1. introduction
Why plan? Why worry about continuous improvement? What does the strategy aim at? All important questions to answer and to which many managers, professionals and entrepreneurs do not give due importance or sufficient attention.
Answering these and other questions is what makes the difference between companies that just subsist, with managers trying to patch financial imbalances, trying to appease the onslaught of disgruntled consumers and customers, battling ever-higher costs and levels of productivity in clear decline. These companies see the light when the global situation is optimal, but they never take full advantage of these situations, and when the market is depressed they enter a strong cone of shadow and uncertainty.
And on the other hand we have those companies and organizations that with clearly defined objectives, and a perfect focus on the activities to be carried out, plan proactively, not only anticipating the future but creating it. Companies for which resources have a value and therefore know how to manage it. Among those fundamental resources is time. Crucial element that once consumed can no longer be recovered. Thus we have companies that waste the time of their clients, employees and their own future as an entity, those who know how to value it, not wasting such an important resource.
No less important is the human capital that each company owns and that very few really know how to value. Human resources are systematically wasted, when their active participation is not made, when their experiences, abilities, capacities and knowledge are not taken into account, or are plainly and underestimated by managers.
In the medium and long term, only those companies that waste the least resources can survive. For this it is essential to achieve an optimal level of planning, and to have the discipline to improve day by day. Every day new competitors are added on a global scale. Think of any activity and you will see new companies and new countries enter with more force and depth in world markets. Perhaps someone thought a few decades ago that Malaysia would be the world's leading producer of computer chips today, or that South Korea would enter Western markets for automotive. Well these are just a few examples of the changes that are taking place. Countries and companies lacking strategies are destined to see further each day an optimal level of growth and development.
It is not the same to be the owner or employee of a company in which it is not known what day the wages will be paid, nor if the bank debts can be covered, or in which the workers do not know if they will continue to be employed in the coming months, which Those who are part of first-line companies plan how to enter new markets, analyze their participation, design new products and services, their brands are synonymous with quality and excellence worldwide, or at least regional or national.
It is not the same to be part of companies that over the years do not register any change, and if they have registered it is in a negative way, than to be involved in organizations that improve day after day, providing better products and services to consumers, and involving their owners, managers and employees in richer living standards not only in economic matters, but also in personal growth and development.
Nor is it the same for a customer to try their luck with the products and services that an organization provides, than to acquire goods and services from reliable companies, which place high value on satisfaction levels, offering a more varied range of products and services every day..
None of it is a product of chance. Things happen because concrete actions are planned and carried out to obtain them, that is, there is a causality. It is very easy to talk about planning, organization, direction and control. But another very different thing is to put it into practice and improve them continuously.
It is the time when investors ask themselves in which company it is really worth putting their savings and their trust, it is also the time when the workers ask themselves if it is worth leaving part of their lives and personal projects in companies that do not allow no personal or economic growth. This is the time for consumers to consider whether they should continue to purchase low-value, poor-quality, high-priced products and appalling customer service.
It is the moment in which leaders must take on their responsibilities by implementing a strategy that allows excellence to be brought to life. Excellence is only obtained with the work ethic, the discipline of continuous improvement and a paradigm shift that allows making the company and work a base for human creativity and expansion, and not merely a machine for shredding resources and projects..
2. Definition of the Kaizen Strategy
We can define the Kaizen Strategy as “the continuous process of situation analysis for the proactive adoption of creative and innovative decisions tending to consistently increase the competitiveness of the company through the continuous improvement of products, services and processes (both productive and support and planning) ”.
The concept of process defines a set of activities (such as the definition of the company's values, missions, visions, and objectives, as well as analyzes of the company's strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the environment, the analysis of the gap, among others) that harmonically (following a methodology) allows to make a clear competitive difference in the market.
The fact of being continuous, differentiates it from that action that tends to be carried out during one period of the exercise and that is not seen again until the next. What it is about is to carry out the strategy as a corporate way of life. A continuous activity in which situations are constantly evaluated in order to formulate and reformulate strategies, their implementation and evaluation.
The situation analysis refers to both internal and external issues to the company. Among the internal issues are both the setting or determination of values, as well as the missions, visions and objectives of the corporation.
The fact of being proactive decisions is because it is no longer enough to anticipate events, it is necessary to act in such a way as to generate the future.
How this future is generated. Analyzing the current situation of the company, understanding the evolution of the environment, defining where you want to be, evaluating the gap that separates the current situation of the firm, from that to which you want to reach and adopting creative and innovative decisions. Decisions that make a clear difference with the competitors, by adopting solutions not within limits, but working (modifying) the limits.
The objective is to achieve it consistently, which implies obtaining results not only in the short term but, and above all in the long term, the competitiveness of the corporation. In other words, to have the largest market share in globalized markets, with the highest return on investment, through the highest added value per employee and the best customer and consumer satisfaction rates.
The question is how to do it. The answer is, "through the continuous improvement not only of the production processes of goods and services, but also of products and services, and of the support processes and planning itself." Nothing should escape the process of continuous improvement. The focus and positioning of the company must be improved, users' perception of its products and services must be improved, the way of communicating with consumers must be improved. Each and every one of the activities and processes carried out by the corporation must be methodically and systematically improved.
Continuous improvement that may seem insignificant in a short period of time, will significantly separate the company from its competitors in a not too long period, since the constant and synergistic sum of knowledge, quality, productivity, savings and cycle times they spawn difficult or expensive spaces to match.
It is just a matter of strategy as in athletic competitions, a competitor can be very good in the short speed section but run out of energy for the rest of the race. In economic competition, careers are long-winded; it is therefore more important that a company that, knowing its strengths and weaknesses, wisely manages its resources and capabilities to face threats and take advantage of opportunities.
Neglecting continuous improvement as a competitive strategy can lead the company to stay on top for a very short period of time; For this, it is enough to see which were the 500 Fortune companies in 1970, and which retained that position among the Top 500 twenty years later.
Of course, continuous improvement to be effective must not only focus on manufacturing processes and products, but also and giving special significance to continuous improvement in knowledge (through continuous training), and constantly attacking paradigms (of otherwise there is a risk of finding their prey dead).
3. Strategic planning and improvement process
The first and fundamental thing is the awareness by managers of the importance of change management through the Kaizen Strategy. The obligation, the need and the benefits of systematic improvement in the various activities and organizational processes. This is called in Japanese dantotsu, which means "the effort made to be the best of the best."
It is critical to be clear about the factors that determine the success (and whose absence therefore produce failure) of the system to be implemented.
- Commitment of the top managers. It is necessary for them not only to express their interest and underline the importance of establishing Continuous Improvement as a strategic objective, but also to lend their financial and moral support to its full implementation. This also implies following a certain line of conduct, avoiding contradictions between actions and words (thus avoiding demotivating employees and workers). A clear commitment to leadership and motivation must be at stake. Make employees' needs and benefits known clearly and precisely. Give employees full participation. No commitment without participation. Training. Continuous and at all levels and areas of the organization. Planning. It involves first defining precisely the mission, values, vision and objectives of the company,to from there proceed to deepen its analysis, then go on to set quantitative and qualitative objectives to be achieved in certain time frames. Explicitly recognize the Fundamental Factors of Survival. Commit to teamwork not only at the sector level and processes, but also at the level of the entire organization. Implement an effective and reliable evaluation, control and information system that allows accurate data in a timely manner. Participation of the members of the organization in the benefits.Commit to teamwork not only at the level of sectors and processes, but also at the level of the entire organization. Implement an effective and reliable evaluation, control and information system that allows accurate data in a timely manner. Participation of the members of the organization in the benefits.Commit to teamwork not only at the level of sectors and processes, but also at the level of the entire organization. Implement an effective and reliable evaluation, control and information system that allows accurate data in a timely manner. Participation of the members of the organization in the benefits.
With full awareness on the part of managers of those fundamental factors in which you cannot fail if you intend to achieve the strategic objectives, the second step is to convince and obtain the full support of both the staff and your union delegates.
Continuing with the process, the next step is that of strategic, tactical and operational planning. It is necessary to know where you want to go in order to target efforts and capacities towards them. A clear understanding of strengths and weaknesses, recognizing competitive capabilities will allow the company to take advantage of opportunities, avoiding or overcoming threats.
Knowing the strengths will allow you to make maximum use of them, and being aware of the weaknesses will give you the impetus to overcome them. Knowing the weaknesses does not only mean becoming aware of them to prevent failures or failures, but planning and taking concrete actions to overcome them.
Within the strategic framework, the configuration of the various scenarios that the company may have to face is particularly important. What is it for? Little by little, the most efficient forms of action and the best controls are used, but the various positive and negative circumstances that can occur both internally and externally and that would force the company to make quick decisions to obtain benefits or are creatively foreseen. prevent losses.
Continuing with the process implies, on the one hand, taking the plans into concrete action and, on the other hand, continuing to improve the planning itself day by day. Applying the plans involves both staff training as well as management skills. In this case it is the direction for continuous improvement in all aspects of the company.
Finally, the constant control and evaluation of the results obtained will allow adjustments to be made both in the plans and in the budgets in order to close the gap between the proposed objectives and the achievements achieved.
The simplified idea is none other than the process called PREA (Plan - Perform - Evaluate - Act), also called the Deming Circle. Continuous process that tends to systematically exceed various levels in terms of quality, productivity, costs, delivery times, responsiveness, flexibility, capacity for innovation, and customer and consumer satisfaction, among others.
4. The kaizen strategy. Equipment - Systems - Processes
In the first instance, an Improvement and Strategic Projects Team (EMPE) must be formed. Made up of the heads of the organization, they will be in charge not only of developing the strategies, but also of supporting the activities to put them into practice. One of its main functions will be to approve the budgets and improvement projects that are submitted to it.
The EMPE will have among its fundamental tasks those of analyzing, correcting and eliminating Strategic Changes (waste in Japanese). Which are? Why are they strategic? How to remove them?
The Strategic Mudas are made up of:
- Lack of employee skills Lack of focus and positioning Time Information Environment opportunities Company strengths Customers / Consumers
5. Wasted capacity of employees
One of the biggest wastes in most companies is the lack or underuse of the capabilities (knowledge, skills, experiences) of employees and workers. Fundamentally it is due to the application of the Taylor criteria that managers think and employees only execute. Criterion that prevents using the experiences and knowledge of those who day by day carry out their tasks in the battle line of operations. It must be recognized that the employee is not only able to use his hands, but also his brain. To prevent this is to waste enormous growth potential for the organization and its individuals.
Another very typical attitude of the companies is to hire external without giving the possibility to those who working in it, and possess knowledge and experiences to execute them. This causes the lack of motivation of employees to train, and the decrease in their support for the organization.
The excessive division of labor tends not only to limit the capacities of individuals, but also cause their physical and mental exhaustion.
These are all causes of low levels of performance and high employee turnover, or employees with a loss of interest in the future of the company. From studies carried out by various US consultancies, it has been observed on average that companies with lower staff turnover rates have higher levels of profitability.
How to overcome it? In the first place, the participation of employees through work teams and suggestion systems allow them greater self-evaluation and personal growth, achieving greater participation and with it a greater commitment to the destinies of the company.
On the part of the organization it is essential to have a database that serves as an inventory of all the experiences (both inside and outside the company), knowledge, training courses and skills of the different employees. This will allow you to make optimal use of your human resources.
Human resources are essential for the existence of the company. It depends on how it treats its employees, they will treat their clients. This is a point to consider in the framework of what is considered the full satisfaction of consumers. On the other hand, to carry out any type of changes, it is essential to overcome the resistance to it of the employees; This will only be achieved by making these real participants of such operational changes, and actively and sincerely listening to their suggestions, alerts and complaints.
The staff is an inexhaustible source of suggestions and this was clearly demonstrated in the processes implemented by both Japanese and American companies.
Whatever the characteristics of the production processes, whether they have more or less automation or robotics, employees count both in the improvement of processes, as in the designs of products and services, as well as in maintenance processes, in the customer service and marketing processes. Leaving employees and workers aside is an invitation to disaster.
6. Lack of focus and positioning
The lack of focus leads the company to waste its resources, incurring low returns and even losses. The approach involves concentrating energy and business capabilities in those activities or businesses in which the company has competitive advantages or generates the highest profits or profitability levels.
There are frequently cases in which the activities that generate the greatest benefits do not coincide with those that have the highest profitability. It will be necessary to analyze if the resources are concentrated in the most profitable activities, or if they are not feasible to expand to concentrate a greater effort in making the activities that generate higher levels of profit more profitable.
Allocating resources to endless activities leads to less controls, less efficient allocation of resources, and losing position in the minds of consumers.
You can manufacture the best product, with the best process, with optimum levels in terms of quality, costs and distribution, but if you lack a good focus and positioning, everything will come down. Perhaps it serves as an example when Xerox was dedicated to the production of computers (PCs). Xerox was and is positioned in the minds of consumers as synonymous with photocopiers, which is why it did not generate public confidence in the acquisition of PCs. Therefore, enormous resources were wasted in generating a project that was totally truncated.
It is also necessary to underline the importance of positioning. Unclear concept for many entrepreneurs and that leads them to commit huge mistakes. The positioning has to do as it was said before with the position that a product or concept has in the minds of consumers. In this, the name given to them is extremely important. Thus, for example, an edible product such as yerba mate, produced with quality raw materials and good procedures, led to a lack of sales, excess inventories, and loss of image for the company, simply by giving the product its name " Red earth". The question that must be asked is: which consumer would think of bringing dirt to their digestive system?
7. Time
Resource not accounted for and therefore not taken into account when displaying results. Resource that cannot be reserved, but is consumed whether or not we make a useful use of it. Wasting time is something very serious, only when a long period of time has passed they usually realize the way it has elapsed without having generated any result. Wasting the time of clients, users, employees, investors and the managers themselves is something serious, which ends with the loss of confidence of many of these.
The time should be focused both in terms of waiting, preparation, queuing, process, and downtime, but also delivery, improvement, service and response times, production of new designs and generation of results. positive for stakeholders in the company's processes and activities.
It is necessary to both budget and inventory the use of this resource in order to make a more productive and effective use of it. Objectives must be set with clear dates of execution and realization. It is necessary to make as many improvements as possible in both products and processes in the least amount of time possible.
The company whose managers and processes lose in making optimal use of this resource are without a doubt losing their competitiveness career.
8. Information
In this case, the problem may be due to both its absence and its misuse. The lack of information in time and form generates the inability to take advantage of opportunities, correct defects, face adversities and improve production processes and satisfaction. In many cases, although the processes exist, they are inefficient and ineffective, consuming huge resources supplying unreliable and inappropriate information.
9. Waste the opportunities of the environment
Whether due to lack of information, poor planning, managerial inability, or lack of material or human resources, a company may lose important opportunities generated in the external environment. It is the duty of managers to plan in advance the actions to be taken to take advantage of opportunities that may arise in certain economic - social - technological and political scenarios.
10. Wasting the company's strengths
Poor planning, the absence of permanent inventories of human resources, poor or poor cash management are among other reasons why the strengths of the company are not fully exploited to generate economic and positioning benefits.
11. Loss of customers and consumers
For not paying attention to their claims, not taking into account their suggestions, not providing a quality service, not properly studying their needs and wishes, many companies lose their most valuable asset "the customer" day by day.
All these strategic changes can be summed up in a great change constituted by the lack of planning. Confirming the famous phrase that expresses "not planning is planning for disaster."
Planning as continuous improvement requires discipline and responds to a culture that clearly sets goals of excellence. Few plan, and very few do it thoroughly, as a process that must be evaluated and improved day by day.
As mentioned before, it is the responsibility of managers to eliminate these wastes that cause so much damage to the company, and the way to do it is through excellence in planning processes. Continuous planning and full of life, as opposed to merely formal, periodic plans that accumulate dust in the offices.
More important than the plan itself, is the planning process as a methodology for diagnosis, analysis, evaluation, creativity, innovation and a proactive attitude, by managers and with full participation of the organization as a whole.
At the operational level, we will work with the Waste Prevention and Reduction Teams (EPRD), and with the suggestion systems to improve products, services and customer service.
For the elimination of waste, the EPRD will work in the Mute Detection Process (PDM) and the Mute Elimination Process (PEM), this will be the case when the operational personnel are in charge of detection, leaving technical personnel, support or staff carry out the elimination process through technical changes and simplification processes. This does not imply that both processes, the detection and subsequent elimination (Mute Detection and Elimination Process - PDEM) can occur in the same equipment.
12. Permanent Innovation Process
Innovating as a creative action to improve production processes, product designs, and administrative and commercial processes is a strategy that, carried out continuously and systematically, allows companies significant advantages over their competitors. In this regard it should be said that "nobody can claim to succeed in today's market if they use yesterday's processes."
A good example of this are the innovative strategies of companies such as 3M, Casio, Sony, Microsoft and Toyota, among others. These companies are characterized by constantly producing new process and product designs, destroying their own creations to generate new ones. In this way, they achieve high levels of market participation, accompanied by high levels of profitability.
These innovations are not the product of chance or simple personal developments, they are the product of a philosophy in which the attitude of allowing mistakes to be made is an invitation to creativity and innovation. It is also the result of organizations where the use of rational and logical-mathematical processes (left side of the brain) is encouraged and provoked, but also intuition and imagination (right side of the brain) are promoted as key elements for staff and organization development.
Furthermore, these processes will be more fruitful to the extent that teamwork is promoted. Although individual work is something valuable, collective intelligence and experience allows, through synergies, a greater speed for putting new products and services on the market.
13. Fundamental Survival Factors
Recognizing which are for a given company, in a type of industry, within a specific social, economic and political framework and environments, the factors on which its survival depends is extremely critical. Continuous improvement is one of the survival factors for a company in the medium and long term. Essential factor to be able to compete as already expressed in various passages of this work. Continuous improvement as a strategic value is reflected both in terms of unit costs and productivity levels through which it is called the Learning Curve. This curve is the result of the experience accumulated by the workers and the company for a given process, as well as that which arises from continuous improvements in production methods or processes.It is in this second aspect that kaizen takes special and transcendental relevance as a strategic method for programming and defining capacities and production processes.
14. Conclusions
It is clear that surpassing others and surviving in the fight for subsistence means for companies to improve day after day. Failing to improve for a moment means giving way to competitors. That is why kaizen is not only a process of continuous improvement, it is a fundamental strategic option to be able to participate in competition for the markets. Improve the way we serve customers, improve the way we use resources, improve not only designs but also the way we design products and services, improve response times and product quality levels and services is the watchword of the moment and the future.
Organizations are and will be evaluated for their ability to produce quality goods and services, at the lowest cost, with maximum speed of response and high levels of innovation.
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