Kaizen is a Japanese word which means "continues improvement".
So,it is an approach of improving any process continuously. Anything which could be or continuosly improving by any process you could called it "Kaizen".
Kaizen first originated in post-World War II Japanese manufacturing industry led by Toyota. Developers focused on preventing defects at Toyota and were developed partly in response to American management and productivity consultant W. Edwards Deming, who argued that quality control should be put more directly in the hands of ground workers than manegment. Kaizen was brought to the West by Masaaki Imai via his book "Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success in 1986".
Hope you get a overall idea of kaizen and it's development.
Now,let us understand it's technicalities,Kaizen is a technique through which better efficiency could be achieved by improving small things in the process,such as improvement in line balancing,cutting process, store etc.
It is core of lean manufacturing technique and also called the Toyata way as it is developed by Toyota Inc in the manufacturing sector to lower defects,waste, improve productivity,worker output and accountability & innovation of the workforce.
Kaizen can use a number of approaches and tools, such as value stream mapping, which documents, analyses and improve information and material flows required by a product or service. Regardless of methodology, in an organisational structure, the successful implementation of Kaizen depends on achieving support across the organisation, from top to bottom hierarchy of workforce.
Nowadays, it has quite broad concept that carries myriad interpretations, it is now used successfully in many other industries, including service sector. Kaizen can use a number of tools & methodology, such as value stream mapping, which documents, analyses and improves information or material flows required to produce a product or service, and Total Quality Management (TQM), a management technique that enlists workers at all levels to focus on quality improvements.
Ten principles of Kaizen
Because executing Kaizen requires enabling the right mindset throughout the company, 10 principles that address the Kaizen mindset are commonly referenced as core to the philosophy. They are listed below:
•Let go of assumptions.
•Be proactive about solving problems.
•Don't accept the status quo.
•Let go of perfectionism and take an attitude of iterative, adaptive change.
•Look for solutions as you find mistakes.
•Create an environment in which everyone feels empowered to contribute.
•Don't accept the obvious issue; instead, ask "why" five times to get to the root cause.
•Cull information and opinions from multiple people.
•Use creativity to find low-cost, small improvements.
•Never stop improving.
How Kaizen works
Kaizen is based on the belief that everything can be improved continiuesly and nothing can be static.Kaizen involves identifying issues and opportunities, creating solutions and rolling them out and then cycling through the process again for other issues or problems that were inadequately addressed.
See the image carefully & remember it.
These following seven steps create a cycle for continuous improvement and give a systematic method for executing this process.
Kaizen cycle for continuous improvement:
•Get employees involved - Try to involve employees, including gathering their help in identifying issues and problems. Doing so creates a sense of responsibility. Often, this is organized as specific groups of individuals charged with gathering and relaying information from a wider group of employees,which leads to inefficiency.
•Find problems -Using widespread feedback from all employees, gather a list of problems and potential opportunities. Create a shortlist if there are many issues.
•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.
•Test the solution -Implement the winning solution chosen above, with everyone participating in the rollout. Create pilot programs or take other small steps to test out the solution.
•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.
•Standardize - If results are positive, adopt the solution throughout the organization.
•Repeat -These seven steps should be repeated on an ongoing basis, with new solutions tested where appropriate or new lists of problems tackled.
Advantages and disadvantages
Kaizen advantages:
•Kaizen can create a smoother approach to change in contrast to big efforts that may be resisted due to their tendency to provoke change and abandonment.
•Kaizen encourages scrutiny of processes so that mistakes and waste can be reduced.Inspection needs are reduced.
•Teamwork increases as employees think beyond the specific issues of their department.
•Client focus increases as customer requirements awareness is raised.
•Systems are in place to ensure improvements are encouraged both short and long term.
Kaizen disadvantages:
•The only disadvantage is observed untill date of kaizen is increased pressure on workers to improve themselves continuously and more strict,authotorian controlling affects the culture & overall productivity of the company sometimes inversely.
Note: This is an genuine view of kaizen & enough for your job interview,if you have mentioned Kaizen in your resume,which increases your chances for selection many times than other candidates in competition.
Now if you want to take a step forward,enroll for certification course of kaizen. It will provide a strong point in your resume. You could apply for Quality engineer, quality analyst, consultant and various Quality jobs with Kaizen.
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