Kaizen technique

Kaizen the word translates to mean change (kai) for the good (zen). It is a Japanese term meaning change for better or continuous improvement. It was introduced by Masaaki Imai a management consultant known for his work on quality management.

Though it is a business philosophy regarding the wholesome improvement of all employees in whatever operations they are involved in.

Kaizen adopts the idea that the work environment should be more efficient so that the productivity and efficiency of work increase without hampering the employee with the workload. The work they do should be fulfilling for them. 

Its improvement techniques are based on PDCA that is Plan Do Check and Act.

The plan includes mapping all the ideas and incorporating everyone’s suggestion.

Do would be implementing the best plan.

Check to see if the plan implemented is working or it needs to be changed.

When the Act stage comes it focuses that PDC implemented earlier is bringing results and can be incorporated into company standards for better output. If it doesn’t improve the output the whole process is started again.

This technique helps in analyzing what is working for the business. It makes it easier as not every time one has to go beating around the bush that what helped in increasing the productivity and what is not working in the favor. It increases the production cycle.

The production cycle increases as it focuses on reducing waste and overproduction. This helps in improving the quality of being more efficient and reducing unnecessary activities.

As mentioned in mindtools Kaizen technique helps in organization by these ways mentioned below;

• Less waste – inventory is used more efficiently as are employee skills.
• People are more satisfied – they have a direct impact on the way things are done.
• Improved commitment – team members have more of a stake in their job and are more inclined to commit to doing a good job.
• Improved retention – satisfied and engaged people are more likely to stay.
• Improved competitiveness – increases in efficiency tend to contribute to lower costs and higher quality products.
• Improved consumer satisfaction – coming from higher quality products with fewer faults.
• Improved problem solving – looking at processes from a solutions perspective allows employees to solve problems continuously.
• Improved teams – working together to solve problems helps build and strengthen existing teams.

All this adds up to save money and turn potential losses to profits.

Toyota is one of the companies that has got the best results following the Kaizen model. It is knowns as the Kaizen blitz.

Kaizen is very popular in work culture as its philosophy supports changes on minor levels, a continuous process that is very efficient and sustainable, and many big companies are following it to increase their productivity by eliminating any kind of waste.

The process is very gentle as it emphasizes teamwork, as wide participation helps to improve unnecessary things in a system. Their suggestion is very powerful that can help improve the morale and satisfaction of everyone as much it helps in improving the cost and productivity of the organization. We should also learn and implement in our life to get better results. 

As nothing in this world is absolutely correct there is continually changing and things evolve continuously in order to produce their best versions.

One life. Live Boundless