What is Kaizen?

Kaizen is the practice of continuous improvement. Kaizen was originally introduced to

the West by Masaaki Imai in his book Kaizen: The Key to Japans Competitive Success in
1986. Today Kaizen is recognized worldwide as an important pillar of an organizations
long-term competitive strategy. Kaizen is continuous improvement that is based on
certain guiding principles:

Good processes bring good results

Go see for yourself to grasp the current situation

Speak with data, manage by facts

Take action to contain and correct root causes of problems

Work as a team

Kaizen is everybodys business

And much more!

One of the most notable features of kaizen is that big results come from many small
changes accumulated over time. However this has been misunderstood to mean that
kaizen equals small changes. In fact, kaizen means everyone involved in making
improvements. While the majority of changes may be small, the greatest impact may be
kaizens that are led by senior management as transformational projects, or by crossfunctional teams as kaizen events.

No matter which sector we are in, todays business environment our customers demand:

Reliable processes
Improved service levels
Shorter lead-times
Increased working capital
Higher quality
Reduced Costs

Kaizen Institute utilizes a set of proven methods and tools to reduce waste and increase Value for
the client. This methodology has been applied across the globe in every economic sector. Taken as
a whole, we call them the Kaizen Management System (KMS).

Improve Lead Times, Productivity, Inventory & Space with Total Flow
Management (TFM)

Total Flow Management (TFM) focuses on streamlining material and information flows.
Diagnosis is performed through management led Value Stream Mapping.
Application of Just-in-Time, kanban, pull systems, and other lean production and lean
logistics methods will create a more flexible supply chain, with lower inventory levels
and increased productivity.

Improve Equipment Effectiveness, Increased Safety and Quality with Total

Productive Management (TPM)
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a well proven methodology for improving asset
performance. The Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) of your assets is improved by
systematically reducing losses in quality, availability and speed. TPM does this by
engaging people at all levels in problem solving, equipment planning and daily
monitoring of performance.

Improved Quality with Total Quality Management (TQM)

TQM applies proven quality tools to systematically expose problems, identify root
causes, take corrective action and implement mistake-proofing (pokayoke). Statistical
methods and Six Sigma techniques are used to for more complex problems. TQM will
reduce quality costs and improve customer satisfaction.

Lean Office, Lean Finance, Lean Engineering and Lean Administration

(TSM)
The kaizen methodology applied to knowledge work, information flow, and
administrative processes improves service, quality and productivity while engaging
peoples creativity. Kaizen principles are increasingly being adopted in offices of
production facilities as well as service organizations such as banks, insurance
companies and local governments. A lean office transformation begins by visualizing the
processes and their targets, organizing teams around daily and project-based kaizen
activity, and building simple performance management systems.

Lean Innovation, Lean Startup & Lean Product Development (IDM)

The lean approach improves the effectiveness of the process of innovation, startups,
new product development, new product launches, new facility design and construction.
Lean methods bring results to innovation, startup, ramp up, running and ramp up of
businesses in areas of:

Ability to deliver projects and products on-time, on budget

Flexibility and adaptability to change
Quality of the new product or service
Cost to launch and deliver product or service
These results are achieved by enabling people to fully engage their creativity by
visualizing and improving the processes and ways of working. Contact us to learn how
Kaizen Institute can help your early stage business, product or idea gain lean startup
insight.

Frequent Small Improvements (Daily Kaizen)

Many organizations implement lean through projects, build system, and assign
continuous improvement experts to expand the improvements. Project-driven
improvement is not true continuous improvement involving everyone, every day,
everywhere. The Daily Kaizen system engages the creativity of people at all levels to
improve their own work. Not only does this help to sustain operational effectiveness, it
improves teamwork.
The maintenance and improvement of workplace standards is a daily activity that must
be done by the natural teams who are closest to the work. Daily Kaizen is a
methodology to develop teams by practicing the daily routines such as:

Monitoring standards
Rapid problem solving to return performance to the standard
Identifying potential improvements to the standard
Problem solving in order to raise the standard
Performance review at local team boards to engage peoples creativity further

As these practices become habit, performance improvements are sustained and further
developed, creating a positive feedback loop that promotes the cultural change process.
The benefits of Daily Kaizen are:

Ensure the alignment of objectives through the organization;

Improve communication;
Create mechanisms for quick solving problems;
Creation of Standards and increase team productivity;
Minimize the impact of unforeseen events on the day-to-day;
Support the improvements made in Projects;
Foster the creation of a continuous improvement culture

Organizing for Improvement (Support Kaizen)

Many organizations have made great improvements by employing lean tools and kaizen
methods, but struggle to sustain the improvements. Our Support Kaizen model enables
clients to build the foundation of daily management and lean leadership required to
truly create a culture of continuous improvement within the organization. Support
Kaizen will

Increase employee engagement

Improve visibility of progress towards goals
Align improvements with business strategy
Insure sustainability of results

Support Kaizen begins with Policy Deployment (hoshin kanri) to ensure that all kaizen
projects are focused on achieving strategic objectives. Mission Control (obeya) rooms
are created to visualise progress against the project plan. The kaizen steering
committees use the obeya room to review progress of kaizen projects and clear
roadblocks, keeping projects on track.
Leader standard work and frontline coaching (kata) is deployed to ensure that teams are
strengthened while standards are maintained and improved on a daily basis. Internal
capability is developed by certifying Kaizen Practitioners, Kaizen Coaches and Kaizen
Managers

Kaizen Institute consultants have helped clients along this journey on many occasions.
Contact us to learn how to build a Support Kaizen system for sustainable improvement
within your organization.

Consulting Services
Kaizen Institute consultants have been helping companies make sustainable performance
improvements for three decades:
Our consultants are experienced hands-on practitioners and coaches. We assist client teams
achieving great results by rapidly putting ideas into action. Kaizen Institute is experienced in
engaging with clients at all organizational levels. Our flexibility and ability to adapt Lean tools to the
needs of your business is our major strength.
Breakthrough results are achieved using a variety of learning-by-doing methods
including KAIZEN events, value stream design workshops and professionally managed Lean
projects. The Kaizen Institute focus is on "helping you to help yourself" through knowledge transfer.
We empower your people to implement improvements themselves, while working with leaders to
build systems to sustain continous improvement culture.
Kaizen consultants understand that their success is about getting results that the client can see and
creating value that can be measured financially. Typical consulting engagements include a
combination of:

Revenue
ImprovementSustainable
ImprovementSupply
Everyday Improvement

ChainQuality ManagementProblem
DiagnosticGap analysisLean ManufacturingCost
ReductionIncrease ProfitGlobal LeanProduction Line
The true meaning of kaizen is improving everybody, everyday, everywhere. We enable this by
helping clients design and build their kaizen systems:

Global Lean Transformation

Organizing for Sustainable Improvement (Support Kaizen)
Process Implementation (Lean Project)

Simple Fast Results (Daily Kaizen)

Capability Development and Certification