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VSRD-IJBMR, Vol. 1 (3), 2011, 177-184

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Assistant Professor, MBA Department, Apeejay Institute of Technology, School of Management, G.Noida, Uttar Pradesh,
INDIA. *Correspondence : i_khan23@ymail.com
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KAIZEN : The Japanese Strategy for
Continuous Improvement
1
Imran Ahmad Khan*
ABSTRACT
Kaizen is one of the most commonly used words in J apan. It is in the newspapers, on the radio and TV. J apanese
society is bombarded daily with statements regarding the Kaizen of almost anything. In business, the concept of
Kaizen is so deeply ingrained in the minds of both managers and workers that they often do not even realize that
they are thinking Kaizen. It is the key to J apanese competitive success. Because of J apans success, the Kaizen
philosophy has been implemented in organizations around the world as a way to improve production values
while also improving employee morale and safety.
The key difference between how change is understood in J apan and how it is viewed in the West lies in the
Kaizen concept. This concept is so natural and obvious to many J apanese managers that they often do not even
realize that they possess it! This explains why companies are constantly changing in J apan.
The Kaizen concept is very weak in Western companies, where it is often rejected without knowing what it
really entails. This explains why American and European factories may go years without changing. Within the
Kaizen way of thinking, not a day should go by without some kind of improvement being made somewhere in
the company. After WWII most J apanese companies had to start from the ground up. Every day brought new
challenges to managers and workers alike, and rising to those challenges resulted in progress. Simply staying in
business required unending progress and this made Kaizen a way of life.
Keywords : Continuous Improvement, Suggestion System, Problem Solving, Team Process.
1. INTRODUCTION
What is Kaizen? Kaizen (Ky zen) is a J apanese term that means continuous improvement taken from words
'Kai', which means continuous and 'zen' which means improvement. Some translate 'Kai' to mean change and
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'zen' to mean good, or for the better. . The creator of the concept of kaizen, or continuous improvement, was the
late Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an American statistician who made many visits to J apan in the years following
World War II. Dr. Demings work was so widely regarded as the driving force behind the resurgence of the
J apanese economy during this time that one of J apans most coveted awards was later named the Deming Prize.
Ironically, American businesses showed little interest in Dr. Demings work until the late 1970s when J apanese
exports began to make a marked impact on the economy. To paraphrase Matthew 13:58 in the New International
Bible, a prophet is indeed without honor in his own country. Kaizen involves in making small improvements on
a continuous basis.
2. KAIZEN: 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 month or
once a year activity. It is continuous. J apanese companies, such as Toyota and Canon, a total of 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 while reducing waste. Suggestions are not limited to a specific area such as production
or marketing. Kaizen is based on making changes anywhere where improvements can be made. Western
philosophy may be summarized as, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." 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 of the components of J apanese businesses that have been seen as a part of their
success. Quality circles, automation, suggestion systems, just-in-time delivery, Kanban 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.
The results achieved by Kaizen are: Setup time reduction 7090%, Productivity improvement 2060%, Process
time reduction 4080%, Inventory reduction 3070%, Walking distance reduction 4090%. The results taken
from kaizen blitz projects conducted at the companies : Connecticut Spring and Stamping, Farmington, Conn.,
Critikon (a J ohnson and J ohnson Company), Southington., Hamilton Standard, Windsor Locks, Conn., J acobs
Manufacturing, Bloomfield, Conn., Meriden Manufacturing, Meriden, Conn., Plastic Design, Inc., Middletown,
Conn., Pratt & Whitney, West Hartford, East Hartford, and Farmington, Conn., United Tool & Die, West
Hartford, Conn., Wiremold, West Hartford, Conn. Etc.
There are several types of kaizen activities, ranging from those that focus on developing solutions to problems
on the factory floor, to implementing a predetermined plan for change, to streamlining the flow of paperwork.
The most familiar and common type, the factory kaizen, provides a good example of the technique. In a typical
Kaizen Blitz project, a cross-functional multilevel team of 6 to 12 members work intensely, 12 to 14 hours a
day, to rapidly develop, test, and refine solutions to problems and leave a new process in place in just a few
days. They dont plan, they dont propose, they do. This focus on doing is what sets kaizen apart from other
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improvement tools, but in order for it to work effectively; we need to recognize that it has other similarly unique
characteristics.
The kaizen process must begin with the process owner, the individual with real ownership and responsibility
who has the authority to change the process and be answerable for the consequences. He or she may be the
general manager, president, or in some cases plant manager, but always the person in charge. Kaizen cannot be
successful without strong support and direction from the top.
3. KAIZEN IS A TEAM PROCESS
A team of individuals is selected from a range of functional disciplines, with a core of members from the area
attacked, the real people who do the work. These are often the true experts who can, with real management
support, make change stick. The teams work involves the intense application of a few simple tools in a
straightforward, commonsense approach to bringing about real and profound change. The team is brought
together prior to, or at the beginning of, the project period and given basic education in the principles of lean
manufacturing and training by experienced experts in the kaizen tools required to do the work. The team then
spends three to five days defining and carrying out the actions necessary to change the process and bring about
the needed improvement. Several 12- to 16-hour days are spent developing, testing, and implementing their
ideas. Kaizen experts also facilitate during the project itself, working with teams and management to ensure
success.
4. KAIZEN PRINCIPLES
The kaizen process is based on several rules that may vary in detail from company to company. But the
underlying concepts are the same: Be open minded, Maintain a positive attitude, Reject excuses, seek solutions,
Ask Why? Why? Why? There are no stupid questions, Take action. Implement ideas immediately, dont seek
perfection, That is, do what can be done now, with the resources at hand, Use all of the teams knowledge. The
experts are frequently found on the factory floor, Disregard rank. All team members are equal and everyone has
something to contribute, Just do it!!
Kaizen fundamentally differs from traditional continuous improvement processes because it is almost entirely
action-based. Teams are charged with both developing and implementing their solutions; they create processes
or change existing processes, leaving a new process in place. Kaizen is very much a hands-on process. Team
participants not only plan, they clean equipment, sort tools, move machinery (within the bounds of safety),
assemble, build, and run the process. They get tired, they get frustrated, and they get dirty together. Rank is not
recognizedfactory managers and company officers work side by side with machine operators to find and
implement the best of their ideas. The teams job is to make change happen. To create and leave in place a new
way of doing things.
5. KAIZEN IS A LOW BUDGET PROCESS
As a tool for bringing about improvement in a rapid and targeted manner, a Kaizen Blitz is a low-cost process.
When teams are charged with demonstrating and implementing changes to live processes in three to five days,
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there is no time to spend money on new capital equipment, complex and expensive tooling, or elaborate systems
solutions. Setup time reduction projects are good examples. When asked to reduce changeover time for a
machine by 90 percent, say, from one hour to six minutes, the engineering solution may be a new machine,
programmable controller, or sophisticated (read complex) new tooling. A Kaizen Blitz team has at most five
days to complete its workthat means to demonstrate new methods and to start to make them the new standard
way of doing the work. Even if unlimited funds were available, the money couldnt be spent and the goods
received in the time allowed. The team must make do, for the most part, with what is already at hand and
concentrate on eliminating waste to achieve its goals. Most teams work with a very modest budget ($300 to
$400 is typical to support their projects), the kind of challenge that leads to the most creative solutions. The
kaizen technique itself teaches that eliminating waste and developing creative solutions using the equipment and
tools at hand are the preferred methods for achieving improvement goals.
6. CUTTING TO THE CORE OF VALUE
Many companies that have adopted kaizen improvement techniques as part of overall lean manufacturing or lean
enterprise initiatives report that their more effective application of the means already at hand has resulted in
significant reductions in their new capital equipment costs. Certainly, many opportunities exist for companies to
sample the process, but in reality, the biggest payoff comes to those willing to commit the resources required to
do it rightto choose, train, and follow up. Kaizen is not a process easily mastered. Although the principles can
be simply defined, learning their effective application through cross-functional kaizen teams requires study,
commitment and perseverance. Guidance by experienced practitioners, often on a prolonged basis, is cited time
after time as an underlying fundamental of success, and as with most business improvement processes, the
rewards are commensurate with the investment. Although the range of projects that a kaizen team might be
asked to carry out is large, the scope and focus must be narrowly defined, clearly bounded (for example,
improve a press or cell, not a stamping plant). In a factory environment, a team might be assigned to build a
manufacturing cell from individual functionally applied machines, another might attack changeover times on a
key bottleneck machine, yet another might create a pull system to regulate a part or all of a process. Results
must be unambiguously measuredparts per shift or man-hour, minutes per setup, setups per day, and so on.
From Pratt & Whitneys jet engines to Wiremolds wiring devices to J ohnson & J ohnsons medical products,
from metal stamping to turning to cost accounting systems to product distribution, kaizen has proven its worth
in cutting to the core of value in what we do and how we do it.
7. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research work is primarily based on secondary data published in various research journals, leading
newspapers, websites etc. It is descriptive in nature.
8. FOCUS AND COMMITMENT
One of the keys to kaizens success is the close focus that this method brings to the process. Management is
often unwilling or unable to authorize, or to give full authority, to those charged with bringing about a change.
Problems range from the possible impact on other parts of the operation to the real risks, the unforeseen impacts,
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of dramatically changing too large a part of the business. The larger the area affected, the larger the potential
risks. Intended actions become recommendations as the fruits of change are watered down in endless studies.
Risk avoidance outweighs the opportunity for gain. In kaizen, a more narrowly defined focus is established
along with clear, measurable improvement goals. The teams target might be a machine, a cell, perhaps a
department, but the scope is generally such that the risks of unforeseen consequences are minimized. An
authorization to do what needs to be done becomes feasible. Furthermore, because kaizen is a short-term
change process, typically spanning no more than several days (an AME Kaizen Blitz lasts three to four days),
whatever is changed can be changed back.
Management must be ready to make a real commitment to changenot only to acquiesce or agree to the need
for change but to lead the process. A kaizen team should be directed to do what needs to be done.If youre not
ready to see a new process in place by next Monday, not just proposed, but in place and functioning as the new
way of doing business, then dont startkaizen just isnt for you.
9. THE BENEFITS RESULTING FROM KAIZEN
Kaizen involves every employee in making change--in most cases small, incremental changes. It focuses on
identifying problems at their source, solving them at their source and changing standards to ensure the problem
stays solved. It's not unusual for Kaizen to result in 25 to 30 suggestions per employee, per year, and to have
over 90% of those implemented. For example, Toyota is well-known as one of the leaders in using Kaizen. In
1999 at one U.S. plant, 7,000 Toyota employees submitted over 75,000 suggestions, of which 99% were
implemented. These continual small improvements add up to major benefits. They result in improved
productivity, improved quality, better safety, faster delivery, lower costs, and greater customer satisfaction. On
top of these benefits to the company, employees working in Kaizen-based companies generally find work to be
easier and more enjoyableresulting in higher employee moral and job satisfaction, and lower turn-over. With
every employee looking for ways to make improvements, you can expect results such as:
Kaizen reduces waste in areas such as inventory, waiting times, transportation, worker motion, employee skills,
over production, excess quality and in processes.
Kaizen improves space utilization, product quality, use of capital, communications, production capacity and
employee retention.
Kaizen provides immediate results. Instead of focusing on large capital intensive improvements, Kaizen
focuses on creative investments that continually solve large numbers of small problems. Large capital projects
and major changes will still be needed, and Kaizen will also improve the capital projects process, but the real
power of Kaizen is in the on-going process of continually making small improvements that improve processes
and reduce waste.
Kaizen is based on the belief that the people doing a particular job will often know better than everyone else,
including their superiors, how that job can be improved; and that they should be given the responsibility for
making those improvements. The production area is by no means the only area within a company where kaizen
can be implemented. Every department within a company can make continuous improvements in its operations
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by making small changes on a daily basis. The first step in the process is to break down all communication
barriers between the various units within the company. The master budget is one such tool that can be used to
improve coordination and communication between all of the departments or other subunits within a company.
10. KAIZEN TRAINING
In order to implement Kaizen, a team needs to be set up to look at a workplace. The employees within the
Kaizen team need to be trained in Kaizen logic. The underlying of Kaizen is that it makes employees become
aware that by using their skills to improve a process, results in the business becoming more successful, which
lends itself to meaning more job security for the employee. Kaizen requires bringing employees together to look
at their jobs, sections, and processes, to realize changes that will help performance. Whereas lean manufacturing
looked at production issues, Kaizen can be applied to any business. J apanese production systems are inherently
based on the logic that the employer will always look after the employee, they can be applied to Western
companies, but we have to bear in mind the social differences between the cultures and not look merely at short
term gains. Kaizen can be a good medium for improving employee-employer relationships.
Due to western cultural differences between J apan and the West, it is advisable to have a team leader within
your Kaizen teams. This is to ensure the team behaves the way you want it to. Why? Well if you take a group of
closely working together individuals and tell them to stop working and look at their environment, they will need
someone to coax and guide them to bring about change, or else the team ethic will disintegrate.
The team leader will during all the Kaizen sessions be an equal member of the team, whilst at the same time; the
team leader will provide back-up support to the team. The team leader will be the individual who ensures
employees pursue the Kaizen ethics by having regular visits with the Kaizen team. Ideally the team leader
should come from within the employee teams, but it could be advisable to have a number of employees from
different departments of the company trained up in Kaizen logic and then placed in completely different
environments to lead teams. The responsibility of the success or failure should be placed on each Kaizen team,
please bear in mind Kaizen is a long term strategy, which means employees will on regular intervals not be
working in a value added manner, but the work they are doing is for improving productivity in the long run. The
need for employees spending a lot of time in the Kaizen teams needs to be explained to their immediate
superiors, the business has to accept that Kaizen is for its benefit.
11. CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT
In any business, management creates standards that employees must follow to perform the job. In J apan,
maintaining and improving standards is the main goal of management. If you improve standards, it means you
then establish higher standards which you observe, maintain and then later try to improve upon. This is an
unending process. If you do not maintain the standard, it is bound to slip back, giving it the two steps forward,
one step back effect. Lasting improvement is achieved only when people work to higher standards. For this
reason, maintenance and improvement go hand in-hand for J apanese managers. Generally speaking, the higher
up the manager is, the more he should be concerned with improvement. At the bottom level, an unskilled laborer
may spend the day simply following instructions. However as he becomes better at his job, he begins to think
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about ways to improve, or make his job easier. In doing this, he finds ways to make his work more efficient,
thus adding to overall improvement within the company. The value of improvement is obvious. In business,
whenever improvements are made, they are eventually going to lead to better quality and productivity.
Improvement is a process, the process starts with recognizing a need, and the need becomes apparent when you
recognize a problem. Kaizen puts an emphasis on problem-awareness and will lead you to the identification of
problems.
12. PROBLEM SOLVING
Where there are no problems, there is no potential for improvement. When you recognize that a problem exists,
Kaizen is already working. The real issue is that the people who create the problem are often not directly
inconvenienced by it, and thus tend to not be sensitive to the problem. In day-to-day management situations, the
first instinct is to hide or ignore the problem rather than to correct it. This happens because a problem is well, a
problem! By nature, nobody wants to be accused of having created a problem. However if you think positive,
you can turn each problem into a valuable opportunity for improvement. So, according to Kaizen philosophy,
when you identify a problem, you must solve that problem. Once you solve a problem, you, in essence, surpass
a previously set standard. This results in the need to set a new, higher standard and is the basis for the Kaizen
concept.
13. STANDARDIZATION
If you dont first set a standard, you can never improve upon that standard. There must be a precise standard of
measurement for every worker, every machine, every process and even every manager. To follow the Kaizen
strategy means to make constant efforts to improve upon a standard. For Kaizen, standards exist only to be
surpassed by better standards. Kaizen is really based on constant upgrading and revision. Not everything in a
process or work environment needs to be measurableand standardized. Sometimes, J apanese factories use one-
point standardization. Each worker performs many tasks, but only one of thosetasks needs to be standardized.
This one-point standard is often displayed in the workplace so that the worker is always mindful of it. After the
standard is followed for a while, it becomes second nature to perform the task to meet the standard. At that
point, another standard can be added. Standardization is a way of spreading the benefits of improvement
throughout the organization. In a disciplined environment, everyone, including management is mindful of those
standards.
14. THE SUGGESTION SYSTEM
Kaizen covers every part of a business. From the tasks of laborers to the maintenance of machinery and
facilities, Kaizen has a role to play. All improvements will eventually have a positive effect on systems and
procedures. Many top J apanese executives believe that Kaizen is 50 percent of management's job, and really,
Kaizen is everybodys job! It is important for management to understand the workers role in Kaizen, and to
support it completely. One of the main vehicles for involving all employees in Kaizen is through the use of the
suggestion system. The suggestion system does not always provide immediate economic payback, but is looked
at as more of a morale booster. Morale can be improved through Kaizen activities because it gets everyone
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involved in solving problems. In many J apanese companies, the number of suggestions made by each worker is
looked at as a reflection of the supervisors Kaizen efforts. It is a goal of managers and supervisors to come up
with ways to help generate more suggestions by the workers. Management is willing to give recognition to
employees for making efforts to improve, and they try to make this recognition visible. Often, the number of
suggestions is posted individually on the wall of the workplace in order to encourage competition among
workers and among groups. A typical J apanese plant has a space reserved in the corner of each workshop for
publicizing activities going on in the workplace. Some of the space might be reserved for signs indicating the
number of suggestions made by workers or groups, or even post the actual suggestion. Another example would
be to display a tool that has been improved as a result of a workers suggestion. By displaying these sorts of
improvements, workers in other work areas can adopt the same improvement ideas
15. CONCLUSION
Improvement is the goal and responsibility of every worker, from the CEO to the manual workers, in every
activity, everyday, all the time. Through the small but continual efforts of everyone, significant reductions in
costs can be attained overtime. For a business to realize the true benefits of Kaizen it should form a long-term
strategy, which accepts that by involving employees in making their processes better, we all benefit. Getting
employees to believe that they are the real experts from which we can achieve a change for the better. Short-
term Kaizen does not work. It can be stated that new quality policies such as Six Sigma, are an extension of
Kaizen. If your business is serious about implementing Kaizen into the workplace, then it has to a long-term
strategy.
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