KAIZEN

THE BIG IDEA

Create a culture of continuous improvement where all employees are actively engaged in improving the company. Nurture this culture by organizing events focused on improving specific areas of the company.

WHAT IS KAIZEN?•

THE DUAL NATURE OF THE KAIZEN SYSTEM•

KAIZEN EVENTS•

THE KAIZEN PHILOSOPHY

WHAT IS KAIZEN?

Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) is a strategy where employees at all levels of a company work together proactively to achieve regular, incremental improvements to the manufacturing process. In a sense, it combines the collective talents within a company to create a powerful engine for improvement.

THE DUAL NATURE OF THE KAIZEN SYSTEM

Kaizen is part action plan and part philosophy.

• As an action plan, Kaizen is about organizing events focused on improving specific areas within the company. These events involve teams of employees at all levels, with an especially strong emphasis on involving plant floor employees.

• As a philosophy, Kaizen is about building a culture where all employees are actively engaged in suggesting and implementing improvements to the company. In truly lean companies, it becomes a natural way of thinking for both managers and plant floor employees.

Kaizen works hand-in-hand with Standardized Work. Standardized Work captures the current best practices for a process, and Kaizen aims to find improvements for those processes. Note the emphasis on current; Standardized Work is living documentation (it continually evolves through Kaizen).

Kaizen is part action plan and part philosophy. Consistent application of Kaizen as an action plan develops Kaizen as a philosophy.

KAIZEN EVENTS

A typical Kaizen event has a process that goes something like this:

1. Set goals and provide any necessary background.

2. Review the current state and develop a plan for improvements.

3. Implement improvements.

4. Review and fix what doesn’t work.

5. Report results and determine any follow-up items.

This type of Kaizen process cycle is frequently referred to as PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Act). PDCA brings a scientific approach to making improvements:

• Plan: develop a hypothesis

• Do: run experiment

• Check: evaluate results

• Act: refine your experiment; then start a new cycle

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THE KAIZEN PHILOSOPHY

Interestingly, Kaizen as an action plan is exactly what develops Kaizen as a philosophy. When Kaizen is applied as an action plan through a consistent and sustained program of successful Kaizen events, it teaches employees to think differently about their work. In other words, consistent application of Kaizen as an action plan creates tremendous long-term value by developing the culture that is needed for truly effective continuous improvement.

Kaizen (continuous improvement)

By

• Diann Daniel, TechTarget

What is Kaizen?

Kaizen is an approach to creating continuous improvement based on the idea that small, ongoing positive changes can reap significant improvements. Typically, it is based on cooperation and commitment and stands in contrast to approaches that use radical or top-down changes to achieve transformation. Kaizen is core to lean manufacturing and the Toyota Way. It was developed in the manufacturing sector to lower defects, eliminate waste, boost productivity, encourage worker purpose and accountability and promote innovation.

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As a broad concept that carries myriad interpretations, it has been adopted in many other industries, including healthcare. It can be applied to any area of business and even on the individual level. Kaizen can use a number of approaches and tools, such as value stream mapping -- which documents, analyzes and improves information or material flows required to produce a product or service -- and Total Quality Management -- which is a management framework that enlists workers at all levels to focus on quality improvements. Regardless of methodology, in an organizational setting, the successful use of Kaizen rests on gaining support for the approach across the organization and from the CEO down.

Kaizen is a compound of two Japanese words that together translate as "good change" or "improvement." However, Kaizen has come to mean "continuous improvement" through its association with lean methodology and principles.

Kaizen has its origins in post-World War II Japanese quality circles. These circles or groups of workers focused on preventing defects at Toyota. They were developed partly in response to American management and productivity consultants who visited the country, especially W. Edwards Deming, who argued that quality control should be put more directly in the hands of line workers. Kaizen was brought to the West and popularized by Masaaki Imai via his book Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success in 1986.

10 principles of Kaizen

Because executing Kaizen requires enabling the right mindset throughout a company, 10 principles that address the Kaizen mindset are commonly referenced as core to the philosophy. They are:

1. Let go of assumptions.

2. Be proactive about solving problems.

3. Don't accept the status quo.

4. Let go of perfectionism and take an attitude of iterative, adaptive change.

5. Look for solutions as you find mistakes.

6. Create an environment in which everyone feels empowered to contribute.

7. Don't accept the obvious issue; instead, ask "why" five times to get to the root cause.

8. Cull information and opinions from multiple people.

9. Use creativity to find low-cost, small improvements.

10. Never stop improving.

How Kaizen works

Kaizen is based on the belief that everything can be improved, and nothing is the status quo. It also rests on a Respect for People principle. Kaizen involves identifying issues and opportunities, creating solutions and rolling them out -- and then cycling through the process again for inadequately addressed issues and problems. A cycle made up of seven steps can be implemented for continuous improvement and can provide a systematic method for executing this process.

Kaizen includes seven steps, from identifying problems to finding solutions, testing them out, analyzing the results and then doing it all again.

Kaizen cycle for continuous improvement

Kaizen can be implemented in a seven-step cycle to create an environment based on continuous improvement. This systematic method includes the following steps:

• Get employees involved. Seek the involvement of employees, including soliciting their help in identifying issues and problems. Doing so creates buy-in for change. Often, this is organized as specific groups of individuals charged with gathering and relaying information from a wider group of employees.

• Find problems. Using widespread feedback from all employees, gather a list of problems and potential opportunities. Create a list if there are many issues.

• Create a solution. Encourage employees to offer creative solutions, with all manner of ideas encouraged. Pick a winning solution or solutions from the ideas presented.

• Test the solution. Implement the winning solution chosen above, with everyone participating in the rollout. Create pilot programs or take other small steps to test out the solution.

• Analyze the results. At various intervals, check progress, with specific plans for who will be the point of contact and how best to keep ground-level workers engaged. Determine how successful the change has been.

• If results are positive, adopt the solution throughout the organization.

• These seven steps should be repeated on an ongoing basis, with new solutions tested where appropriate or new lists of problems tackled.

Take a look at the four-step process of the Deming cycle.

Additional approaches to the Kaizen cycle exist, such as one that is condensed into four steps -- plan, do, check, act, or PDCA. It is also known as the Shewhart cycle or Deming cycle.

Types of Kaizen events

Although the aim of Kaizen is widespread cultural change, the events to kick-start the efforts involved or focus on a specific set of problems have evolved.

In the West, these concentrated efforts to make quick changes to achieve a short-term goal are often the extent of Kaizen efforts. There are numerous names associated with Kaizen events, including Kaizen blitz, Kaizen burst, Kaizen workshop, focused improvement workshop, continuous improvement workshop and rapid process workshop. These events can rely on various tools or focus on specific areas, such as the 5S framework, total productive maintenance and value stream mapping.

Kaizen 5S framework

A 5S framework is a critical part of the Kaizen system and establishes an ideal physical workplace. The 5Ses focus on creating visual order, organization, cleanliness and standardization to improve profitability, efficiency, service and safety. Below are the original Japanese 5Ses and their common English translations.

• Seiri/Sort (organize). Separate necessary workplace items from unnecessary ones and remove unnecessary items.

• Seiton/Set in order (create orderliness). Arrange items to allow for easy access in the way that makes the most sense for work.

• Seiso/Shine (cleanliness). Keep the workspace clean and tidy.

• Seiketsu/Standardize (standardized cleaning). Systematize workplace cleanup best practices.

• Shitsuke/Sustain (discipline). Keep the effort going.

Advantages and disadvantages of Kaizen

There are several reasons why Kaizen can be an advantage for an organization; however, there are some situations for which it is less suited. Some of Kaizen's advantages and disadvantages include the following:

Kaizen advantages

• Kaizen's focus on gradual improvement can create a gentler approach to change in contrast to big efforts that may be abandoned due to their tendency to provoke change resistance and pushback.

• Kaizen encourages scrutiny of processes so that mistakes and waste are reduced.

• With fewer errors, oversight and inspection needs are minimized.

• Employee morale improves because Kaizen encourages a sense of value and purpose.

• Teamwork increases as employees think beyond the specific issues of their department.

• Client focus expands as employees become more aware of customer requirements.

• Systems are in place to ensure improvements are encouraged both in the short and long terms.

Kaizen disadvantages

• Companies with cultures of territorialism and closed communication may first need to focus on cultural changes to create a receptive environment.

• Short-term Kaizen events may create a burst of excitement that is shallow and short-lived and, therefore, is not sustained.

Examples of Kaizen

Toyota is arguably the most famous for its use of Kaizen, but other companies have successfully used the approach. Here are three examples:

• Lockheed Martin. The aerospace company is a well-known proponent of Kaizen. It has used the method to successfully reduce manufacturing costs, inventory and delivery time.

• Ford Motor Company. When lean devotee Alan Mulally became CEO of Ford in 2006, the automaker was on the brink of bankruptcy. Mulally used Kaizen to execute one of the most famous corporate turnarounds in history.

• Pixar Animation Studios. Pixar applied the continuous improvement model to reduce the risks of expensive movie failure by using quality control checks and iterative processes.

Kaizen

Gaining the Benefits of Continuous Improvement

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Fine tuning isn't a box you can tick – it's an ongoing process.

How does change happen in your organization? Is it through major initiatives, or is it part of the ongoing way you work?

Some types of change inevitably need a major project, meaning months of hard work, big budgets, and upheaval.

But an alternative or complementary approach to improving systems and processes involves more subtle, ongoing changes. This approach is often undervalued.

One way to do this kind of continuous, incremental improvement is kaizen. It originated in Japan, and the word translates as "change (kai) for the good (zen)."

Kaizen is based on the philosophical belief that everything can be improved. With this approach, incremental changes add up to substantial changes over the longer term, without the need for radical innovation. It can be a much gentler and more employee-friendly way to institute the changes that must occur as a business grows and adapts to its changing environment.

Understanding the Approach

Because kaizen is more a philosophy than a specific tool, its approach is found in many different process-improvement methods, ranging from Total Quality Management (TQM) to the use of employee suggestion boxes. With kaizen, all employees are responsible for identifying gaps and inefficiencies. And everyone, at every level in the organization, suggests where improvements can take place.

Kaizen aims for improvements in productivity, effectiveness and safety. But people who follow this approach often unlock a number of other benefits, too, including:

• Less waste – inventory is used more efficiently, as are employee skills.

• People are more satisfied – they have a direct impact on the way that things are done.

• Improved commitment – team members have more of a stake in their job, and are more inclined to contribute fully in their role.

• Improved retention – satisfied and engaged people are more likely to stay.

• Improved competitiveness – increases in efficiency tend to contribute to lower costs and higher-quality products.

• Improved consumer satisfaction – a result of creating higher-quality products with fewer faults.

• Improved problem solving – looking at processes from a solutions perspective allows employees to solve problems continuously.

• Improved teams – working together to solve problems helps to build and strengthen teams.

Note:

Another Japanese term associated with kaizen is muda, which means waste. Kaizen is about decreasing waste by eliminating overproduction, improving quality, being more efficient, having less idle time, and reducing unnecessary activities. All these translate to cost savings, and can turn potential losses into profits.

The kaizen philosophy was developed to improve manufacturing processes, and it's one of the elements that led to the success of Japanese manufacturing through high quality and low costs. However, you can gain the benefits of the kaizen approach in many other working environments, both on a personal level and for your whole team or organization.

Much of the focus in kaizen is on reducing "waste," and this waste takes several forms:

• Movement – moving materials around before further value can be added to them.

• Time – spent waiting (no value is being added during this time).

• Defects – which require extra work to rectify, or mean that products have to be thrown away.

• Overprocessing – doing more to the product than is necessary to give the customer maximum value for money.

• Variations – producing bespoke solutions when a standard one will work just as well.

The table below shows some examples of these forms of waste in an office environment.

Form of Waste

Examples

Movement

• People moving between buildings for in-person meetings, when virtual meetings could add the same value.

• "Mental" movement can be a type of waste too, where people are distracted into switching from one job to another, before the first job is complete. Try to concentrate on one task for long enough to finish it. And use an Activity Log or an Interrupters Log to identify how often you're currently switching between tasks.

• Having to open a file or database to look for key phone numbers you use regularly, when it might be quicker to print these out and pin them on the wall.

Time

• Waiting for latecomers in meetings. Always start meetings on time, as a courtesy to those who are prompt, and to encourage good timekeeping.

• Searching unnecessarily for documents because you haven't set up an efficient filing system.

Defects

• A manager rewriting a report because they didn't fully brief or train a junior member of staff to do it.

• Redoing or discarding work because of inadequate research, or because it was done before key decisions had been made.

Overprocessing

• Spending time adding color to a document or report that's going to be printed in black and white for distribution at a meeting.

• Reading material in more detail than is necessary. See our article on Reading Strategies for more on this.

• Inviting more people to meetings than is necessary. Limit meetings to those who should be involved in making decisions. Others can be informed about what was decided by sending them the notes afterward.

Variations

• Producing a new report especially for one group when an existing report could easily be tailored to suit their needs.

• Creating new documents when you could set up and use a standard template.

Using Kaizen

Here's our suggested approach for using "kaizen thinking," either on your own or with your team:

1. Keep an "ideas log" of things that seem inefficient or that you'd like to improve. It's often easier to spot these in the heat of the moment than in cold reflection.

2. Once a month, spend some time identifying areas where there's "waste" in the way that you or your team members operate. Use your ideas log as input, but also think about the wider picture and your overall ways of working. Go through each of the types of waste listed above as a checklist. How could each form of waste be eliminated?

3. Plan out when you're going to make these changes. You need to strike a balance between getting on with making the improvements immediately (so that the area of waste doesn't become a bigger problem), and avoiding "change overload."

4. It's important to take into account any difficulties or confusion that your change could cause for others – which could, in turn, make them resistant to that change. A great way to assess the impact of any potential changes is to use the Impact Analysis Tool .

5. Whenever upcoming changes affect others, be sure to consult them about the new arrangements, and listen to their comments and concerns.

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Kaizen is something that you can benefit from quickly as an individual. But embracing the approach with your team will take a concerted effort.

Here are some suggestions to help make kaizen work with your team:

• Learn – with your team – about the philosophy of kaizen.

• Allow everyone to submit their suggestions for improvements.

• Establish your overall kaizen approach and controls, creating a system to follow that everyone understands.

• Reward ideas, as the more ideas you generate, the more kaizen is at work in the day-to-day life of your team.

Tip:

Mind Tools has resources about a range of other continuous-improvement tools, including Lean Manufacturing , The 5S System , and Value Stream Mapping .

Key Points

Kaizen is a philosophy that supports continuous, incremental process changes that sustain a high level of efficiency.

It can help you to improve the way you work personally, by eliminating various types of "waste."

Kaizen can also be an organization-wide approach that harnesses suggestions and support from people at every level.

Wide participation can improve morale and satisfaction, as well as production, costs, and other hard measures.

Used well, a kaizen approach reveals what a big impact small changes can make!

This site teaches you the skills you need for a happy and successful career; and this is just one of many tools and resources that you'll find here at Mind Tools. Subscribe to our free newsletter, or join the Mind Tools Club and really supercharge your career!

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10 Things to Avoid During a Kaizen

Kaizen is the Japanese name for continuous improvement. While Kaizen is really about improvement involving everyone everyday it is often associated with a structured event. Kaizen events fill the gap between individual, very local improvement initiatives and bigger initiatives such as value stream improvement. They are essential to get cross-functional and multi- level teams involved in a Lean transformation. In that respect, kaizen events have a dual role – to make improvements but also to teach and communicate. In order for a kaizen to be successful it requires a great deal of both preparation and follow-up. Here are 10 things I have learned over the years to avoid during a kaizen:

1. Lack of a charter A charter is used to establish the framework of the kaizen. It determines what the problem statement is, relevant background information, time frame, team members, some estimation of the resources involved, and how the improvement
   will be measured. Without a charter the kaizen could take a very different direction.

2. Lack of identification of critical success factors In order to make the kaizen successful you need to identify what elements are critical to the process. You must determine how you will measure the success of this kaizen so you know if your countermeasures are effective. Without measurement the kaizen can go on and on.

3. Scope is too large The size or amount you will tackle within the kaizen is important for getting things done. If the scope is too large you run the problem of never implementing an improvement.

4. Kaizen event not linked business plan You want to do kaizens that will help you meet your organization’s goals. It can be wasteful to improve processes that are not part of the plan since resources to perform kaizens are limited.

5. Poor team selection The team members on the kaizen are the brain power and manpower behind the improvement. Picking the team members should be an important part of planning the kaizen. You need to consider people’s skill sets, expertise or knowledge, individuals within and outside the process, and who will provide the learning.

6. Striving for perfection If you try to achieve perfection you may well be at the kaizen a very long time. Perfection is elusive. If you can accomplish 80% of what you set out to and meet the goals of the charter then call it complete. You will be back to improve from this new state again.

7. Poor follow through In some kaizens it can be difficult to complete all the items you want within the time frame of the kaizen. Failure to follow through on these can undermine the team’s efforts. It is also necessary to ensure the improvements that are made are maintained to prevent backsliding.

8. Not presenting results Failure to present the results after the kaizen can cause the team to feel unappreciated. It also restricts learning throughout the organization. Another area can have a similar situation that can benefit from knowing how this team solved the problem.

9. Lack of visibility for non-participants Getting the buy in from those who are not participating on the team is important for sustaining the improvement. When you are part of team you are involved in the solution. For those who are not we need to make them aware of the improvements the team is making. If you don’t they will naturally resist the improvement.

10. Lack of management commitment Management must not just support the kaizen but actively participate. Kaizens are as much a learning opportunity as anything else in the organization. Management must ensure the team has everything they need to be
    successful and when they are management must recognize the accomplishment. Learning what not to do is as equally important as learning what not to do. Don’t make any of these mistakes on your kaizen and it will be a success. From your experience what advice would you give others to be successful at kaizen?

https://qcfi.in/10-things-to-avoid-during-a-kaizen/

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