a topic about a Japaneses philosophy,.. prepared by me months ago, i remembered it & wanted to share with others
23 Jul 2006
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23 Jul 2006
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What is Kaizen?
A system of continuous improvement in quality, technology, processes, company culture, productivity, safety and leadership.
Kaizen was created in Japan following World War II. The word Kaizen means "continuous improvement"
Kaizen is a system that involves every employee - from upper management to the cleaning crew. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a year, or monthly activity. It is continuous. At Japanese companies, such as Toyota and Canon, 60 to 70 suggestions per employee, per year are written down, shared and implemented.
In most cases these are not ideas for major changes. Kaizen is based on making little changes on a regular basis--always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness, and reducing waste.
Suggestions are not limited to a specific area such as production or marketing. Kaizen is based on making changes anywhere that improvements can be made. The Kaizen philosophy is to
"do it better, make it better, improve it even if it ain't broke, because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do."
Western philosophy can be summarized as, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
The Kaizen philosophy is that everything, even it it ain't broke, can be improved.
Kaizen includes both home life as well as business improvements. Kaizen even includes social activities. It is a concept that is applied in every aspect of a person's life.
In business Kaizen encompasses many of the components of Japanese businesses that have been seen as a part of their success. Quality circles, automation, suggestion system s& just-in-time delivery and 5S ***are all included within the Kaizen system of running a business.
Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually improving those standards. To support the higher standards Kaizen also involves providing the training, materials and supervision that is needed for employees to achieve the higher standards and maintain their ability to meet those standards on an on-going basis.
***5S:(sort,....systematize,....sweep,....standardize,...self-discipline)
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Briefly:
They encourage evb, whatever his position is, to think & create solutions & ideas. Regardless of how tiny these ideas r,....they r evaluated & applied to achieve continuious improvement.
WELCOME TO JAPAN....!! 
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4 comments:
(Y),
nice brief explanation for Kaizen philosophy in improving life style.
nice nice subject
but the hard part is always the application of knowledge.. if u get to this level u can congratulate urslef :)
mOeness
yeah the theory remains a theory till it's applied,...& since they applied it in real life,..so it's valid....!!
after all i wanted to share other's cultures & philosophy...!
regards
Yeah Omas I remember that I learned about KAIZEN before while studying business; but as an application or one of the applications that the production department can make use of, & the explanation was very brief, I never thought it is a philosophy! Really thank you for the detailed explanation.
That's what I remember about Kaizen;
As an application Kaizen can be practiced by high efficiency or in other words, reduction of waste; (waste of time or stocks). Reduction in time waste can even be reduction in waste of workers' time walking between locations! Stocks should be fitting with the demand & not more than it. Also reduction in "work-in-progress", that is, less time taken to finish the production process of the goods.
Ah another thing, sometimes discussion of production problems can be held more efficiently if between workers, as they're best ones who can define these problems.
Just-In-Time (JIT) is also about high efficiency (reduced work-in-progress, no extra stocks), this needs very reliable suppliers as they should be extremely punctual, as well as the transport system of stocks to outlets, it should be highly efficient & do everything on time.
I can recall something like "Cell production" too, but really I don't remember what it is, can be researched anyway.
That's all I know so far………thanx a lot for the topic!
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