Kaizen

Kaizen means improving continuously. Originating in Japan, Kai means change, and zen means for good. As per the concept and philosophy of Kaizen, we can improve everything; thus, that is what we hope to achieve. With this in mind, we apply this philosophy to our operations to improve and increase the efficiency of different organizational processes.

If you are looking to minimize waste, improve customer satisfaction, augment business procedures, and maximize operational efficiency, then it is time to implement lean Kaizen in your organization. Kaizen is also highly effective in implementing and speeding up the change process in the organization.

Do not think of Kaizen as a specific tool but rather as a philosophy rooted in many different process improvement methods like total quality management (TQM), just-in-time (JIT), or as simple as employee suggestion boxes. Implementation is not the responsibility of top management or any specialized agent. Still, the role is vested with every organization employee, who should look for gaps and inefficiencies in the existing processes and procedures, suggest improvements, and finally, help implement those changes for continuous and sustained improvement.

Steps for Implementing Kaizen

The implementation generally differs from organization to organization. Accordingly, there is no standardized process for implementing kaizen. However, we have identified ten major steps needed in general to implement and benefit from the practice:

• Define the problem/ issue
• Document the current situation
• Visualize the optimum situation
• Define measurement targets
• Brainstorm the possible solutions to the issue
• Develop the plan
• Implement the plan
• Measure and compare the actual results with the targets to learn about variances, if any.
• Prepare documents to summarize
• Create action plans and sustaining plans

Benefits of Kaizen

When the organization works towards continuous improvement, it can reap the benefits of improved efficiency and effectiveness in all domains of the organization:

• Waste reduction: Implementing Kaizen increases employee efficiency, reducing Muda (waste).
• Enhances satisfaction: As the way things are done improves, it also helps to enhance satisfaction throughout the organization. Employees, customers, and other organizational stakeholders experience high satisfaction.
• Increases employee commitment: Since each and every employee in the organization is involved, the sense of belongingness and commitment from employees increases.
• Retention rate increases: This applies to both the employees and the customers. With high satisfaction and commitment levels, employees’ motivation to switch between companies reduces, and the employee turnover rate falls correspondingly. Further, the increased efficiency leads to qualitative products and services for the customers.
• Competitive edge: By fostering high satisfaction among customers by providing high-quality products and services with reduced customer lead times, the organization can maintain its market share and enjoy a strong competitive edge in the industry.

There are many other benefits of Kaizen, such as the organization working more efficiently, enhancing the employees’ problem-solving skills, and reaping the benefits of synergy by maintaining an improvement-oriented and innovative work culture.

Kaizen Events

It should be noted that the word kaizen recognizes the philosophy of kaizen, and it differs when we talk about kaizen events. A kaizen event (also known as a kaizen blitz) denotes an action that aims to improve any existing process’s output. In other words, the aim of the kaizen events is to achieve improvements.

Generally, an appointed leader identifies the opportunity for improvement and/ or plans and leads these changes. The event leader integrates and gathers the operators and other employees attached to the particular process in one place. Then, they map the existing process and suggest and implement the improvement process.

Some of the differences identified between kaizen philosophy and event are:

• Kaizen is a continuous improvement philosophy, while kaizen events are undertaken for short-term tasks to improve any particular process.
• The responsibility for kaizen is vested with each and every employee of the organization, but an appointed facilitator facilitates kaizen events.

Running a Kaizen event

A Kaizen event can be conducted in the short term and can last from one day to a few weeks, depending on the event and identified issue. You should frame a tentative event schedule before getting into the implementation process. Some of the steps that the organization should consider while planning the event are:

• Train or hire a facilitator
• Gain understanding and commitment from management
• Establish the boundaries of the event
• Define the purpose of the event
• Communicate about the event to everyone in the organization
• Select the team for implementation
• Identify the measures of improvement in performance
• Implement the improvement measures

Helpful Videos

Reading List

• Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking: Dr. Shingo reveals how he taught Toyota and other Japanese companies the art of identifying and solving problems. Many companies in the West try to emulate Lean, but few can. Why not? Possibly because we in the West do not recognize, develop, and support the creative potential of every worker in solving problems. Toyota makes all employees problem solvers. Dr. Shingo gives you the tools to do it.
• Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Success: For the professional manager or student of management, a comprehensive handbook of 16 Kaizen management practices can be put to work. The book uses more than 100 examples in action and contains 15 corporate case studies.
• Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense Approach to a Continuous Improvement Strategy. How to implement cost-effective, incremental improvements in your most critical business processes. Global industry case studies demonstrate how gemba kaizen has been successfully used.

Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Question:

Question: Which of the following is defined as a continuous, incremental improvement? Taken from ASQ sample Black Belt exam.)

(A) Kanban
(B) Kaizen
(C) JIT
(D) Kaikaku

Answer:

B – this is the definition of Kaizen.

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