Kaizen

“Change for good” or continuous improvement

“Progress cannot be generated when we are satisfied with existing situations.”
– Taiichi Ohno, Father of the TPS—the basis of lean manufacturing

Kaizen is a Japanese term which means “good change” , “change for the better” or Continuous
improvement, which serves as the basis for a Japanese business philosophy that promotes a mindset
where small incremental changes create an impact over time.

“Kaizen is everyday improvement—every day is a challenge to find a better way of doing things. It needs
tremendous self-discipline and commitment.”
– Masaaki Imai, Founder of Kaizen Institute

The history of Kaizen begins after World War II when Toyota first implemented quality circles in its
production process. This was influenced in part by American business and quality management teachers
who visited the country.

The term Kaizen actually became famous around the world through the works of Masaaki Imai, who was
consultant worked with Taiichi Ohno in Toyota Production System (TPS) for a several years, and
published two fundamental books on business process management “Kaizen: The key to Japan’s
Competitive Success” (1986), which helped popularize the Kaizen concept in the worldwide. Today,
organizations across different industries adopt kaizen as a part of their core values and practice
continuous improvement on a day-to-day basis with concepts from six sigma and lean. It is also used
with other analytical frameworks such as SWOT.

Kaizen means “continuous improvement of processes and functions of an organization through change”.
In a layman’s language, Kaizen brings continuous small improvements in the overall processes and
eventually aims towards organization’s success. Japanese feel that many small continuous changes in the
systems and policies bring effective results than few major changes.

The concept of Kaizen can be explained as a principle of continuous improvement. According to the
Kaizen philosophy, a series of small improvements made continuously over a long period of time can
result in drastic improvement in business processes. Kaizen is a core to lean production or Toyota
production system (TPS). It was developed in the manufacturing sector to lower defects, eliminate waste,
boost productivity, encourage worker purpose and accountability, and promote innovation.

The concept of Kaizen became popular in the United States only by the late 1980’s. It was found that the
performance of Japanese companies were much better than their American counterparts after applying
the Kaizen principle.
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The aims of a Kaizen organization are typically defined as:
 To be profitable, stable, sustainable and innovative.
 To eliminate waste of time, money, materials, resources and effort and increase productivity.
 To make incremental improvements to systems, processes and activities before problems arise
rather than correcting them after the event.
 To create a harmonious and dynamic organization where every employee participates and is
valued.

Kaizen advantages:
 Continuous improvement
 Increased customer as well as employee satisfaction
 Inspection needs are lessened, because errors are reduced.
 Reduction in staff turnover and increase morale of employees
 Increased profit
 Improved teamwork
 Systems are in place to ensure improvements are encouraged both short and long term.
 Reduced waste
 Increased efficiency and productivity
 Increased a quality culture
 Better problem solving

Kaizen disadvantages:
 Change resistance behavior of employee.
 Time consuming to initiate.
 Costly and feeling of additional burden

Key Elements/ Principles or Kaizen

To maximize the benefits of kaizen, the following elements and principles should be clearly understood
before applying them in organization.

1. Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement is the first element of Kaizen and is critical to achieving the philosophy’s
overall goal of identifying and eliminating waste, improving efficiency, and enhancing the quality of
products and services. Continuous improvement involves making small, incremental changes to
processes and systems over time, rather than large-scale changes that can be disruptive and difficult to
implement.

For example, by implementing a Kaizen, a continuous improvement program resulted in an average cost
reduction of 20% and productivity improvements of 30-50% over a five-year period.

To achieve continuous improvement, businesses must create a culture of collaboration and innovation
that encourages employees to identify problems and suggest solutions. By involving employees in the
improvement process, businesses can tap into their knowledge and experience to identify opportunities
for improvement that may not be apparent to management.

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2. Management Commitment
Imai states, “The top management of the company has the most important role in implementing this
Kaizen approach, and then every manager, then it goes down to rank-and-file employees.” When top
management demonstrates its long-term commitment to continuous improvement, managers inevitably
follow through on kaizen initiatives and workers personally develop a kaizen mindset.

3. Employee Empowerment and involvement

Leaders should create an environment where people feel empowered to contribute so that suggestions for
improvement can come from all levels of employees. Encouraging workers to keep adding value to the
organization not only boosts morale, it also gives everyone ownership of continuous improvement
efforts, which contributes to the successful implementation of kaizen.

4. Teamwork
Kaizen can only be successful when teamwork is emphasized. It is important for companies practicing
Kaizen to thoroughly train employees of all levels and departments on how they can be involved in
making improvements in their own work or area.

5. Quality circles
Quality circles are both crucial to teamwork and Kaizen as a whole. Quality circles are made up of
workers and individuals who perform similar job functions. They meet regularly to solve issues related to
their work and are a key strategy for Kaizen.

6. Gemba Walk
This is a process of managing the work place, known as ‘’Gemba’’ or “Gembatsu” (real workplace) in
Japanese, for improvement purposes. Imai introduced the word ’’Gemba ‘’, which means ‘’real place’’,
where value is added to the products or services before passing them to next process where they are
formed. Operational efficiency can be achieved from Gemba Walk checklists guide the observers in
asking relevant questions to determine the root cause of problems and the next steps.

A Gemba Walk is a management method used to assess the workplace and identify problems areas,
where managers take a walking tour through the workplace and ask questions to get insights into the
production process.

The Gemba Walk concept was first introduced in the late 1980s by Taiichi Ohno, an executive at Toyota,
who helped establish the Toyota Production System (TPS). This production system, also referred to as
lean manufacturing, focuses on making vehicles in the quickest and most efficient way, increasing
productivity and saving time.

7. 5S (Housekeeping)
The 5S principles aims to enhance workplace efficiency by constantly looking for ways to eliminate
waste. Organizations should refrain from thinking that just because something worked before means it
will continue to work. The 6S of lean added safety to 5S, emphasizing the setup of preventive controls
for safe work operations.

For proper housekeeping a valuable tool or methodology is used, the 5S methodology. The term “Five S”
is derived from the first letters of Japanese words referred to five practices leading to a clean and
manageable work area: seiri (organization), seiton (tidiness), seiso (purity), seiketsu (cleanliness) and
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shitsuke (discipline). The English words equivalent of the 5S's are sort, straighten, sweep, sanitize, and
sustain. Nowadays, it is often called as 6S too, as safety is added another S. 5S evaluations provide
measurable insight into the orderliness of a work area and there are checklists for manufacturing and
nonmanufacturing areas that cover an array of criteria as i.e. cleanliness, safety, and ergonomics.

5S evaluation contributes to how employees feel about product, company, and their selves and today it
has become essential for any company, engaged in manufacturing, to practice the 5S's in order to be
recognized as a manufacturer of world-class status.

Seiri/Sort Seiri in Japanese, it focuses on eliminating unnecessary items

from the workplace.
Sort out what is not needed. Use the red tag system of tagging
items considered not needed, then give everyone a chance to
indicate if the items really are needed. Any red tagged item for
which no one identifies a need is eliminated (sell to employee,
sell to scrap dealer, give away, put into trash.
– Throw out or remove what you don’t need
Red tag (set aside visibly) and disposition if needed
– Move things closest that you use the most
– Move things furthest that you use the least

According to Seiri, employees should sort out and organize things

well. Label the items as “Necessary”, ”Critical”, ”Most
Important”, “Not needed now”, “Useless and so on. Throw what
all is useless. Keep aside what all is not needed at the moment.
Items which are critical and most important should be kept at a
safe place.
Seiton/Straighten Seiton in Japanese, it focuses on efficient and effective storage
Straighten what must be kept or to organize. Make things
visible. Put tools on peg board and outline the tool so its location
can be readily identified. Apply the saying "a place for
everything, and everything a place’’.

Research says that employees waste half of their precious time

searching for items and important documents. Every item should
have its own space and must be kept at its place only.
– Find a place for everything and put everything in its place
– Labeled for easy identification
• Label what/who it is, or for what it is used
• Show where things belong, with tape or shadow board;
indicate what goes there

Seiso/Shine Seiso in Japanese, it focuses on keeping things clean, polished

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 and working.
Shine everything that remains or shine the workplace. Clean and
paint to provide a pleasing appearance.

The workplace ought to be kept clean. De-clutter your

workstation. Necessary documents should be kept in proper
folders and files. Use cabinets and drawers to store your items.

Seiketsu /Standardize Seiketsu in Japanese, it focuses on standardizing best practices

at the workplace.
Standardize the clean/check routine or standardization. When
others see the improvements in the Kaizen area, give them the
training and the time to improve their work area.

Every organization needs to have certain standard rules and set

policies to ensure superior quality.
Standardization and self-discipline. Do all these things (including
cleaning and maintenance) on a regular schedule
– Document and improve standard processes
Define, standardise, and own metrics
Shitsuke – Pay attention by posting, inspection, and/or review
/Sustain – Don’t let things fall back into how they were
– Post and act on process performance metrics
Employees need to respect organization’s policies and adhere to
rules and regulations. Self-discipline is essential. Follow work
procedures and do not forget to carry your identity cards to work.
It gives you a sense of pride and respect for the organization.
Safety 5S from five Japanese words that begin with one more “S” i.e.
Safety
– Identify and address opportunities
to make the work and the workplace safer
– Done along the way

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 Figure: 5S in brief
Why 5S?
• A structured approach to organising the work area for efficiency
• A clean, pleasant, organised, and safe work place
• Increases employee motivation and morale
• No frustration of not knowing where things are
• Reduces time wasted looking for things
• Reveals waste and quality problems
• Develops self-discipline
• Makes it easier to improve

8. Waste elimination
The Toyota Production System, and later on the concept of Lean, was developed around eliminating the
three types of waste;
1. Muda – not adding value, e.g. Unnecessary walk
2. Mura – unevenness, non-uniformity, and irregularity e.g. defective items
3. Muri – overburden e.g. Excess inventory

Figure: Relationship between Muda, Muri and Mura type waste

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Muda in Japanese means waste. The resources at each process, people and machines either add value or
do not add value and therefore, any non-value adding activity is classified as muda in Japan. Work is a
series of value-adding activities, from raw materials, ending to a final product.
Examples of Muda
Muda in Manufacturing Muda in Office
Shipping defective parts Passing on work that contains errors
Waiting for inspection Signature approvals, bureaucracy
Walking and transporting parts Walking or routing documents
Overproduction Copies, files, a lot of papers
Excess inventory which hides Excess documentation

In Kaizen philosophy, the aim is to eliminate the seven types of waste (7 deadly wastes) caused by
overproduction, waiting, transportation, unnecessary stock, over processing, motion, and a defective part,
and presented on the following table, in summary. According to Taiichi Ohno’s Muda waste are as
follows;
Waste Definition
Defects Inspecting, scrapping, redoing or correcting something, incorrect information
Delays /waiting Waiting for someone or something to proceed, time waste
Excess Inventory Having more space, items, or information than needed
Overproduction Doing work before it is required or more than is required
Over-processing Doing things the customer does not want or ask for or more work than required
Extra motion Personal movement that is not transforming
Transportation Unnecessary movement of product and materials from one place to another
Silence Not using people’s creativity, skills and ideas to the fullest i.e. unused talent
Ethical violations Abuse, exploitation, fraud, corruption, discrimination or harassment

9. Standardization
Standardized work is often described as the base of Kaizen. The idea is that once a department or area of
a facility has found a best practice from problem solving, that practice gets carried over to other
departments and areas. Standards are set by management, but they must be able to change when the
environment changes. Companies can achieve dramatic improvement as reviewing the standards
periodically, collecting and analyzing data on defects, and encouraging teams to conduct problem-solving
activities. Once the standards are in place and are being followed then if there are deviations, the workers
know that there is a problem. Then employees will review the standards and either correct the deviation
or advice management on changing and improving the standard. It is a never-ending process and is better
explained and presented by the PDCA cycle (plan-do-check-act), known as Demming’s cycle.

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 Figure: Damming’s wheel

10. Observe for yourself, follow the action

Management involvement is an important principle for Kaizen. Supervisors, managers, and even
executives should go and to the actual production line and see the work being done.

Kaizen cycle for continuous improvement

Figure: Kaizen cycle for continuous improvement

1. Get employees involved. Seek the involvement of employees, including gathering their help in
identifying issues and problems. Doing so creates buy-in for change. Often, this is organized as
specific groups of individuals charged with gathering and relaying information from a wider group of
employees.

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2. Find problems. Using widespread feedback from all employees, gather a list of problems and
potential opportunities. Create a shortlist if there are many issues.
3. Create a solution. Encourage employees to offer creative solutions, with all manner of ideas
encouraged. Pick a winning solution or solutions from the ideas presented.
4. Test the solution. Implement the winning solution chosen above, with everyone participating in the
rollout. Create pilot program or take other small steps to test out the solution.
5. Analyze the results. At various intervals, check progress, with specific plans for who will be the
point of contact and how best to keep ground-level workers engaged. Determine how successful the
change has been.
6. Standardize. If results are positive, adopt the solution throughout the organization.
7. Repeat. These seven steps should be repeated on an ongoing basis, with new solutions tested where
appropriate or new lists of problems tackled.

Kaizen is unsuccessful typically where:

 Kaizen methods are added to an existing failing structure, without fixing the basic structure and
philosophy.
 Kaizen is poorly integrated with processes and people's thinking.
 Training is inadequate.
 Executive/leadership doesn't understand or support Kaizen.
 Employees and managers regard Kaizen as some form of imposed procedure, lacking meaningful
purpose.

Kaizen works best when it is 'owned' by people, who see the concept as both empowering of individuals
and teams, and a truly practical way to improve quality and performance, and thereby job satisfaction and
reward. As ever, such initiatives depend heavily on commitment from above, critically:
 to encourage and support Kaizen, and
 To ensure improvements produce not only better productivity and profit for the organization, but
also better recognition and reward and other positive benefits for employees, whose involvement
drives the change and improvement in the first place?

Interestingly, the implementation of Kaizen principles has been viewed as one of the key factors to
Japanese competitive success. Kaizen then has emerged in the U.S. as a methodology leading to dramatic
increases in productivity by manufacturing companies

KEY TAKEAWAYS
 Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy that focuses on gradually improving productivity and
making a work environment more efficient.
 Kaizen supports change from any employee at any time.
 Kaizen translates to change for the better or continuous improvement.
 Kaizen's small changes can involve quality control, just-in-time delivery, standardized work, the
use of efficient equipment, and the elimination of waste.
 The Kaizen methodology underscores that small changes now can have big future impacts.

The End