What is Kaizen?

Kaizen means "improvement". Kaizen strategy calls for never-ending efforts for improvement involving everyone in the organization managers and workers alike.

Kaizen and Management

Management has two major components:

improvement. The objective of the maintenance function is to maintain current technological, managerial, and operating standards. The improvement function is aimed at improving current standards. Under the maintenance function, the management must first establish policies, rules, directives and standard operating procedures (SOPs) and then work towards ensuring that everybody follows SOP. The latter is achieved through a combination of discipline and human resource development measures. Under the improvement function, management works continuously towards revising the current standards, once they have been mastered, and establishing higher ones. Improvement can be broken down between innovation and Kaizen. Innovation involves a drastic improvement in the existing process and requires large investments. Kaizen signifies small improvements as a result of coordinated continuous efforts by all employees.

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maintenance, and

Implementation of Kaizen Strategy: 7 Conditions

One of the most difficult aspects of introducing and implementing Kaizen strategy is assuring its continuity. When a company introduces something new, such as quality circles, or total quality management (TQM), it experiences some initial success, but soon such success disappear like fireworks on summer night and after a while nothing is left, and management keeps looking for a new flavor of the month. This if because the company lacks the first three most important conditions for the successful introduction and implementation of Kaizen strategy... More

Quick and Easy Kaizen

Quick and Easy Kaizen (or Mini-Kaizen) is aimed at increasing productivity, quality, and worker satisfaction, all from a very grassroots level. Every company employee is encouraged to come up with ideas however small that could improve his/her particular job activity, job environment or any company process for that matter. The employees are also encouraged to implement their ideas as small changes can be done by the worker him or herself with very little investment of time.

Areas Targeted by TQM in Japan

Quick and easy Kaizen helps eliminate or reduce wastes, promotes personal growth of employees and the company, provides guidance for employees, and serves as a barometer of leadership. Each kaizen may be small, but the cumulative effect is tremendous. The quick and easy kaizen process works as follows: 1. The employee notices a problem or an opportunity for improvement... More

Process-Oriented Thinking vs. Result-Oriented Thinking

Kaizen concentrates at improving the process rather than at achieving certain results. Such managerial attitudes and process thinking make a major difference in how an organization masters change and achieves improvements.

8 Best Practices of Successful Companies

Value incremental gains... More

Case in Point Kaizen Time at Canon

In some Canon plants, the foremen are told to set aside the half-hour as Kaizen time time to do nothing but thinking improvement in the workshop. The foremen use this period to identify problems and work on Kaizen programs. Factories are advised not to hold meetings during this 30-minute period, and foremen should not even answer the telephone then... More Five Ss at Canon Canon has an ongoing workplace improvement program called the Five Ss. The Five Ss refer to the five dimensions of of workplace optimization: Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Set in order), Seiso (Shine), Seiketsu (Standardize), and Shitsuke (Sustain)... More

Case in Point 7 Principles of Toyota Production System

Employee Involvement and Empowerment: Toyota organized their workers by forming teams and gave
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them the responsibility and training to do many specialized tasks. Teams are also given responsibility for housekeeping and minor equipment repair. Each team has a leader who also works as one of them on the line...

3 Strategies of Market Leaders Employee Empowerment: the Suggestion System

Suggestion Systems are a valuable opportunity for worker self-development as well as for two-way communication in the workshop. Suggestion systems make employees Kaizen-conscious and provide an opportunity for the workers to speak out with their supervisors as well as among themselves.

Employee Empowerment
The suggestion system is an integral part of an established management system that aims at involving employees in Kaizen. The number of worker's suggestions is regarded as an important criteria in reviewing the performance of the worker's supervisor and the manager of the supervisor. The Japanese management encourages employees to generate a great number of suggestions and works hard to consider and implement these suggestions, often incorporating them into the overall Kaizen strategy. Management also gives due recognition to employee's efforts for improvement. An important aspect of the suggestion system is that each suggestion, once implemented, leads to an upgraded standard. Quality control (QC) circles can be viewed as a group-oriented suggestion system for making improvements. QC circle is a small group that voluntarily performs quality-control activities in the workplace. Total quality control (TQC) involves everyone in the organization and is aimed at improvement of managerial performance at all levels. According to Masaaki Imai, author of Kaizen: The Key To Japan's Competitive Success, Japanese managers have more leeway in implementing employee suggestions that Western counterparts. Japanese managers are willing to go along with a change if it contributes to any of the seven goals of the suggestion system. This is a sharp contrast to the Western manager's almost exclusive concern with the cost of the change and its economic payback.

Balanced Organization: 5 Basic Elements

Performance Management (Water):

Suggestion systems involve all employees in continuous efficiency improvement... More

3 Stages of the Suggestion System

1. Encouragement. In the first stage, management should make every effort to help the workers provide suggestions, no matter how primitive, for the betterment of the worker's job and the workshop. This will help the workers look at the way they are doing their jobs... More

Kaizen and Lean Manufacturing

Kaizen is the heart of Lean Manufacturing (also known as the Toyota Production System). Toyota states: "...based on the concept of continuous improvement, or Kaizen, every Toyota team member is empowered with the ability to improve their work environment. This includes everything from quality and safety to the environment and productivity. Improvements and suggestions by team members are the cornerstone of Toyota's success."... More

Case in Point Fidelity Investments: Practicing Kaizen

Fidelitys practice of Kaizen began with the companys Chairman and CEO, Edward C. Johnson III. A long-time student of eastern philosophy and religion, Johnson became interested in Japanese management practices and discovered Kaizen... More

STRIDES Problem Solving Model

The STRIDES model was developed by the Quality Support Council of Fidelity Investments. This Problem Solving model provides employees in every part of the corporation with a common language and process for implementing Kaizen a strategy of continuous improvement. As stated in Fidelity's Models for Quality Improvement, STRIDES is the approach to use "where the problem is more complex."...
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