Kaizen means | Kaizen definition | Kaizen Process | Objectives & Examples

According to Masaaki Imai (Founder of Kaizen Institute), Kaizen means continuous improvements in the daily working life, home life, personal life, and social life. And involving everyone for continuing improvement.

It is a Japanese word made by the combination of two words:

Kai – means to Modify or Change

Zen – means Good ( for the Better)

Therefore, Kaizen can be defined as the “change for better”.

Kaizen is one of the important tools of Lean Manufacturing and TQM.

Kaizen Philosophy

Kaizen philosophy is developing a culture for people engagement in improving the organization through small-small continuous improvement in daily work rather than one large improvement at once. Kaizen’s belief is that the small improvements in large numbers at lower cost are generally better than some large improvements at a higher cost.

The Core Philosophy of Kaizen are:

• Continuous Improvement Process: Continuous Improvement is never-ending process and embedded in daily work life.
• Small Improvements: Focus on small, low-cost changes instead of one large or radical improvement or innovations.
• Employee Involvement: Improvement is the responsibility of everyone working within an organization-from top level management to bottom level/shop floor workers.
• 3M Waste Elimination: A key objective is to identify and eliminate all forms of waste (muda, mura, and muri).

Kaizen Principle | Objective

The kaizen objective is the continuous improvement in the product and process quality by eliminating waste from the process or services by identifying values and involving everyone. 

• Continuous improvement in product and process quality by identifying values. Always look for ways to make products/processes better.
• Eliminate Muda or Waste.
• Lower rejection/defects and cost.
• Increase Productivity.
• Promote Innovation.
• Employee Involvement- Increase workers’ morale and accountability through effective participation.
• Standardization of the process/system.

KAIZEN PROCESS

Kaizen event process generally follows Deming’s PDCA process approach. The seven-step approach for kaizen process implementation based on the PDCA cycle is:

Get the workers involved: Involve the workers and get their ideas or suggestions through the kaizen suggestion system.

Identify the problem: Collect the list of ideas/suggestions in order to identify the issues or problems.

Analyze the problem: Analyze the problem by observing the present process/condition and investigating the probable root cause.

Develop the solution: Identify the alternate solutions/ideas and select the best solution after validating all identified solutions.

Implement solution: Implement the permanent solution/action against the real identified root cause.

Analyze the result: Monitor the effectiveness of the implemented solution.

Standardize the solution: If the result is found effective, then do the horizontal deployment of the implemented solution at other areas/workplaces/machines, etc.

Strategies

Kaizen event strategies are:

• Elimination of the MUDA(Waste)-Seven types of waste.
• Teamwork: Train all employees/workers about kaizen & problem-solving tools.
• Communicate ideas throughout the organization’s hierarchy.
• Define clear leadership initiatives.
• Prioritizing problems.
• Create a culture to achieve perfection.

Identification process

The kaizen identification should be done as follows:

• Can this job be made more comfortable?
• Isn’t there a better method for this operation?
• Isn’t there a faster way of doing it?
• Isn’t there a safer way of doing this?

Implementation Practices

There are various kaizen implementation practices performed in an organization that are usually associated with the Lean Manufacturing tools and principles, which include:

• Kaizen 5S.
• Deming’s PDCA approach (Plan-Do-Check-Act).
• VSM-Value Stream Mapping.
• Total Productive Maintenance-TPM.
• Why-Why Analysis or 5 Whys.

Kaizen Methods | Steps

There are three types of the Kaizen method/steps:

1. Kaizen by Elimination
2. Kaizen by Reduction
3. Kaizen by Change

See Kaizen’s examples below for more clarity.

Benefits of Kaizen

• To make the job or workplace:
  • Easier
  • Safer-reduce the chances of an accident
  • More efficient
  • More pleasant or comfortable

• Saves time
• Reduces the cost of production
• Improve the product delivery
• Reduce the production lead time

Kaizen Examples

Kaizen Report | Format