KAIZEN combines two Japanese Words, “Kai” and “Zen”. Kai means “ to change or modify” and Zen means “ to improve or make better” If we understand this word tighter then we can understand this as” Improvement”.
Some of the definitions of KAIZEN by Writers:
Kaizen is a management-supported, employee-driven process, in which employees seek to develop their capabilities by challenging the existing system and finding improvement in them.
-R.R. Asawa & Dr. D.R.Baheti
Kaizen is a program, a philosophy, and a strategy to improve the quality of goods and services of an organization.
– Samuel KHO
Kaizen means making a great number of contentious lasting improvements, by discovering small problems and eliminating them permanently (attacking the root causes of the problems), thereby helping the organization set and reach a higher standard of performance.
–Surindra Narang
Benefits of Kaizen
Following are some Kaizen benefits:
- Kaizen arouses companywide continuous improvement.
- It provides a scientific approach to improve productivity by eliminating waste arising in business.
- It generates process-oriented thinking.
- Kaizen emphasizes the implementation of Ideas not the generation of Ideas.
- Kaizen makes alignment between employees, management, and the organization’s objectives.
- It promotes harmonious relations among the employees.
- It leads to the empowerment of employees because they are expected to implement the improvement.
KAIZEN Feature
The key features of KAIZEN are as follows:
- Focus on customers
- Challenge the “Status quo” (i.e., seek continuous improvement in products, services, and processes).
- Surface Problems (i.e., ack problems openly and bring them to the surface)
- Try to get to the root Cause
- Blame the process and not the persons.
- Encourage employees to be creative and innovative.
- Adoptive an environment of openness, Honesty, and frankness.
- Create a teamwork environment
- Focus on clear communication, comprehensively and in-depth with every employee.
- Avoid being a perfectionist.
- A Good Kaizen offers the simplest and best way to achieve the purpose, effective (fixing the problem permanently) and revolutionary.
- Kaizen provides a permanent solution to the problems by identifying their root cause.
- Kaizen corresponds to the departmental and company’s goals and policies.
- Kaizen makes effective use of available resources.
- There is no negative impact on resources.
Types of KAIZEN
KAIZEN types depend upon the complexity level and can be divided into 3 categories:
- Management Kaizen
- Group Kaizen
- Individual Kaizen
| # | Process | Management Kaizen | Group Kaizen | Individual Kaizen |
| 1 | Focus | Focus on the improvements of processes and procedures | Focus on the improvement within the same workplace | Focus on the improvements within one’s own work areas |
| 2 | Involvement | Managers and Professionals | QC- Quality team | All team |
| 3 | Duration | Until the completion of the Kaizen project | 4-6 Months | Anytime |
| 4 | No. of Kaizen | Depends on Management’s decision | 2-3 per Year | Many |
| 5 | Implementation Cost | Some Small Investment | Mostly In-expensive | In-expensive |
| 6 | Results | New process and System improvement | Improved Work procedure and Standards | On-the-spot correction or improvement |
| 7 | Support System | Line and staff project teams | Small Group | Suggestive |
| 8 | Benefits | Improvement in Managerial Performance | Moral Improvement | Moral Improvement |
| 9 | Change is Current Status | Sudden upgradation in the current state | Gradual Change | Gradual Change |
| 10 | Tools | Statistical tools like
Check sheet, Histogram, Pareto Analysis, Fishbone Diagram, Scatter Plot, Control Chart, flowchart + Six Sigma, Lean tool, RCA, Statistical Process Control (SPC) RCA,
|
Statistical tools like
Check sheet, Histogram, Pareto Analysis, Fishbone Diagram, Scatter Plot, Control Chart, flowchart |
Statistical tools like
Check sheet, Histogram, Pareto Analysis, Fishbone Diagram, Scatter Plot, Control Chart, flowchart |
10 Principles of KAIZEN
1. Don’t Stop: Improvement cannot be stopped, it’s a continual process.
2. Eliminate Old Process: Always review old processes and if required then eliminate those processes and implement new processes.
3. Be Proactive: Don’t wait for Disaster, be proactive and try to work on the issue to avoid issues.
4. Don’t Compare Apple to Apple: Always try new ideas based on your organization’s requirements, don’t go as per others
5. Make Correction: Recognize the area of improvement and take corrective actions.
6. Empower the Employees: Always empower the employees to motivate them, speak up and share their ideas,
7. Learn from Mistakes and Others: Always learn from our Mistakes and sometimes others and improve that area and ensure that it should not be repeated.
8. Focus on 5Why Method: Before taking any action always focus and analyze 5 W i.e. Why, When, What, Where, Who,
9. Work on Root Cause: Solving the issue is a temporary solution, but working on the Root Cause and improving that gap will stop the repeat of that issue. So, always try to do root cause analysis (RCA) and work on the Root Cause of the issue.
10. Focus on Customer Need: Always take feedback from customers on a regular basis and work on the improvement areas highlighted by customers.
(Source: SCDL, Techniques for Operation Efficiency)
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