Kaizen + Lean Tools = The Perfect Marriage

The Kaizen philosophy, developed by Masaaki Imai, has provided the groundwork for some of the world’s leading successful companies, such as Toyota. This philosophy promotes continuous improvement, that a day should never go by without having an improvement. One should always be performing small continuous steps towards set goals every day.

The Kaizen Mentality

Here are a few key principles behind Kaizen:

• Every area can be improved upon
• For every problem there is a common sense solution
• Use “competition” to improve and motivate yourself
• Do not seek approval or accolades
• Set a target goal and make sure you achieve it
• Visualize an outstanding customer encounter, and make sure it is achieved
• Never stop asking questions and coming up with solutions

The Different Business Mindset: The West vs. Japan

In the United States:

• Focus on quality of product or service
• Motivated towards the manufacturer
• Focus is on detecting problems and product defects
• Responsibility falls on quality control managers

In Japan:

• Focus on quality of product or service
• Motivation geared towards the customer
• Motivation is geared towards the processes and aim is on total improvement
• Responsibility falls on the entire company… everybody is responsible

A Common Sense Approach

Many large companies or corporations put their emphasis on ceremony, meaning the responsibility on what would improve quality or service falls on management. Ironically, management doesn’t deal directly with the customers, so how would they know what the customer wants, or needs?

The Kaizen approach makes sense, as it is geared towards employee involvement. The process would work in this fashion:

• The employee notices an issue
• Writes down a possible solution or idea
• Discusses it with his/her supervisor
• The supervisor reviews the idea and within 24 hrs. and encourages immediate action
• The employee carries out the idea
• The idea is then written on a Kaizen sheet
• The Kaizen is then published and rewards are given

This encourages the entire company of how important their contribution is, and since morale is up, everyone works together as an important member of the “family.”

Kaizen works extremely well with all the Lean and Six Sigma tools. If you would like more information on our courses or services please visit 6sigma.com.