Introduction to Kaizen

Kaizen (Ky ‘zen) is a Japanese term which means continuous improvement as the words ‘Kai’, means continuous and ‘zen’ means improvement. Sometimes Kaizen also translates to ‘Kai’ to mean change and ‘zen’ to mean good, or for the better.

Kaizen is a system which involves every employee of the organization whether from senior management or the lowest rank employee. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis or it is continuous and not limited to monthly or yearly activity. Companies, who have implemented Kaizen, receive 60 to 70 suggestions per employee per year which are written down, shared and implemented.

In most cases the ideas are not for major changes as, Kaizen focus on making little changes of improving productivity, safety and effectiveness while reducing waste on a regular basis. Suggestions are also not limited to a specific area like production or marketing but changes can be made anywhere needing improvements. The Kaizen philosophy is to “do it better, make it better, and improve it even if it isn’t broken, because if we don’t, we can’t compete with those who do.”

Kaizen encompasses many continuous improvement components like Quality circles, automation, suggestion systems, just-in-time delivery, Kanban and 5S. Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually improving those standards with providing needed training to achieve the standards and maintain them on an on-going basis.

Gemba – Gemba is a Japanese word for ‘real place,’ where the value-adding activities to satisfy the customer are carried out. The Gemba place can be where the product is developed or produced or sold or made. In the service sectors, Gemba is where the customers come into contact with the services offered. Gemba is important to Kaizen as most managers prefer their desk thus, come in contact with reality only through reports or other meetings.

Gembutsu¸ is a Japanese word meaning some unconformable physical or tangible things like out of order equipment or scrap which  can be felt. If a  machine is down or a complaining client, the machine itself is gembutsu then, go to Gemba and have a good look at the machine. By looking at the machine, and asking the question “why” several times, to probably find out the reason for the breakdown on the spot.