Kaizen and the philosophy of continuous improvement

Philosophy of Continuous Improvement and something else… About 20 years ago, people began to speak more frequently about the term continuous improvement, many companies today have tried to make this principle valid, which has an impact on the evident improvement of the image of many of them, of its processes, products and the treatment of personnel. The term takes hold with the appearance of the book KAIZEN, The Key to Japanese Competitive Advantage by Masaaki Imai and is included in all articles related to total quality.

Before we must remember that Japanese competitiveness was obtained thanks to the contributions of Doctors Juran and Deming, the latter being the one who raised it in his famous 14 Principles of Management. Today we see that even the latest version of ISO 9000: 2000 incorporates it as one of its principles when it timidly proposes "The continuous improvement of the overall performance of the organization should be a permanent objective of it." The new Lean Manufacturing technique is considered one of its pillars, although we understand Lean Manufacturing closely related to the Just-in-Time philosophy in its correct dimension, which is a new management tool for continuous improvement.

1. Introduction

It is interesting how even after the latest fashions such as Lean Manufacturing, Total Quality, Reengineering, Empowerment, Benchmarking, Accountability, ISO 9000 etc., there are professionals eager to know more about KAIZEN, when so much is said that it is an obsolete philosophy that has been surpassed for the new concepts. This implies a great challenge for those of us who have somehow been forced to study it more deeply. In any case, in Japan the KAIZEN continues to be practiced, which, as we will see later, is almost a religion, difficult to be banished from its way of life and much less overcome by current administrative currents.

The KAIZEN is not new, rather in its origins, perhaps it is the oldest of modern administrative philosophies. It is considered that the KAIZEN was born from the ZEN religion that was true in Asian countries long before Christianity itself. The KAIZEN is a compound word made up of two others: the ZEN that means "for the better", a rebirth, an awakening, improve and the KAI that means change, permanence, continuity, incessant. If we put these two words together to form KAIZEN, we will have "Change for the better" which has often been defined as continuous improvement. By taking the ZEN as a base, it implies that it is not just a way of working, but rather a way of living, a religion that, when understood by Eastern cultures, facilitates the correct implementation.

The Japanese KAIZEN has been identified with Total Quality, but rather the KAIZEN is the umbrella that covers most of the Japanese practices including Total Quality, Just in Time and Quality Circles, etc. As Masaaki Imai author of the book KAIZEN, The Key to Japanese Competitive Advantage, writes:

The essence of KAIZEN is simple and direct: KAIZEN means improvement, however it also means involvement including workers and managers. A way of life is assumed at work, socially, at home. If you want to understand KAIZEN, you must first know ZEN.

2. Concepts

Some concepts of ZEN are necessary to understand KAIZEN.

- A philosopher asks Buddha: I have heard of ZEN as a doctrine of enlightenment. What is the method?.. Or in other words what do you do every day?

- Buddha. We walk, eat, wash, sit, etc.

- Philosopher. And what is special about those acts? They all walk, eat, wash, sit…

- Buddha. But my friend, there is a big difference. When we walk, we are aware of the fact that we walk, when we eat we are aware that we eat and so on… When others walk, eat, wash, sit, they do not realize what they do.

If you work without being aware of the work you do, it is like not working (you have to enlighten your existence). Consciousness is a discipline that helps man to fulfill himself (produce the power of concentration and develop his vision), because the ultimate goal of ZEN is the vision of reality, acquired by the power of concentration. Seeing in its own nature is the end of ZEN and its essence is awakening. So there is no talk of ZEN, it is experienced. In Zen it is said, “The teacher (consultant) does not transmit his awakening to the disciple; nor does he create the awakening that was already latent in him ”. This requires practicing the Six ZEN principles for community life (Teamwork?):

1. Living together under the same conditions (Equal rights) Observing the same rules (equal obligations) Speaking the word to avoid disputes (Respect) Sharing goods (similar rewards) Sharing different points of view (involvement) Creating harmony of opinions to maintain the joy of living in the community.

Some of these principles engendered in the ZEN philosophy are taken up in Total Quality, but they are not put into practice with the same force. The Japanese KAIZEN is a process orientation, contrary to the western form of results-oriented innovation. THE KAIZEN, begins with the recognition that every company has problems, and the way to solve problems is by establishing a corporate culture in which each one can amicably admit those problems.

Change should be a way of life, natural and obvious primarily to senior management, but it also affects middle management and supervisors. The Japanese Concept focuses the improvement process on management (From Senior Management to Supervisor) since the worker acts within the system designed by management and his main activity is to maintain it. It also includes the innovation that by definition could be considered as what is now known as "Reengineering", and which has been the "boom" in recent years (prior to 1998, date of the article).

One of the main promoters of KAIZEN, Masaaki Imai since 1986 defines the innovation process with many of the characteristics that today are attributed to Reengineering, only that as we can see in the following graph, he holds the middle and upper management responsible for the process of that process known as innovation.

3. Conceptual and philosophical innovations

At KAIZEN the starting point for improvement is to recognize the need to improve, because if the problem is not recognized there is no need to improve. This is a great difference with what has been done through so much new philosophy, technique or concept. You read a few books, attend a few seminars, and start the implementation process, which usually turns into a struggle between different areas and levels. In most cases it is not accepted that there is a problem, others must change, there is no true recognition that there really are problems, and this lack of acceptance is what then undermines all the effort that is made. Complacency is the enemy of KAIZEN. The emphasis should be on identifying the problem. "Once the problem is identified, it must be solved"

4. The KAIZEN and Total Quality

The name Total Quality (TC) does not originate in Japan, it is the name of an article written by Armando Feingembaum and published there in 1962 under the title of Total Quality Control (CTC) and it is later Kaouru Ishikawa who corrects the error changing to Total Quality Control (CCT-CWQC). Unfortunately it took a long time to understand what “Total Quality” is.

The first rejection that Total Quality Control had was the word "control" that related it only to inspection aspects in production processes, from which management was quite far removed. In 1982 at the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Frank Carlucci, took up the concept under the name of Total Quality Leadership (TQL, Leadership for Total Quality), which was also used by companies such as Rohm & Haas, the difference arises in that it was not a question of Control but of Leadership, a matter of leaders but its diffusion did not go beyond the US government.

Subsequently, the concept is retaken, emphasizing that Total Quality is not a way of working (putting the entire burden of improvement on the operational staff, using the famous Quality Circles), but a way of managing (TQM, Total Quality Management) where the responsibility is solely of the management. Today theorists and new gurus speak of TQV (Total Quality by Vision, Total Quality by Vision), probably other new forms will appear (ISO 9000 in the 2000 version adopts the “Quality Management”, translating the “management” by Management and adding to it the word System and today it is known as the Quality Management System.

In Japan, the process is still called KAIZEN and they have not created a new fad. The same as what happened with Total Quality, it happened with Just in Time (JAT), in the West only the results were valued (inventory reduction) and that is why it was wrongly said: JAT, is a process of inventory reduction, which was the first error in its application, the JAT is a “stress” technique to solve the problems that appear by reducing inventories. But it was said that in our countries it was not applicable because there are too many problems (customs, transport, ignorance of the client, etc.). Coincidentally, the JAT is for countries and companies that have many problems. If they don't have problems, they don't occupy the JAT. Today again the concept has been taken up under a new name "Lean Manufacturing", a JAT,in its correct dimension.

5. The KAIZEN and the Quality Control Circles

At the beginning of the introduction of Total Quality in the West, it was associated with the Quality Control Circles (or Quality Circles), a small group of workers who voluntarily carry out quality control activities in their area. A number of circles arose, some with greater success than others, but credibility was lost because the Management expected great results (without getting involved) and the worker distrusted these new ways of working. The CCC are only a part of the Total Quality and not the fundamental piece as it was considered in the West.

Total Quality in Japan is a movement focused on improving managerial performance at all levels and quality is anything that can be improved. It is associated not only with products and services, but also with personnel, processes, machines and procedures. It includes all aspects of human development. Suggestion programs were developed with very good success at the beginning but they were declining as the rewards remained in the field of the symbolic or the improvements remained in suggestions that were never implemented.

Today, luckily, many companies have begun to adequately reward the contribution of their workers to solving many problems, and they also reward applications more than simply sending a suggestion to be evaluated by a committee of "experts" who knows little about the processes.

6. The KAIZEN and the Competition

Under the KAIZEN, the competition is first against oneself, improving my own “record” both in quality and in opportunity and cost and for this the performance evaluation process carries a strong orientation towards the process and not towards results, probably as a reminiscence of mass production. The phrase, "do not be afraid of competition, be afraid of incompetence" is valid today, and we add, to improve processes, products and services according to the changing needs of customers. When the evaluation is applied, the teachings of one of the most famous sports in Japan are followed, the SUMO where the champion is evaluated both in his performance and in the techniques used and the fighting spirit.

7. The KAIZEN and innovation:

The concept of innovation under the KAIZEN philosophy is very similar to the contrast that exists between Total Quality and Reengineering, even in the graphic way of showing the difference:

The KAIZEN does not require large investments to be implemented, rather it needs a permanent effort and a strong managerial commitment. In the table on the next page you can see how KAIZEN and innovation show similarity to the comparison that has recently been made between Total Quality and Reengineering:

KAIZEN features and innovation:

		KAIZEN	INNOVATION
one	Effect	Long term, permanent	Short term but dramatic
two	Speed	Small steps	Big steps
3	Weather	Continuous and incremental	Non-incremental flashing
4	Change	Gradual and constant	Abrupt and volatile
5	Involvement	All the world	Select group «champions»
6	Close up	Collectivism, group effort, systemic approach	Individualism. Individual ideas and efforts
7	Shape	Improve and maintain	Discard and rebuild
8	Condition	Conventional knowledge and state of the art	Technological breakdown, new inventions, new theories
9	Requirements	Little investment but great efforts to maintain it	Large investments but little effort to maintain
10	Evaluation criteria	Process and efforts for better results	Profit results
eleven	Concentration of efforts	In the people	In the technology
12	Advantage	Works well in slow growing economies	Fits best in fast growing economies

The KAIZEN and measurement:

Productivity is a measurement, not a reality, and under KAIZEN, productivity begins with the design of the product or service. Measurement is a way of approaching reality, without falling into the abstract concept of numbers. It is the element that allows us to discern where to investigate and what to investigate, but the numbers are not reality.

8. Applications:

The KAIZEN is a permanent effort of cumulative effects since it is not only to maintain, on the contrary it is the permanent update of performance standards, but it requires the individual effort of all the people in the organization. It requires a different kind of leadership based on personal experience and conviction and not necessarily authority, rank, or age. The KAIZEN is clearly people-oriented and can be applied anywhere in the service chain. "It is extremely difficult to increase sales by 10%, but it is not difficult to reduce manufacturing costs by 10% to obtain the same effect"

9. Recommendations:

It is not possible to give different recommendations to those that have been given for other topics such as Total Quality, Reengineering, etc. It is still valid to consider the KAIZEN as something permanent, not temporary or temporary, the KAIZEN is lived. KAIZEN is for the management, for the organization as such, it is a way of doing and conducting companies, a way of treating people and facing problems. KAIZEN cannot be introduced by decree, nor can it be delegated to a facilitator or champion, nor to the representative of Management, nor is it born in middle management or at the operational level. It is a decision of the highest management of the company, which makes it a way to manage and leads by example each and every day.

Does a company need to implement KAIZEN? Is it necessary to try to introduce a new philosophy of Asian origin in our western companies, copying all those practices that have made them successful? A follower of KAIZEN would say YES, but be careful, it is not possible to be constantly changing the signals to our clients, simply because we attend a congress, read a book or receive recommendation from consultants. This is clearly to be avoided. Staff no longer believe in so much change, especially if they do not see changes in management, but they perceive modern whips that force them to give a greater effort without sharing the benefits.

So, what should Management do, where should it go? Returning to the origin of this talk, what Management requires is to go towards the best (ZEN), to give the change that the company needs (KAI), a change for the best (KAIZEN), it is more an awakening in what the company is (mission) and in what you want to be (vision), a recognition of your strengths and weaknesses based on the future condition that has been raised for your company.

No company needs the KAIZEN, but every company needs a change that makes them suitable to survive adequately in the new millennium, where only successful companies will have a place. This mission and this vision should allow them to set challenging goals that promote change according to the strategy they have set. The Balanced Scorecard (Balanced Scorecard) is a methodology of great help in that purpose. It is not necessary to apply a series of recipes, but it is necessary for every company to question the way of doing things, its processes, its products, its way of managing, the competencies of its staff, the way of evaluating and rewarding performance, what every company needs is to build its own KAIZEN, discover itself,recognize that you must change and from there apply all the modern tools and techniques that will help you facilitate the change you are looking for.

No company should seek a new philosophy, but rather search deep within itself for the strength that will make it different and valuable to its clients, take up the way of doing business with a new spirit and momentum and be willing to fight the battle that is required.

Conclusions:

We have talked about KAIZEN, from the point of view of ZEN, we have talked about the relationships with current ways of managing, call it Total Quality, Reengineering, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, ISO etc. and we have recommended that we should be careful to keep experimenting with new theories. KAIZEN as a unique way of looking at things can help companies discover themselves and not seek success outside. The strength is within each one of us, if we discover it and apply it with vehemence and perseverance, we will achieve success. The KAIZEN is not a way of working, it is a way of living. The final conclusion is simple, "know yourself," Seneca said, and I tell them, "know your company as yourself."