Kaizen

The way of continuous improvement

R.K.Dalela

Translation of Kaizen

Kaizen is a Japanese term that means gradual and continuous improvement.

Kai' means continuous. Zen' means improvement.

The same Japanese word Kaizen that is pronounced as 'Gai San' in Chinese means:

Gai means the action to correct; San means good or benefit.

History of Kaizen

1950s Toyota implements quality circles, which results in development of unique Toyota Production System.
In doing so, quality was inspected at every stage of production rather than checking the completed product for defects.

Meaning of Kaizen

Kaizen is an on-going, never-ending improvement process. Kaizen is based upon team problem solving approach to identify problems which are evaluated, ideas generated and solutions implemented. Kaizen philosophy underlines that waste can be turned into profit if it is eliminated and employees are encouraged to participate in improvement process.

Meaning of Kaizen

Kaizen means improvements without spending too much money. Kaizen means involving everyone from top managers to workers. Kaizen means using much common sense.

Muda, Gemba & Teian

Muda means waste and is any nonvalue activity, that can result in direct money loss or decrease in efficiency and customer satisfaction. Gemba means real place where valuadding activities to satisfy customer needs are carried out. Teian means suggestion submitting system.

Muda, Gemba & Teian

In order to eliminate waste, we have to:

go to gemba; observe; recognize muda; take steps to remove it using teian.

Wastes in Service Industry

1.

2.
3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Errors in documents. Transport of documents. Doing unnecessary work not requested. Waiting for the next process step. Process of getting approvals. Unnecessary motions. Backlog in work queues. Underutilized employees.

Kaizen Tools & Techniques

Principle of 5s

Seire Sorting out. Distinguishing between necessary and unnecessary items in gemba and discard the latter. Seiton Systematic arrangements. Arranging all items remaining after seiri in an orderly manner. Seiso Spic and span. Keeping machines and working environments clean, this helps to see further damages. Seiketsu Standardizing. Extending the concept of cleanliness in a set of standards and continuously practice the above three steps. Shitsuke Self-discipline. Building self-discipline and educating people in maintaining standards.

DMAICS

Define project goals and customers (internal and

external) deliverables.

Measure process too determine current process. Analyze determine the root cause of the problem. Improve process of designing creative solutions. Control prevent reverting back the old way. Share make insights, ideas and solutions avaiable to
wider business.

Kaizen - Benefits

Reduced wastes in areas such as inventory, waiting times, transportation, worker motion, employee's skills, over production, excess quality and in processes. Improvements in space utilization, product quality, use of capital, communications, production capacity and employee retention. Large capital investments avoided.

Kaizen - Benefits

Solving problems at their source. It's not unusual for Kaizen to result in 25 to 30 suggestions per employee, per year. 90% of suggestions may be implemented. For example, in 1999 at one of Toyotas U.S. plant, 7,000 Toyota employees submitted over 75,000 suggestions, of which 99% were implemented.

Kaizen - Pitfalls

Resistance to change. There is a need for right education, information and confidence in any new systems. Lack of internal infrastructure, systems and procedures that would allow continuing the new activities. Suggestion for the sake of suggesting.

Kaizen Blitz

A team-based rapid improvement event that focuses on a specific work-area or cell. It concentrates on making a radical changes in processes. Usually takes 2-10 days.

Kaizen Blitz - Advantages

Leaves no time for intellectual resistance. Concentrates all resources on one area. Gives quick, clear and significant results.

Kaizen Blitz - Disadvantages

Leaves not enough time for deep learning of principles and procedures. The overall process may suffer.

Kaizen vs. Innovation

Kaizen comes in small steps, conventional know-how and a lot of common sense.
Innovation comes in big steps and pursues technological breakthrough.

Kaizen vs. Innovation

Kaizen is effort-based. Innovation is investment-based.

Kaizen vs. Innovation

Kaizen constantly revises process to check results consistency with targets.

Innovation looks for results only.

Example Kaizen Blitz Day 1

What makes customers wait? Identifying the problem

Operator receives a call from customer, but due to lack of experience does not know where to connect the call The receiving party cannot answer the phone quickly because he is unavailable, and nobody can take the call for him. The result is that the operator must transfer the call to another extension while apologizing for the delay.

Example Kaizen Blitz Day 2

What makes customers wait? Cause-and-effect diagram
Receiving party not present Working system of operators

Absent

Telephone call rush Lunch time rest

Out of office Not at desk

Absent

Makes customer wait

Long conversation Not giving name of receiving party Complaining Starts leaving a message Lack of knowledge of companys jobs Do not understand customers message

Customer

Operator

Example Kaizen Blitz Day 3, 4 & 5

What makes customers wait? Checksheet analysis

Checksheet analysis reveals that the situation where one operator (partner out of office) is the biggest problem. The target reduce waiting callers to zero. Incoming calls would be handled promptly.

Example Kaizen Blitz Day 6

What makes customers wait? Measures & Execution

Taking lunches on three different shifts, leaving at least two operators on the job at all times. Asking all employees to leave message when leaving their desks. Compiling a directory listing the personnel and their respective jobs.

Thank you

Questions?

References

Imai, M. 1986, KAIZEN. The key to Japans Competetive Success, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, New York. Kaizen method, (n.d.). Retrieved: April 18, 2007, from http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_kaizen.html. Kaizen. Getting started with Kaizen. (n.d,). Retieved: April 18, 2007, from http://www.graphicproducts.com/tutorials/kaizen/kaizen-getting-started.php. Kaizen. Principle of ongoing improvement, (n.d.). Retrieved: April 18, 2007, from http://membres.lycos.fr/hconline/kaizen_us.htm. Kaizen. What are the benefits resulting from Kaizen?, (n.d.). Retrieved: April 18, 2007, from http://www.graphicproducts.com/tutorials/kaizen/kaizen-benefits.php. Kaizen. What is Kaizen? (n.d.). Retrieved: April 18, 2007, from http://www.graphicproducts.com/tutorials/kaizen/index.php. Lean office Kaizen, 2004. Retrieved: April 18, 2007, from http://www.trainingbistro.com/samples/Office_Kaizen_sample.ppt#286,1,Lean Office - Kaizen Superfactory Excellence Program www.superfactory.com. Sky Kaizen, (n.d.). Retrieved: April 18, 2007, from http://www.kaizentraining.com/free/Kaizen_ForumPresentation.ppt#506,2. The history of Kaizen, (n.d.). Retrieved: April 18, 2007, from http://www.kaizentraining.com/how/documents/ThehistoryofKaizen.pdf. Wittenberg, G. 1994, The many ways of getting better. Retrieved: April 18, 2007, from http://www.emeraldlibrary.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0330140402.pdf.