What is KAIZEN?


Kaizen is a Japanese word for continuous improvement. It has emerged from the term “KAI” (CHANGE) and “ZEN” (GOOD). It’s an approach to create continuous improvement based on the idea that small but continuous positive changes can get you major improvements.

The term came into existence from Japanese Manufacturers working with W. Edwards Deming for the purpose of improving efficiency and productivity after the second world war.

KAIZEN Cycle for Continuous Improvement
KAIZEN is not an occurrence., it’s a continuous process for Continual Improvement. It involves

  • Get your employees involved.
  • Gather a list of problems.
  • Ask your employees about the solutions, then choose the best one among them.
  • Implement the solution.
  • Analyze the result on a regular basis.
  • If the idea got successful, adopt the solution.
  • Repeat on an ongoing basis.

Many companies till now have adopted the kaizen concept to increase the efficiency and productivity in its employees and also get success in that. The biggest example in this is Toyota company that employs the kaizen philosophy within its organization and has esteemed it as one of its core values. Toyota encourages its all employees to identify areas of potential improvement within its production system and create viable solutions accordingly.
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How to implement KAIZEN?

The PDCA cycle  "Plan → Do → Check → Act" should be followed for implementing continuous improvement. PDCA cycle is also known as the Shewhart cycle or Deming cycle.
  • Plan: Define the problem and develop a plan for improvement
  • Do: Implement a solution to solve the problem.
  • Check: Continuously analyze the results to know the effectiveness of the action taken.
  • Act: Determine whether to adopt the change, abandon it or repeat the PDCA cycle.

Benefits of KAIZEN for WORK

The objective of Kaizen is to make improvements in productivity, effectiveness, safety, and waste reduction, and those who follow this approach get a lot more in return like

1. Improved teamwork and engagement- Employees have a direct impact on the way things are done and this led to increases in employee morale making them more likely to stay in the organization for a long period of time.

2. Increased productivity and capacity- Inventory is used more efficiently as are employee skills.

3. Quality Improvements- Following the Kaizen approach led to collaborative problem solving and well-defined work standards.

4. Optimal Utilization
Inventory control and reduction
Improved utilization of equipment & employee skills

5. Customer Satisfaction- Customers get more satisfied as they get higher quality products with fewer faults.

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