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Kaizen

Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement based on small, ongoing changes. It aims to lower defects, boost productivity and promote innovation through cooperation and commitment rather than top-down changes. Kaizen originated from quality circles at Toyota and was popularized in the West by Masaaki Imai. Ten principles address the Kaizen mindset of not accepting the status quo and empowering continuous improvement.

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51 views2 pages

Kaizen

Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement based on small, ongoing changes. It aims to lower defects, boost productivity and promote innovation through cooperation and commitment rather than top-down changes. Kaizen originated from quality circles at Toyota and was popularized in the West by Masaaki Imai. Ten principles address the Kaizen mindset of not accepting the status quo and empowering continuous improvement.

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capt.athul
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What is Kaizen?

Kaizen is an approach to creating continuous improvement based on the idea that


small, ongoing positive changes can reap significant improvements. Typically, it is
based on cooperation and commitment and stands in contrast to approaches that use
radical or top-down changes to achieve transformation. Kaizen is core to lean
manufacturing and the Toyota Way. It was developed in the manufacturing sector to
lower defects, eliminate waste, boost productivity, encourage worker purpose and
accountability and promote innovation.

As a broad concept that carries myriad interpretations, it has been adopted in many
other industries, including healthcare. It can be applied to any area of business and
even on the individual level. Kaizen can use a number of approaches and tools, such
as value stream mapping -- which documents, analyzes and improves information or
material flows required to produce a product or service -- and Total Quality
Management -- which is a management framework that enlists workers at all levels to
focus on quality improvements. Regardless of methodology, in an organizational
setting, the successful use of Kaizen rests on gaining support for the approach across
the organization and from the CEO down.

Kaizen is a compound of two Japanese words that together translate as "good change"
or "improvement." However, Kaizen has come to mean "continuous improvement"
through its association with lean methodology and principles.

Kaizen has its origins in post-World War II Japanese quality circles. These circles or
groups of workers focused on preventing defects at Toyota. They were developed
partly in response to American management and productivity consultants who visited
the country, especially W. Edwards Deming, who argued that quality control should
be put more directly in the hands of line workers. Kaizen was brought to the West and
popularized by Masaaki Imai via his book Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive
Success in 1986.

10 principles of Kaizen
Because executing Kaizen requires enabling the right mindset throughout a company,
10 principles that address the Kaizen mindset are commonly referenced as core to the
philosophy. They are:

1. Let go of assumptions.

2. Be proactive about solving problems.

3. Don't accept the status quo.

4. Let go of perfectionism and take an attitude of iterative, adaptive change.

5. Look for solutions as you find mistakes.

6. Create an environment in which everyone feels empowered to contribute.

7. Don't accept the obvious issue; instead, ask "why" five times to get to the
root cause.

8. Cull information and opinions from multiple people.

9. Use creativity to find low-cost, small improvements.

10.Never stop improving.

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