Kaizen

Kaizen is a Japanese word for the philosophy that defines management’s role in continuously encouraging and implementing small improvements involving everyone. It is a method of continuous improvement in small increments that makes processes more efficient, effective, under control, and adaptable.

Improvements are usually accomplished at little or no expense without sophisticated techniques or expensive equipment. Kaizen focuses on simplification by breaking down complex processes into their subprocesses and then improving them.

The kaizen improvement focuses on the use of:

1. Value-added and non-value-added work activities.
2. Muda, which refers to the seven classes of waste—overproduction, delay, transportation, processing, inventory, wasted motion, and defective parts.
3. Principles of motion study.
4. Principles of materials handling.
5. Documentation of standard operating procedures.
6. The five S’s for workplace organization, which are five Japanese words that mean proper arrangement (seiko), orderliness (seiton), personal cleanliness (seiketso), cleanup (seiso), and discipline (shitsuke).The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) through the Manufacturing Extension Partnership uses sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain.
7. Visual management by means of (visual) displays that everyone in the plant can use for better communications.
8. Just-in-time principles to produce only the right units in the right quantities, at the right time, and with the right resources.
9. Poka-yoke to prevent or detect errors.
10. Team dynamics, which include problem solving, communication skills, and conflict.

Kaizen relies heavily on a culture that encourages suggestions by operators who continually try to incrementally improve their job or process. An example of a kaizen – type improvement would be the change in color of a welding booth from black to white to improve operator visibility. This change results in a small improvement
in weld quality and a substantial improvement in operator satisfaction.