What is Kaizen?
Move a mountain beginning with small stones.
Definition
It is derived from the Japanese words kai which means change or to correct, and zen, which means good),
- Kaizen is a Japanese word that means change for the better.
- Kaizen is a participative and democratic approach that involves every employee – from upper management to lower staff.
- Kaizen is a culture aimed at continuous sustainable improvement focusing on eliminating waste in all systems and processes.
- Kaizen means working together to make a large and significant improvement with a small investment in time and money.
Benefits
- It reduces waste in the areas such as inventory, waiting times, transportation, worker motion, employee skills, etc.
- It improves space utilization, product quality, production capacity and employee retention.
- It provides immediate results.
Ground rules of Kaizen,
- Don’t try to justify the past: Challenge fixed ideas.
- Be positive: Think how things CAN be done, not why they CAN’T be done.
- Use data: not theories.
- Use wisdom, not money.
- Work smarter, not harder.
- Set high standards.
- Correct failures immediately – 70% now is better than 100% never.
- Lead by example.
- A team is better than one expert. Involve people.
- Identify the root cause and then take action.
