Define Kaizen

If you asked most US managers to define kaizen, there's a good chance they wouldn't have heard of
the term. However, this Japanese philosophy could be very important to them. Kaizen
focuses on continually improving business and manufacturing activities, and it creates a
significant difference in the way businesses operate.
Kaizen aims to improve standardized activities and processes, and thus eliminate
waste. While this principle was first implemented in Japan after World War II, it has since
spread to other organizations worldwide.

The Meaning of Kaizen

If we define kaizen literally, it means simply "improvement", or more literally: "good
change". You can find similarly pronounced words with the same meaning in Mandarin and Korean,
as well. However, there are more nuances to kaizen's meaning when it comes to business practice.
In Japan, it's a common practice to label continuous improvement methods with this word,
such as the practices started by Toyota, but often imitated elsewhere. In English, we usually take the
word to mean methods of implementing improvement on a continuous basis. Japanese companies
actually distinguish between innovation, or radical change, and kaizen.

The Kaizen activity

The Kaizen theory is an activity that needs to be performed on a daily basis, and it goes
beyond simply improving productivity. This process adds a human element to the workplace and
eliminates excessively hard work.
Instead of just working hard, employees are encouraged to use scientific methodology on
their own activities. They essentially perform experiments on the processes they do day to day. This
might seem inefficient in the short run, but in the long run it permits each worker to more effectively
control his or her activities. Employees learn to see and eliminate waste.

The Kaizen Principle

Manufacturing doesn't traditionally require much thinking. It's dominated by repetitive tasks
that are done almost on human auto-pilot. We define kaizen principle as a method of encouraging
workers to avoid this tendency. It allows them to voice their personal ideas about how to minimize
waste, and it keeps a company running smoothly.
However, it's not just the floor workers who participate in the kaizen continuous
improvement process. Anyone in an organization, from the CEO and outside stakeholders to the
lowest worker on the ladder, can be involved in this system. There are even several different formats
available. Some organizations use individual kaizen setups, while others use suggestion systems or
small or large group organization.
Toyota, the most commonly emulated company that uses kaizen, generally uses a small group
that improves its own environment and productivity within a local area or a workstation. The line
supervisor might be responsible for guiding this group through the process, and this might be that
supervisor's main job. If any abnormality occurs during production, ever worker on that line stops
production. Then, they work with the supervisor to find an improvement which will resolve this
situation.

Kaizen 5S Concept
The define kaizen cycle has five standard phases. It starts with standardizing an operation,
then measures that operation to find the cycle time and how much inventory is in process. These
measurements are compared to the requirements. Then, innovations that will meet the requirements
and raise productivity are offered. These new operations are standardized as before. Then the cycle
repeats.
 Standardize
 Measure
 Gauge
 Innovate
 Control.
 Repeat.
Kaizen 5 Elements
 Teamwork
 Personal Discipline
 Increased Morale
 Quality Circles
 Suggested Improvements.

Kaizen and Improvements

Kaizen tends to focus on small improvements, rather than large, overall efforts. This can
make kaizen seem inefficient to some. However, when many small improvements are added
together, they can yield enormous results in terms of better productivity and less waste.
This is a much different philosophy from the usual command and control types, which make
large scale improvements from the top down, without much worker input. A well define Kaizen
involves making changes, then monitoring what happens. Adjustments are then made to produce the
desired result. Instead of large scale planning and scheduling, much smaller units are used. These are
easier to adapt as new improvements come along.
The major results of kaizen tend to be better efficiency and an elimination of wasteful work.
This process encourages cleanliness, organization, standardization and discipline among
employees, too. It's also important for companies using kaizen to have a way of dealing with
cases where workers make suggestions that don't fit in with the company's current targets.

Kaizen Blitz
A subtype of kaizen is the focused kaizen (also called a define kaizen event or kaizen blitz).
This kind of event is a limited one, designed to address just one issue over the course of a week or
so. The results of this kind of kaizen are generally used later on in other focused events.
However, the kaizen blitz is generally a reactive process. In it, people check to see if
something is wrong, then fix it. To function for higher level processes, it needs to incorporate an
element of creativity, so that things that aren't actively wrong can also be improved. Within ISO
9001, this is considered a preventive action or a corrective action process.

Kaizen Summary
As a method of improving business efficiency and productivity, kaizen can work very well.
However, it's important for managers to use it correctly, allowing input and experimentation from
workers. Because of this, it may be difficult to implement in companies that are used to a top-down
improvement model. It's also vital to recognize the limitations of kaizen. It doesn't work for every
kind of situation, or for every kind of improvement. Used correctly, however, kaizen can be a
valuable tool in business.

Corrective and Preventive Action Management

Corrective and Preventive Action Management are two different management systems within
ISO 9001 requirements.
Talking with other professionals, I find that there is confusion between these 3 items,
corrective action, preventive action and preventive maintenance.

Corrective action treats a nonconformity or problem that has already occurred. The problem exists.
The nonconformity lives and needs to be addressed. See corrective action system for ISO 9001
requirements.
Preventive maintenance focuses on the care of machines. It is a system that protects machines from
breaking down. ISO 9001 auditors do not look at preventive maintenance as preventive action.
Preventive maintenance is important for the infrastructure (resource management) section of the ISO
9001 standard.
Preventive action determines and eliminates potential causes of non conformities. This means the
non conformity has not yet happen. If you act to prevent a problem from occurring then this is a
preventive action.
The ISO 9001 standard requires you to take preventive action to eliminate potential nonconformities.

Preventive Action Documentation

A documented procedure for preventive action is required for ISO 9001 certification. Within
the procedure explain how your company
 defines the determination of potential problems
 defines the possible causes of problems
 determines the action needed to address the potential problem
 implements actions necessary to prevent the cause of the problems
 records the preventive action taken.
 reviews the preventive action taken.
You must have a documented system that covers corrective and preventive action
management systems. The same providing corrective and preventive action management document
could be used for both. Be sure there are separate sections for corrective action and preventive
action.

Preventive Action Examples

1. Revising a procedure to reduce the variation between operators is a preventive action. You may
find several employee accomplishing the same results but each may have a slightly different
method. One method may lead to more nonconformities than another
2. Plans to implement a new piece of equipment that reduces the process and product variation is a
preventive action.
3. Employee certification can be argued as preventive action. By certifying the employee, the
employee has proven they fully understand the process and procedures. These skilled employees
will prevent non conformities.
4. Lessons applied from a previous corrective and preventive action management action could be a
preventive action. Lessons learned from a specific corrective action is then applied to similar
products or processes. The applications of the learned lessons are preventive actions
5. A FMEA (Failure Mode Effects and Analysis) can drive preventive action. This is a tool that
scores potential failures. Preventive actions will occur by lowering the potential failure scores.