The word Kaizen comes from the union of two Japanese words:
kai which means change and
Zen what do you mean to improve
Kaizen: change for the better.
All managers seek that their companies continuously improve their products, the provision of their services or their processes, this is a common denominator that concerns all the people who run companies, continuous improvement brings as consequences lower costs, greater ability to comply in delivery times, higher quality of service, higher sales… But why is it a reality that is materialized in very few companies and why the vast majority of them cannot achieve real continuous improvement. The answer is in kaizen.
Despite being a recent term, many articles and several books have been written about kaizen, seminars and courses have been developed in which how to apply kaizen in the company is taught, but even so, its real implementation has been very little developed. Although it is said that kaizen is a wing of total quality control and that it comes from the teachings of two greats, Deming and Juran, kaizen has been understood, in most cases as a problem-solving tool and not as a culture that focuses on people and seeks the standardization of processes, therein lies the problem.
What is kaizen?
Kaizen is not a waste elimination or cost reduction program, understanding it this way limits its true scope and prevents it from being implemented to its true potential.
Masaaki Imai, creator of the concept, raises kaizen as the conjunction of two Japanese terms, kai, change and, zen, to improve, then it can be said that Kaizen is «change to improve», but making the concept more extensive, Kaizen implies a culture of constant change to evolve towards best practices, is what is commonly known as «continuous improvement».
Pillars of kaizen
*Work teams
*Industrial engineering
Continuous improvement is a philosophy that transcends all aspects of life, not only the business level, since in itself, men have a need to evolve towards self-improvement. This philosophical basis makes continuous improvement a "culture to be better" that goes beyond the economic and in this sense it is almost an ethical question that is intermingled with the veteran theories of Maslow.
In addition, Kaizen, contrary to other "business philosophies", is not about making big changes, rather it focuses on making small but continuous improvements in all activities, it is a matter of step by step and not of big rolls.
Implementing continuous improvement
Although it is said that continuous improvement is not a matter of office, but begins in the gemba (where the action takes place), it must be involved from the beginning to senior management in its application, it must implement the kaizen concept as a strategy corporate and from there a strategic planning is carried out that begins with the classic SWOT or SWOT analysis, through which the company's direction is clearly identified.
After being clear about "where" the company wants to go, it does begin to work in the gemba areas through the "5 s", the seven statistical tools for problem solving and teamwork; The objective is to increase productivity by controlling manufacturing processes, reducing cycle times, standardizing quality criteria, and using work methods per operation.
"A habit of Continuous Improvement is required at the level of the entire organization and a commitment to achieve Total Quality at the level of the entire institution or company"
The application of kaizen basically consists of four steps that make up a structured process, namely:
- Mission Verification: Strategic Planning Root Cause Diagnosis: Problem Identification and Diagnosis Root Cause Solving Results Maintenance
Once these four steps have been fulfilled and customer satisfaction has been improved, we must proceed to seek new objectives that allow the process to restart, doing this in a fluid and continuous way in each gemba. Each time the process is completed, that is, when the results maintenance step is reached, it is appropriate that the team involved in the improvement be rewarded, said reward must be proportional to the achievement achieved.
The constant search for new objectives in the work teams, generally brings beneficial consequences in terms of innovation and logically in quality.
For kaizen to have positive results, employees must be given participation, that is, you have to look at the company in reverse, placing grassroots people in the first places since they are the ones who generally know what and how it can be improved This implies that management and employees must bet on a change in mentality, in which the former will learn to let go of the reins and the latter to face greater responsibilities. This new mindset empowers workers and enables managers to work as catalysts in decision-making.
Kaizen culture
It is a way of life, a culture in which all those who work in the company have their eyes, their minds and their ears wide open to be able to recognize opportunities for improvement and capitalize on them in concrete actions that are reflected in better processes and products.
Continuous improvement allows us to identify problems and work towards their resolution, for this reason it generates well-being, not only in the company but in personal life since not recognizing one's own failures is the first step to stop growth.
Bibliography
1. Excerpt from "Japanese Manufacturing Techniques" by Richard J. Schonberger quoted by Héctor Torres in: "Continuous improvement and total world-class quality: necessary management styles in various companies / institutions"
2. Rubén Beltrán, «Continuous improvement: a long-awaited and elusive business quality».
Masaaki Imai, "How to implement kaizen in the workplace". McGrawHill, 1998
Jesús Villegas, «change and continuous improvement». Ed. Diana, 1999
Harrington, "Continuous Improvement Management" McGraw Hill, 1997
