WHAT IS KAIZEN

In simple terms Kaizen is Japanese for a change for better , which results in continuous improvement. Kaizen ideology can be traced back to the 1980s; Kaizen was first adopted in the West with the influx of Japanese car manufacturers brought a wave of new thinking.

LOGIC OF KAIZEN
Kaizen logics was first appear in written text with Masaaki Imais book KAIZEN - The Key To Japans Competitive Success (1996) this book showed that what the fundamental Kaizen logic is. Kaizen uses the Japanese logic of bringing improvements internally from within the workplace

KAIZEN BENEFITS
These continual small improvements add up to major benefits. They result in improved productivity, improved quality, better safety, faster delivery, lower costs, and greater customer satisfaction. On top of these benefits to the company, employees working in Kaizen-based companies generally find work to be easier and more enjoyable - resulting in higher employee moral and job satisfaction, and lower turn-over.

KAIZEN BENEFITS
Kaizen Reduces Waste in areas such as employee skills, waiting times, transportation, worker motion, over production, excess inventory, quality and in processes.

KAIZEN BENEFITS
Kaizen Improves product quality, use of capital, production capacity, communications, Space utilization and employee retention.

KAIZEN BENEFITS
Kaizen Provides immediate results. Instead of focusing on large scale improvements, which involve capital intensive, Kaizen focuses on creative investments that continually solve large numbers of small problems.

KAIZEN BENEFITS
Kaizen will also improve the capital projects process, but the real power of Kaizen is in the on-going process of continually making small improvements that improve processes and reduce waste.

KAIZEN BENEFITS
By involving employees they start looking about change at their environment to bring up results in there work area. And improved morale as employee begin to find work more enjoyable and easier .

KAIZEN BENEFITS
Kaizen involves every employee in process of
change - mostly in small, incremental changes. It focuses on identifying problems at their own source, solving them at their own source, and changing standards to ensure the problem stays solved forever. It's not unusual for Kaizen to result in 25 to 30 suggestions per employee, every year, and to have over 90% of those implemented.

KAIZEN BENEFITS
For example, Toyota is well-known as one of the leaders in using Kaizen. In 1999 at one U.S. plant, 7,000 Toyota employees submitted over 75,000 suggestions, of which 99% were implemented.

Kaizen evaluation (General guidelines)

Type of Kaizen Innovative Kaizen Self initiated improvements with team efforts Accepting others ideas for improvements. Giving suggestions to others and getting them implemented Marks awarded. > 80 50 to 70

40 to 60

30 to 50