sharpen their skills and also incentives

should be provided. In case where a workers suggestion is implemented

he should be given rewards.

IMPORTANCE OF KAIZENIMPORTANCE OF KAIZEN

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To answer this question let us first see what does Kaizen do or what are

the benefits of Kaizen. The details of the same are follow:

Kaizen involves every employee in making change--in most cases small,

incremental changes. It focuses on identifying problems at their source, solving

them at their source, and changing standards to ensure the problem stays solved.

It's not unusual for Kaizen to result in 25 to 30 suggestions per employee, per

year, and to have bovver 90% of those implemented.

For example, Toyota is well-known as one of the leaders in using Kaizen. In

1999 at one U.S. plant, 7,000 Toyota employees submitted over 75,000

suggestions, of which 99% were implemented.

These continual small improvements add up to major benefits. They

result in improved productivity, improved quality, better safety, faster delivery,

lower costs, and greater customer satisfaction. On top of these benefits to the

company, employees working in Kaizen-based companies generally find work

to be easier and more enjoyable--resulting in higher employee moral and job

satisfaction, and lower turn-over.

With every employee looking for ways to make improvements, you can expect

results such as:

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Kaizen reduces waste in areas such as inventory, waiting times,

transportation, worker motion, employee's skills, over production, excess

quality and in processes.

Kaizen improves space utilization, product quality, use of capital,

communications, and production capacity and employee retention.

Kaizen provides immediate results. Instead of focusing on large, capital

intensive improvements, Kaizen focuses on creative investments that

continually solve large numbers of small problems. Large, capital

projects and major changes will still be needed, and Kaizen will also

improve the capital projects process, but the real power of Kaizen is in

the on-going process of continually making small improvements that

improve processes and reduce waste.

To add to all this we would further like to add the following:

Kaizen closely associated with quality, quality refers to meeting specification

and requirement, competitive cost and reliability, customer satisfaction, safety,

consistency and so on. Kaizen signifies small improvement made in the status

quo as a result of large investment. The word “Kaizen” refers to small and

continuous improvement.

The wider meaning is continuous improvement consistently, every time, every

step, every place leading to self development and hereby neighbourhood

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development. The kaizen philosophy is based on our life; our working life, our

social life or our home life needs to be constantly improved for the betterment.

In a management sense this means continual & gradual improvements through

evolution rather than revolution. The reality is you can make improvements

once if you try; you can make them more than once if you care.

Bad business ignores the sign of disaster.

Good business spots the sign of disaster and deals with them.

KAIZEN business constantly reviews and monitors to preclude disaster.

To finish we would like to say that “CHANGE IS THE NEED FOR THE

HOUR”, but this change is not easy. To implement these changes is not easy

and to shed light on how Kaizen helps companies excel we have chosen this

topic.

KAIZEN & THE FIVE SKAIZEN & THE FIVE S

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The Five S's, or just 5S, is the name for a Japanese system of workplace

cleaning and organization. It first appeared at Toyota Motor Company shortly

after the end of World War II by the ideas of Taiichi Ohno, and is considered a

vital part of the Toyota Production System and Lean Production philosophy.

The Japanese have long recognized the vital importance of workplace

housekeeping.

The Five Ss are:

1. Seiri, which can be translated as sorting, refers to the practice of sorting

through all the tools, materials, etc., in the work area and keeping only essential

items. Everything else is stored or discarded. This leads to fewer hazards and

less clutter to interfere with productive work.

2. Seiton, or organizing, focuses on the need for an orderly workplace. Tools,

equipment, and materials must be systematically arranged for the easiest and

most efficient access. There must be a place for everything, and everything

must be at its place.

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3. Seiso, which means cleaning, indicates the need to keep the workplace clean

as well as neat. Cleaning in Japanese companies is a daily activity. At the end of

each shift, the work area is cleaned up and everything is restored to its place.

4. Seiketsu, or standardizing, allows for control and consistency. Basic

housekeeping standards apply everywhere in the facility. Everyone knows

exactly what his or her responsibilities are. House keeping duties are part of

regular work routines.

5. Shitsuke, which means sustaining, refers to maintaining housekeeping

standards and keeping the facility in safe and efficient order day after day, year

after year.

THE 3 MU’S OF KAIZEN

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1. Eliminate Muda

Muda means ‘waste’ and muda elimination in the context of kaizen

implies an ‘on going’ and systematic elimination of waste. Seven kinds

of muda elimination are;

Muda over production

Muda of stock

Muda of transport

Muda of defects

Muda of delays

Muda of motion

Muda of over processing

2. Mura

Mura = Inconsistencies in the system

Happens sometimes

Happens some places

Happens to some people

One side is ok; the other side is not ok

All this is Mura.

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3. Muri

Muri = Physical Strain

Bend to work

Push hard

Lift weight

Repeat tiring action

Wasteful walk

All this is Muri

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FIVE W’S AND ONE H CHECKLIST FOR KAIZEN

Who?

Why?

What?

Where?

When?

How?

The Five W’s and H, are an influential, inspirational and imaginative

checklist (often used by journalists). The technique uses basic question

generating prompts provided by the English language. The method is useful at

any level from a formal checklist to complete informality. For example:

Informal ‘back-of-an-envelope’ use is suitable as a quick-aide checklist, a

private checklist to keep in mind when in an on going discussion, quick

points scribbled down in a meeting, or to generate further questions.

To generate data-gathering questions, during the early stages of problem

solving when you are gathering data, the checklist can be useful either as

an informal or systematic way of generating lists of question that you can

try to find answers for.

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To generate idea-provoking questions, whilst brainstorming, brain

writing or some other such similar technique, the checklist could be used

as a source of thought provoking questions to help build on existing

ideas.

To generate criteria, the checklist could help in generating criteria for

evaluating options.

To check plans, the checklist is a useful tool for planning implementation

strategies.

However, the ‘question words’ owe their strength to their fundamental place

in the English language, and can conceal some of the assets of nature that our

language copes less well with. The responses to the questions in the checklist

are usually facts, rather than actions or problems.

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TEN COMMANDMENTS OF KAIZENTEN COMMANDMENTS OF KAIZEN

10. Though shall not speak falsehoods about the modifications.

09. Though shall not embark in any illegal activity.

08. Though shall not belittle another member's ride.

07. Though shall not monopolize the group.

06. Though shall not deviate from Kaizen doctrine and code.

05. Though shall never criticize a member's final decision

04. Though shall not take out stress on thy ride or the group.

03. Though shall not totally rip-off another ride's design

02. Though shall not risk thy car recklessly.

01. Though shall not strut.

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KAIZEN & IT’S UMBRELLA CONCEPTKAIZEN & IT’S UMBRELLA CONCEPT

The Kaizen philosophy assumes that our way of life – be it our social

life, our working life or our home life – deserves to be constantly improved. In

trying to understand Japan’s post war “economic miracle”, scholars, journalists

and businesspeople alike have dutifully studied such factors as the productivity

movement, Total Quality Control (TQC), small group activities, the suggestion

system, automation, industrial robots, and labour relations. They have given

much importance to some of the unique Japanese management practices, among

them the lifetime employment system, seniority-based wages, and enterprise

unions.

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The essence of the “uniquely Japanese” management practices- be they

productivity improvement, TQC activities, Quality Circles (QC), or labour

relations – can be reduced to one word- KAIZEN.

Using the term Kaizen in place of such words as productivity, TQC, ZD-

zero defects, Kanban, and suggestion system paints a far clearer picture of what

has been going on in the Japanese industry. Kaizen is an umbrella concept

covering most of the “uniquely Japanese” management practices that have

recently achieved such worldwide fame.

Customer orientation. Kanban.

TQC. Quality improvement.

Robotics Just-in-time.

QC. Zero- defects.

Suggestion systems Small group activities.

Automation. Good labor- management. Relations.

Discipline in the Work place Productivity improvement.

TPM. New product development.

The implications of TQC in Japan have been that these concepts have

helped Japanese companies generate a process oriented way of thinking and

develop strategies that assure continuous improvement involving people at all

levels of the organizational hierarchy. The message of the Kaizen strategy is

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that not a day should go by without some kind of improvement being made

somewhere in the company.

The belief that there should be unending improvement is deeply

ingrained in the Japanese mentality. After World War II, the Japanese

companies had to start from the ground up. Every day brought new challenges

to the workers and the management alike, and everyday meant progress. And

Kaizen has become a way of life. It was also fortunate that the various tools that

helped elevate this Kaizen concept were introduced to Japan in the late 1950’s.

Japanese perception of job function

The figure on the adjoining page shows how job functions are perceived

in Japan. As indicated the management has two major components:

maintenance and improvement. Maintenance refers to activities directed

towards maintaining current technological, managerial, and operating standards;

improvement refers to those directed towards improving current standards.

Under its maintenance functions, management performs its assigned jobs

so that everybody in the company can follow the established SOP- Standard

Operating Procedure. This means that the management must first establish

policies, rules and directives and procedures for all major operations and then

see to it that everybody follows it. If the people are able to follow the standard

but do not then the management must introduce discipline. If the people are

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unable to follow the standard then the management must either provide the

training or review or revise the standard so that the people can follow it.

In any business an employee’s work is based on the existing standards

either explicit or implicit, imposed by the management. Maintenance refers to

the maintaining such standards through training and discipline. By contrast,

improvement refers to improving the standards. The Japanese perception of

management boils down to one percept: maintain and improve standards.

The higher up the manager is, the more he is concerned with

improvement. At the bottom level, an unskilled worker working at a machine

may spend all his time following instructions. However, he becomes more

proficient at his work; he begins to contribute to improvements in the way his

work is done, either through individual suggestions or through group

suggestions.

Ask any manager at a successful Japanese company what top

management is pressing for, and the answer will be, “Kaizen” (improvement).

Improving standards means introducing and establishing new standards.

Once this is done, it becomes management’s maintenance job to see that the

new standards are observed. Lasting improvement is achieved only when

people work to higher standards. Maintenance and improvement have thus

become inseparable for most Japanese managers.

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Hierarchy of Kaizen involvement:

Top management

Be determined to introduce Kaizen as a corporate strategy.

Provide support and direction for Kaizen by allocating resources.

Establish policy for Kaizen and cross-functional goals.

Realize Kaizen goals through policy deployment and audits.

Build systems, procedures and structures conducive to Kaizen.

Middle management and staff

Deploy and implement Kaizen goals as directed by top management

through policy deployment and cross-functional management.

Use Kaizen in functional capabilities.

Establish, maintain and upgrade standards.

Make employees Kaizen – conscious through intensive training

programs.

Help employees develop skills and tools for problem solving.

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Supervisors

Use Kaizen in functional roles.

Formulate plans for Kaizen and provide guidance to workers.

Improve communication with workers and sustain high morale.

Support small group activities (such as QC) and the individual suggestion

systems.

Introduce discipline in the workshop.

Provide Kaizen suggestions.

Workers

Engage in Kaizen through the suggestion system and small group

activities.

Practice discipline in the workshop.

Engage in continuous self-development to become better problem

solvers.

Enhance skills and job performance expertise with cross education.

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GETTING STARTED WITH KAIZENGETTING STARTED WITH KAIZEN

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 cannot 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 management involvement 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

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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 or 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.

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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.

MANAGEMENT’S ROLE IN IMPLEMENTING KAIZENMANAGEMENT’S ROLE IN IMPLEMENTING KAIZEN

Introduction of Kaizen involves considerably more sweeping changes in

attitudes, structures and processes. Senior managers need to think about the

impact and implications of kaizen, as well as about the practicalities of

introduction. Senior managers must be aware of Kaizen’s role in the overall

business strategy. All employees should understand Kaizen’ s role in their

work. Kaizen should be linked to personal development and enablement

In Japan, cultural background means that senior management

commitment can be taken for granted. Local guidelines therefore concentrate on

the shop floor involvement. In the UK, where the cultural background is

different, the right management commitment is essential.

Senior managers need to understand Kaizen and how it fits into the

organization’s overall business strategy. They should be aware of implications

and potential disruptions that the introduction of Kaizen might bring.

Reorganization of people into teams takes time and may be disruptive

Training and group meeting take additional time

Productivity may decline temporarily while changes are implemented

Some employees may be suspicious and un co-operative

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Above all senior managers must be prepared to let go of some areas of

power: Kaizen in practice is based on the belief that the people doing a

particular job will often know how better than anyone else (including their

supervisors) how that job can be improved, and that they should be given that

responsibility for making those improvements. Management needs to be

prepared- mentally as well as practically – for this shift.

Once Kaizen practices were identified as a key element in the success of

large Japanese manufacturers such as Toyota, they began to take interest in the

philosophy and practice of these companies.

They believed that Kaizen:

Leads to reduction of waste

Can increase productivity by at lest 30 % where no previous

improvement process was in place

Is relative cheap to introduce – it requires no major capital investment

Can lower the break-even point

Enables organization to react quickly to market changes

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DIFFICULTIES IN IMPLEMENTING KAIZEN

Overcoming Middle Management resistance:

In very many countries due to the over dominance of the middle level

management, the middle level feel threatened that their role will be eliminated.

The change infact would help the managers to know the daily routine, help to

give away more responsibility. In many cases where Kaizen was introduced

after some of the managers took work they wanted reassurance that there would

be no redundancy.

Overcoming union fears:

Again in case of a company which adopts Kaizen and has a strong union has to

change from its traditional approach to a more modern one. Infact in a Kaizen

company, due to an open environment there are hardly any mismatch. The aim

of a union is workers welfare which can be fulfilled in case of an open

environment. Some of the argument that the union voice on are –

Employees have to work for more whereas the benefits are not

substantial.

Older employees are edged out by younger ones.

Employees tend to work for themselves rather than the job.

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Time lapse:

In case of very many companies the time taken to get used to this new Kaizen

philosophy is very high. It is very difficult to change the attitude of the

employees, their belief, and the culture that has developed over a period of

time. It requires a lot of training as well as a lot of positive communication to

spread the new philosophy.

Maintaining the momentum:

Kaizen stresses on continuous improvement. In many cases due to slowdown of

economies, financial problems, etc sometimes it’s difficult to keep working on

R&D and improve the processes.

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ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF KAIZENADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF KAIZEN

ADVANTAGES

1. Efficiency:

It leads to better efficiency in terms of through put time, inventory turnover,

man hours employed, plant and machinery.

2. Continuous improvement:

Kaizen philosophy stresses on continuous improvement rather than

innovation. This process leads to better utilization of R & D resources of a

company and better productivity.

3. Mutual understanding:

Due to the openness in a Kaizen company, mutual understanding among the

employees increases along with better understanding with management.

4. Develop self -discipline:

The philosophy stresses that all the employees in a Kaizen company should

have self-discipline. This helps the top level management to set an example

for the others to follow. This helps the management in improving their

leadership skills as well as the companies practices are percolated

throughout the organization.

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5. Participative Management:

Due to the openness in the working environment and also in the

management decisions the employees feel themselves to be a part of the

organization. Participative Management also leads to high employee morale.

DISADVANTAGES

1. It is difficult to achieve kaizen in practice, because it requires a complete

change in attitude and culture, and needs the energy and commitment of

all employees. It also requires a substantial investment of time.

2. It is difficult to maintain enthusiasm for several reasons.

3. Some people see Kaizen as a threat to their jobs.

4. A lot of poor ideas tend to be put forward as well as good ones, which

can be de-motivating.

5. By implication, there is complete satisfaction.

6. Continuous improvement is not sufficient on its own, major innovations

are also needed. There is a danger of becoming evolutionary rather than

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GEMBA-KAIZENGEMBA-KAIZEN

In the service sectors, GEMBA is where the customers come into contact

with the services offered.

At banks, tellers are working in Gemba, as are loan officers receiving

applicants. The same goes for employee's working desks in offices and for

telephone operators sitting in front of switchboards. Thus, Gemba spans a

multitude of offices and administrative functions.

The efforts to bring about sales management in cooperative banks take

place in Gemba. Hence a few more lines on Gemba will be in order. The

problem with most managers is that they prefer their desk as their workplace,

wish to distance themselves from the events taking place in Gemba. Most

managers come into contact with reality only through their daily, weekly or

even monthly reports, or other meetings. (Masaaki, Imai: Gemba Kaizen.

The Japanese word KAIZEN is now well known on the floors of factories

all over the world. It is written with the two kanji characters at left. KAI means

alter, renew, reform, or to be corrected, among other meanings, and ZEN means

simply good (The Kanji Dictionary, Spahn & Hadamitzky). In everyday

Japanese, KAIZEN means improvement. For people in factories, though,

KAIZEN means a lot more than that. It means the relentless process of finding

and eliminating MUDA (or waste ) .

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KAIZEN

That is why KAIZEN is sometimes translated in English as Continuous

Improvement, because experts felt that saying merely improvement gave the

wrong impression. MUDA is everywhere. Eliminate it and you will find it in

new places. And so KAIZEN is endless.

In the field of sales management in cooperative banks, manager’s first

priority should be to go to Gemba and observe. Gemba is your teacher. When

you go to Gemba, what you see is the real data. The report from Gemba you

read sitting at your desk is merely secondary information.

There is a golden rule of Gemba management, the 5-Gemba principles, which

can be described as follows:

When a trouble (abnormality) happens, go to Gemba first. This is the first

and most important principle. Many managers learn about the problems

that happened in Gemba from a report that reaches them several days or

weeks after. The best solution is to go to Gemba at once when you hear

that a problem has happened.

Check with gembutsu (machines, tools, rejects, and customer

complaints.) Gembutsu, another Japanese word means some tangible

things on which you can put your hands on. If a machine is down, the

machine itself is gembutsu. If a customer is complaining, the customer is

gembutsu. For instance, if the machine is down, go to Gemba and have a

good look at the machine. By looking at the machine, and asking the

question “why” several times, you can probably find out the reason for

the breakdown on the spot.

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KAIZEN

Take temporary countermeasures on the spot. For instance, if the

machine is down, you have to get it started because the show must go on.

Sometimes you kick the machine to get it started. If a customer is angry,

you will need to apologize, or even give some gift to appease. But these

are only temporary measures and do not address the real issue, which

leads to the next point.

Find out the root cause. By repeating the question “why” several times,

you can find out the root cause of the problem.

Standardize for prevention of recurrence. Once you identify the root cause, and

come up with a countermeasure, you should standardize such a countermeasure

so that the same problem will not recur.

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KAIZEN

What is GEMBA-KAIZEN?

Gemba-Kaizen is a work discipline that pretends getting the required

information for improvement, directly where the phenomenon is produced. . To

solve a problem you have to go to “Gemba” or work place, machine, plant area,

that is, to the place where the event that prevents things from working properly

is occurring.

“So what is Gemba Kaizen? It's a philosophy that uses small, continuous

and commonsensical improvements in the workplace to save money and

enhance the bottom-line instead of heavy investments in new technology. For

Masaaki, Gemba contains the root of all problems, solutions and is the source of

all improvements and revenues.

In order to solve problems found in Gemba, today’s managers often try to

apply sophisticated tools and technologies to deal with problems that can be

solved with a commonsense, low cost approach. They need to unlearn the habit

of trying ever-more sophisticated technologies to solve everyday problems.

There are two approaches to problem solving. The first involves innovation –

applying the latest high-cost technology, such as state-of-the art computers and

other tools, and investing a great deal of money. The second uses commonsense

tools, checklists, and techniques that do not cost much money.

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KAIZEN

KAIZEN V/S WESTERN STYLE OF MANAGEMENTKAIZEN V/S WESTERN STYLE OF MANAGEMENT

38

KAIZEN

39

KAIZEN

KAIZEN AS CONTINUOS IMPROVEMENT TOOLKAIZEN AS CONTINUOS IMPROVEMENT TOOL

About Kaizen, it can be said that it is a way of thinking that puts common

sense into practice. It is a way of thinking and acting that is not exclusive of

managers and engineers, but it also includes supervisors and senior employees

or not. Apart from putting common sense into practice, it is about the need of

developing a learning organisation that allows the achievement of higher goals

every day.

Everyone in the company must work together to follow the ground rules for

practicing Kaizen :

Housekeeping:

It is an indispensable ingredient of good management. Through good

housekeeping, employees acquire and practice self-discipline. Employees

without self-disciplines make it difficult to provide products or services

of good quality to the customer. Muda - any activity that does not add

value is muda. This is also true for other resources, such as machines and

materials. Muda elimination can be the most cost-effective way to

improve productivity and reduce operating costs. Kaizen emphasizes the

elimination of muda rather than the increasing of investment. Let’s

suppose that a company's employees add nine parts of muda per each part

of value. Their productivity can double when muda is reduced to eight

parts and the added value is increased to two parts.

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KAIZEN

There are different types of Muda - Muda of over production, regarded as

the worst type of muda. If you produce more than your customer needs,

you have extra pieces that need to be taken care of, such as handling and

keeping in stock. Muda of inventory, the result of over production. If

your process only produces what the next process needs, you can

eliminate muda of inventory altogether. Muda of waiting, how often do

you see operators just waiting for the material to arrive or the machine to

start? No value is added when operators are waiting and looking. Muda

of motion, when the operator is moving around, looking for tools or

going to get the work pieces, no value is added. Muda of transportation,

when materials are moving on the trucks, forklifts, or on the conveyer, no

value is added. Muda of producing rejects, producing rejects leads to

rework, or else rejects must be thrown away. Muda of processing, by

rearranging the working sequence, you can often eliminate a particular

process.

Standardization:

The third ground rule of Kaizen practice is standardization. Standards

may be defined as the best way to do the job. Products of services are

created as a result of a series of processes certain standard must be

maintained at each process in order to assure quality. Traditional

managers and businessmen resort to the purchase of new machines or

to hire more personnel, especially when business perspectives are

clear. Kaizen-minded executives tend to make better use of existing

resources thus increasing productivity levels.

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KAIZEN

Teamwork: Human relations optimum development and collective

intelligence are basic to develop the Kaizen. In a highly competitive

world, each company has to get their staff to work in a team to fight

together in the search of scarce resources. Winning, conquering and

delighting the customer is very important, to make him an associate

and participant in the development of products and services to get full

self-satisfaction. An executive, as the brains behind an organisation,

requires that all the employees and operators be nerve endings

reporting about the functioning of processes and the needs and desires

of users and consumers. The operator shall not only put his hands to

work, but also his brain, as a means of self-development and as a

basic company resource to achieve victory in the competitive market

field.

Collective intelligence: It is the pooling of knowledge, experience

and decisions of a group of individuals that form the organisation as a

whole, for which it is fundamental to increase to a maximum the

quality of the company’s internal communication system. Functional

or sectored work, with no relation between different areas, or even

within the members of the same area, is no longer allowed.

Concurring engineering and matrix organisations have arisen as a

means of overcoming those old limitations that nevertheless are still

surviving in many companies. Besides, collective intelligence concurs

with systemic thought, which implies to analyse and to take decisions

focusing on systems.42

KAIZEN

Optimum human relations:

They constitute that special chemistry that determines that one

company, with the same processes, machines and products than

another one, is superior to the latter because of that special group of

individual interrelations that allows an optimum team work by means

of an excellence in communication and decision-making systems.

Benchmarking: Benchmarking emphasizes or concentrates its

procedures in quantifiable processes or products to be able to compare

them. The thing is how to compare, how to do benchmarking of the

company's human relations, team work, and collective intelligence levels

optimization. These processes are very hard to measure and compare;

hence they are not the object of traditional benchmarking.

It is a good tool to gather the necessary information about performance to

change vital organisation processes. Process improvement with

Benchmarking is a 7 step cycle: to focus on one or several significant

business processes; to request “better practice” comparisons; to identify

adequate performance measures; to define reasonable metrics and

tolerance variation; to implement a technological measurement system

wherever possible; to monitor daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly

performance as necessary; and to evaluate performance with tolerated

variance and proposed solutions.

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KAIZEN

TOOLS USED FOR KAIZEN

KAIZEN achieves its effects by working through people. All are expected to

be involved. Managers, for example, are expected to spend about half their time

on improving what they - and those for whom they are responsible - do.

Traditionally, a Japanese Samurai carried seven tools into battle. After

World War II the Japanese adopted 'quality' as a philosophy for economic

recovery and, in line with this traditional approach, sought seven tools to

accomplish the economic rejuvenation. The seven tools chosen were:

Histograms

Cause and Effect Diagrams

Check Sheets

Pareto Diagrams

Graphs

Control Charts

Scatter Diagrams

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KAIZEN

Histograms:

A histogram is a specialized type of bar chart. Individual data

points are grouped together in classes, so that you can get an idea of how

frequently data in each class occur in the data set.

High bars indicate more points in a class, and low bars indicate

fewer points. In the histogram show above, the peak is in the 40-49 class,

where there are four points.

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KAIZEN

Cause and Effect Diagrams

The cause & effect diagram is the brainchild of Kaoru Ishikawa,

who pioneered quality management processes in the Kawasaki shipyards,

and in the process became one of the founding fathers of modern

management.  The cause and effect diagram is used to explore all the

potential or real causes (or inputs) that result in a single effect (or output).

Causes are arranged according to their level of importance or detail,

resulting in a depiction of relationships and hierarchy of events. This can

help you search for root causes, identify areas where there may be

problems, and compare the relative importance of Pareto Charts.

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KAIZEN

Check Sheet

The Check Sheet is a simple but powerful data gathering tool. It is

used to gather and classify information (data) that can be easily analyzed

to identify patterns in the work being studied. It starts the process of

translating “opinions” to “facts.”

A Check Sheet is useful for:

Making data gathering easy.

Learning the extent of a problem – “Count to know.”

Arranging data so it can be easily used to construct a Pareto Chart.

Identifying causes of problems.

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KAIZEN

Pareto Diagram

Vilfredo Pareto, a turn-of-the-century Italian economist, studied the

distributions of wealth in different countries, concluding that a fairly

consistent minority – about 20% – of people controlled the large majority

– about 80% – of a society's wealth. This same distribution has been

observed in other areas and has been termed the Pareto effect.

The Pareto effect even operates in quality improvement: 80% of

problems usually stem from 20% of the causes. Pareto charts are used to

display the Pareto principle in action, arranging data so that the few vital

factors that are causing most of the problems reveal themselves.

Concentrating improvement efforts on these few will have a greater

impact and be more cost-effective than undirected efforts.

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KAIZEN

Graphs:

Charts and graphs are images that represent data symbolically. They

are used to present complex information and numerical data in a simple,

compact format.Some types of charts and graphs, known as pictographs,

use pictures or symbols in place of the typical bars, lines, or dots of most

graphs.

Examples:

A pie chart is a circle divided into segments with each piece of the

pie representing some data. Bar and stacked charts use vertical or

horizontal bars to show the relationship between numbers. Line charts

use lines along a visible or invisible grid

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KAIZEN

Control Charts:

Every process varies. If you write your name ten times, your

signatures will all be similar, but no two signatures will be exactly

alike. There is an inherent variation, but it varies between predictable

limits. If, as you are signing your name, someone bumps your elbow,

you get an unusual variation due to what is called a "special cause". If

you are cutting diamonds, and someone bumps your elbow, the

special cause can be expensive. For many, many processes, it is

important to notice special causes of variation as soon as they occur.

Scatter Plots:

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KAIZEN

Scatter Plots (also called scatter diagrams) are used to investigate the

possible relationship between two variables that both relate to the same

"event." A straight line of best fit (using the least squares method) is

often included.

Things to look for:

If the points cluster in a band running from lower left to upper right,

there is a positive correlation (if x increases, y increases).

If the points cluster in a band from upper left to lower right, there is a

negative correlation (if x increases, y decreases).

Imagine drawing a straight line or curve through the data so that it

"fits" as well as possible. The more the points cluster closely around

the imaginary line of best fit, the stronger the relationship that exists

between the two variables.

CASE STUDIESCASE STUDIES

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KAIZEN

Kaizen & Sony

An operation at a plant in Terre Haute, Indiana, that required 13 operators

to produce 369 products per man-hour, cut labor needs to only three operators

while boosting throughput to 2,715 products per man-hour in just over one year.

The products are compact discs for the Sony video game. The plant is

one of the Sony Disc Manufacturing facilities in the United States. The boost in

production was made through automation, attrition and attention to the principle

of Kaizen, the Japanese word for continuous improvement. It’s a process that

involves everyone in the plant, from equipment operators to department

managers working together. Success is achieved without layoffs.

Allegiance to the Kaizen principle has allowed the Terre Haute facility,

the first CD manufacturing plant in the U.S., which Sony purchased from CBS

in 1983, to move from the then unthinkable goal of producing 300,000 CDs per

month to today’s capability to turn out 27 million CDs per month. In a crunch,

the plant can produce more than 29 million CDs as it did in October 1999.

Kaizen is a team concept that means continuous and incremental

improvement at all levels: machine operators, middle manager and even the

CEO are part of the process. The Kaizen umbrella covers just-in-time inventory,

zero defects, quality circles and suggestion systems. Basically, you take a look

at your operations and you eliminate everything that’s wasteful.

Waste, known as "muda" in Japanese, is everything that does not add

value. Muda is the deadly enemy of value creation. The eight deadly muda are:

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KAIZEN

1. Waste of motion

2. Time delays

3. Unnecessary transporting and material handling

4. Making defects

5. Over processing

6. Over producing

7. Storing inventory

8. Missed opportunity

If you can drive that kind of waste out of your process and stay vigilant

about it, then you’ve reached the heart of Kaizen.

Here’s where the art of standardization becomes your friend. You have to

rigorously standardize your processes if you are going to rigorously improve

them.

Maintaining your best processes and improving them involves two key

activities, what we call two-cycle wheels. The first cycle is for maintaining your

best processes, which is the day-to-day concern of operators and technicians.

The other is the improvement cycle, which is generally the responsibility of the

management and engineering staffs.

Management and technical staff have the lead responsibility for

improvements in the standardization processes. But they don’t act in a vacuum.

They spend the majority of their time on the factory floor, measuring

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KAIZEN

compliance with the Kaizen-driven plan, looking at the manufacturing process

from the individual perspective of each employee.

With the emphasis on automation, cycle time on the CD lines has been

drastically driven down in this process. Gone, for example, are the batch

process lines of the late 1980s. The Terre Haute plant makes discs faster than

anybody in the world.

It does so with fewer employees. Yet the company has not laid off any

workers. The head count has dropped from a high of about 1,500 employees to

its current status of just under 1,000 all through attrition. Kaizen improves the

morale of employees by removing drudgery from work and developing pride in

seeing individual ideas implemented.

Automatic guided vehicles carry supplies and discs from one station to

another. Everything is automated from retrieving manufacturing supplies to the

manufacturing process itself, even the stacking of packed boxes of discs on a

pallet for shipping.

The improvement to the video game cartooning line typifies the success

of the program. The video game system launched by Sony in the mid-1990s has

quickly become a staple product for the plant, particularly during the second

half of each year. Discs for the game can account for nearly half the CDs made

at Terre Haute during the late summer and early fall.

To start the process, a team of 17 — from the plant director of production

operations to seven packaging operators — was assembled to examine the

operation and identify problems. With the operation shut down, the team 54

KAIZEN

discussed problems that they identified and added the concerns of team

members. The team developed a list of 34 steps in station operation that could

be improved, from e-stop location to the labeler.

At its next meeting, the team generated possible solutions for each of the

issues. The problems were categorized based on their impact on the operation.

Then the list was divided into low cost, quick fixes and engineering

improvements. Every suggestion for improvement had to consolidate, automate,

eliminate or simplify in order to be considered.

The objective was to make the process more efficient and the job easier

for the operators as quickly as possible without investing much money. Within

days, low-cost improvements were implemented.

During the process, all the improvements were identified in Kaizen story

boards that tell the story of this specific continuous improvement and give

credit to the team participants. These Story Boards, with the names of all

participants, are displayed near the line and updated periodically.

Here are some of the simple and incremental improvements that were

accomplished within weeks and which reduced the number of station operators

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KAIZEN

from 13 to seven, while raising standard throughput from 4,800 to 8,679 and the

number of discs per man-hour from 369 to 1,240:

Relocated e-stop

Added rollers to prevent jams and disorientation

Redesign of crank on taping machine

Replaced cylinders on stacker

Eliminated reaching by reconfiguring work station height

Added flap detection sensor

Added quick-change tape head

To supplement these physical alterations, there was additional training

for the core team and reorganization for easier access of the technical manuals.

Once these changes and improvements were accomplished, the team moved on

to identify and accomplish further incremental improvements in the station

operation.

Within eight months, engineering and automation improvements that the

team identified had been installed by engineering to reduce the number of

operators needed at the video game cartooning line to four, while increasing the

standard throughput to 9,242 and the discs per man-hour to 2,311.

These productivity improvements were accomplished with semi-

automatic master and automatic master cartooning, a new roll stock labeling

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KAIZEN

system, an automated tote handling system and installation of a new semi-

automatic line. Even that was not the end. By mid 1999, only three operators

were needed to improve discs per-man-hour to 2,715. Implementation of a

robotic palletizer increased throughput eliminated two operators and overcame

ergonomic issues involved in the operators’ need to be constantly bending.

Savings: $118,400 annually, with a payoff period of only 26 months.

Ergonomic issues were at the heart of a decision to add a master carton

loader that automatically loaded three inner cartons of product into a master

carton and placed the carton on a conveyor to be palletized. Savings: one person

per line, per shift or $118,400 per year. Payoff period: 14 months.

Two operators were required to load PSX products from totes into PSX

cartons. The manual labor and the inherent ergonomic problems were

eliminated by the installation of an automatic tote de-stacker. By eliminating

the two operators, the unit realized annual savings of $236,800 with a payoff

period of 5.1 months.

Lessons Learned

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KAIZEN

The Kaizen total involvement approach to improvements follows a set of

rules, policies, directives and procedures established by management. The four

basic steps in making continual improvement involve: Plan, Do, Check, Act. To

maintain the improved states we Standardize, Do, Check Standardization. One

of the foundations of plant Kaizen activities means the documentation of the

best way to do the job.

Any manufacturing operation can benefit from Kaizen as long as there is

a commitment from management toward total involvement in basic Kaizen

tenets:

Discard conventional, fixed ideas

Think of how to do it, not why it cannot be done

Do not make excuses. Start by questioning current practices

Ask "why" five times to realize the root cause of a problem

Sony Disc Manufacturing has made that commitment and has reaped the

rewards, enabling the company to keep up with growing demand for our

product while cutting costs.

Kiazen at Taj Hotels in India

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KAIZEN

The Hotel Taj President, Mumbai - part of the Rs 687 crore Indian Hotels

Corporation Ltd (IHCL) - recently witnessed a peculiar problem at its main

kitchen. Breakages in the main kitchen were high due to incorrect flow of

cutlery and crockery during washing. The Konkan Cafe and the Thai Kitchen,

two restaurants at Taj President, were also facing problems due to the depth of

the sink and mixing up of metal and chinaware. The hotel decided to set up a

Kaizen team comprising - Chef Ananda Solomon, Rajkishore Mahto and

Wilfred Rebello - who immediately sprung into action. The team studied the

problem and set about to rectify it.

The system of “one piece at a time” into the dishwasher was

implemented. The layout of the dishwashing area was changed to facilitate

single-piece flow. Seemingly frivolous? But the result: The breakage of

crockery came down by 28 per cent. Savings from the stoppage of breakages

are at Rs 6 lakh per annum. In the main kitchen, gains are around Rs 1.75 lakh

per annum and in the Konkan Cafe and Thai Kitchen, the gains are around Rs 2

lakh each.

This is not a one-off incident at the Taj group. Over the past two years,

the group has institutionalised both the Kaizen approach and the Total

Productivity Maintenance (TPM) approach, says IHCL senior vice-president

(corporate quality), Mr HN Shrinivas.

Elkay Manufacturing Putting Kaizen to Practice

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KAIZEN

Elkay Manufacturing, a $500 million dollar manufacturer of stainless

steel sinks, faucets, water coolers, and cabinets determined, as one of several

objectives, in their 2002 executive strategic planning sessions to cultivate the

corporate culture of continuous improvement throughout their organization. The

idea of utilizing the methodology of Kaizen as one means to this end was

determined useful, especially for the manufacturing operations, where over 15

plants operating differing processes, and capacity/productivity opportunities

existed.

Elkay management sent selected staff to educational seminars and

purchased books on the subject to begin the education process. Rainmakers had

discussions with executive management at Elkay to assist in "actualizing" their

business objectives. Based upon these discussions Rainmakers introduced The

Cumberland Group as a Strategic Partner to assist in the transfer-of-knowledge

and ensure a successful Kaizen project.

The Approach:

Elkay management hired The Cumberland Group to facilitate a Kaizen

initiative in their Yorktown PA cabinet manufacturing facility. A cross-

functional team from several plants was created to implement the first initiative

and begin the transfer-of knowledge required to expand these continuous

improvement methodologies throughout Elkay’s plants.

After an initial site visit by The Cumberland Group an agenda was

prepared and the project timetables completed. One week (5 days) in March

2002 was the project time line. The cabinet drawer making process was selected 60

KAIZEN

as the top priority. The drawer making process produces products for 3 different

product families, with 350 different assemblies in the process and 235 different

parts in inventory.

The first half-day was dedicated to team training facilitated by The

Cumberland Group who also provided workbooks and other collateral materials

useful to Kaizen initiatives. Union leadership was invited to participate in the

training session in order to build a spirit of partnership and foster support for

change from "the roots up". The second part of the first day involved the team

evaluating processes and creating a priority list. Three top-level goals were

established for the 5-day initiative:

Test the Kaizen process and capabilities of the Elkay team.

Train a key group from 2 divisions on the Kaizen methodology.

Drive home substantial improvements.

The team developed a list of 46 improvement opportunities. The

workshop was used to further educate the team about "Lean Manufacturing" by

using illustrated "Lego" exercises, dividing the team into "sub-teams" that

focused in specific areas, collecting data and coming together in

"brainstorming" sessions to prioritize and develop action plans. The Kaizen

team overcame the resistance associated with any change of this magnitude by

letting those people being affected become involved in the process part of the

implementation team.

The Benefits/Payback: 61

KAIZEN

The Kaizen team, as of this writing, is still achieving wins and concrete

payback. In fact, a second Kaizen initiative was started in May 03 to continue

the improvement process. Immediate impacts included reducing lead-time by

66%, reducing scrap by 56%, and improving quality and labour productivity.

The documented results of this initial Kaizen project are as follows:

More efficient workspace (15% increase in production/man hour

costs)

Better working aisle for delivery of parts

Less time spent positioning trucks

Less chance for injury (better organized)

Easier to handle small lead times

Reduced lead time by 66% (5 hours down to 1.4 hour)

Less handling of product

Better inventory accuracy and control (reduced inventory by 10%,

reduced scrap by 56%)

Quicker identification of component problems

Increased employee morale

Elkay Manufacturing Company has committed to use Kaizen to promote

a culture of continuous improvement and the inherent benefits to the

organization of this business strategy.

CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION

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KAIZEN

Kaizen involves every employee in making change--in most cases small,

incremental changes. It focuses on identifying problems at their source, solving

them at their source, and changing standards to ensure the problem stays solved.

It's not unusual for Kaizen to result in 25 to 30 suggestions per employee, per

year, and to have over 90% of those implemented.

For example:

Toyota is well-known as one of the leaders in using Kaizen. In 1999 at

one U.S. plant, 7,000 Toyota employees submitted over 75,000 suggestions, of

which 99% were implemented.

These continual small improvements add up to major benefits. They

result in improved productivity, improved quality, better safety, faster delivery,

lower costs, and greater customer satisfaction. On top of these benefits to the

company, employees working in Kaizen-based companies generally find work

to be easier and more enjoyable--resulting in higher employee moral and job

satisfaction, and lower turn-over.

Kaizen is often translated in the west as ongoing, continuous

improvement. Some authors explain Japan's competitive success in the world

market place as the result of  the implementation of the Kaizen concept in

Japanese corporations.

In contrast to the usual emphasis on revolutionary, innovative change on

an occasional basis, Kaizen looks for uninterrupted, ongoing incremental

change. In other words, there is always room for improvement and continuously

trying to become better. 63

KAIZEN

Originally a Buddhist term, Kaizen comes from the words, "Renew the

heart and make it good."  Therefore, adaptation of the Kaizen concept also

requires changes in "the heart of the business", corporate culture and structure,

since Kaizen enables companies to translate the corporate vision in every aspect

of a company's operational practice. 

According to Imai (1986), an important advocate of Kaizen, "Kaizen

means improvement. Moreover it means continuing improvement in personal

life, home life, social life, and working life. When applied to the workplace

Kaizen means continuing improvement involving everyone - managers and

workers alike." Believers of this theory maintain that managers of production

operations cannot stand still; continuous development and improvement is

critical to long term success. 

In practice, Kaizen can be implemented in corporations by improving

every aspect of a business process in a step by step approach, while gradually

developing employee skills through training education and increased

involvement.

The principle in Kaizen implementation is:

Human resources are the most important company asset,

Processes must evolve by gradual improvement rather than radical

changes,

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KAIZEN

Improvement must be based on statistical/quantitative evaluation of

process performance.

Support throughout the entire structure is necessary to become successful

at developing a strong Kaizen approach. Management as well as workers need

to believe in the Kaizen idea and strive toward obtaining the small goals in

order to reach overall success. Therefore, all members of an organization need

to be trained in a manner to support this idea structure. Resources,

measurements, rewards, and incentives all need to be aligned to and working

with the Kaizen structure of ideas. 

Implementing Kaizen as a part of all daily activities leads to continuous

improvements. It not only improves business, but also helps in boosting

employee morale. Monitoring the improved areas and stretching improvement

activities in them are a vital part of process improvements. It is the little things

that add up to bigger things.

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