Kaizen
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INTRODUCTION
Japanese term that means continuous improvement, taken from words Kai means continuous and Zen means improvement.
Some translate Kai to mean change and Zen to mean good, or for the better.
The same japanese words Kaizen that pronounce as Gai San in chinese means;
Gai= The action to correct.
San= This word is more related to the Taoism or Buddhism Philosophy in which give the definition as the action that benefit the society but not to one particular individual. The quality of benefit that involve here should be sustain forever, in other words the san is and act that truly benefit the others.
Kaizen was created in Japan following World War II. The word Kaizen means “continuous improvement”. It comes from the Japanese words “Kai” meaning school and “Zen” meaning wisdom.
Kaizen is a system that involves every employee – from upper management to the cleaning crew. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a year, or monthly activity. It is continuous. At Japanese companies, such as Toyota and Canon, 60 to 70 suggestions per employee, per year are written down, shared and implemented.
In most cases these are not ideas for major changes. Kaizen is based on making little changes on a regular basis–always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness, and reducing waste.
Suggestions are not limited to a specific area such as production or marketing. Kaizen is based on making changes anywhere that improvements can be made. The Kaizen philosophy is to “do it better, make it better, and improve it even if it isn’t broke, because if we dont, we cant compete with those who do.”
Western philosophy can be summarized as, “if it isn’t broke, dont fix it.” The Kaizen philosophy is that everything, even it isn’t broke can be improved.
Kaizen is a system of improvement that in Japan includes both home life as well as business improvements. Kaizen even includes social activities. It is a concept that is applied in every aspect of a persons life.
In business Kaizen encompasses many of the components of Japanese businesses that have been seen as a part of their success. Quality circles, automation, suggestion systems, just-in-time delivery, kanban and 5S are all included within the Kaizen system of running a business.
Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually improving those standards. To support the higher standards Kaizen also involves providing the training, materials and supervision that is needed for employees to achieve the higher standards and maintain their ability to meet those standards on an on-going basis.
Kaizen often takes place one small step at a time, hence the English translation: “continuous improvement,” or “continual improvement.” Yet radical changes for the sake of goals such as just in time, and moving lines also gain the full support of upper level management. Goals for kaizen workshops are intentionally set very high because there are countless examples of drastic reductions in process lead time to serve as proof of their practicality.
The cycle of kaizen activity can be defined as: standardize an operation -> measure the standardized operation (find cycle time and amount of in-process inventory) -> gauge measurements against requirements -> innovate to meet requirements and increase productivity -> standardize the new, improved operations -> continue cycle ad infinitum.
Learn-by-Doings
The “Zen” in Kaizen emphasizes the learn-by-doing aspect of improving production. This philosophy is focused in a different direction from the “command-and-control” improvement programs of the mid-20th century. Kaizen methodology includes making changes and looking at the results, then adjusting. Large-scale preplanning and extensive project scheduling are replaced by smaller experiments in improvement, which can be rapidly adapted as new improvements are suggested.
PRINCIPLES OF KAIZEN
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