MODULE 4

KAIZEN: CONCEPTS AND SYSTEMS

Objectives
1. Define Kaizen as a philosophy
2. Describe the different concepts of Kaizen
3. Explain the systems under Kaizen
4. Apply the Philosophy of kaizen in everyday activities

Kaizen is a philosophy that calls for people and their organizations to experience
ongoing improvement at every level. Through focusing on small, incremental
change rather than dramatic innovation, Kaizen seeks to construct effective and
efficient processes and quality outputs.
Kaizen at the workplace means continuing improvement involving everyone,
managers and workers alike. The Kaizen business strategy involves everyone in
an organization working together to make improvements without large capital
investments.

KAIZEN CONCEPTS

Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning continuous improvement. It is made up

of two characters which are "kai", meaning "change" and "zen," which meaning
'good." It is used to describe a company culture where everyone, from the
CEO to the front desk clerk, regularly evaluates his work and thinks of ways to
improve it. The concept is that small steps on a customary basis will lead to large
improvements in due course. Kaizen entails relatively little expense.

Kaizen originated in Japan as a result of World War II. Ironically, it evolved

in part from American business leaders like Dr. W. Edwards Deming who came
to help restore the country. It was first introduced by a 1951 training film created the American Economic
and Scientific Section (ESS), although Dr. Deming
is largely credited for instituting the principles of Kaizen in Japan. Kaizen's
elimination of waste through the maintenance and improvement of processes
fundamental to Japanese management philosophy. It has since stretch
became around the world to companies and organizations wishing to follow the success of Japanese
business.

Toyota has been known as the initial company that has started Kaizen. The
application that Toyota used was called "Toyota Production System, where all
line personnel are expected to discontinue their moving production line in the
case or any irregularity, and suggestions for improvement are awarded reward
1ney succeeded eradicating all the wastes. Kaizen is used for placing the terms as
Productivity, total quality control (TQC), zero defects (ZD), and just-in-time (JIT).
Therefore, Kaizen is a main concept for all these practices.

A lot of people have misunderstood about Kaizen. People have the stereotype
that Kaizen can make dramatically changed immediately, and bring the profits
right away. However, this is not true. Improvements under kaizen are small
and incremental, but the kaizen will bring the huge results over time. Japanese
management and Western management are different from the concept of the
management. For Western management, they are inclined to focus on the worship
of innovations which is pretty much relying on the changes in the technological
breakthroughs. On the other hand, for the Japanese management, kaizen is not
usually remarkable incident. However innovation is one -shot improvement
and its consequences are often problematic. While the kaizen process, which is
based on common sense, low-cost approaches and low risk approach, guarantees
gradual progress that pays off overtime.

There are two types of kaizen which are Gemba (actual workplace) kaizen
and Teian (plan) kaizen. Gemba and teian kaizen both intend to develop higher
production and quality standards. Gemba kaizen is an action-oriented approach
and refers to improvement activities that are carried out in the actual workplace
like on the shop floor or on the manufacturing line. Gemba kaizen involves al
aspect of daily work that can be improved. The heart of gemba kaizen lies in small
changes that will transform the overall success of the company not automatically
right away but in the long run. Gemba kaizen methods are quality circles and
suggestion systems. In quality circles, a specialized team develops and designs
ideas concerning how to improve the company s performance. Suggestion system
encourage employees to submit suggestions tor improving work processes a
customer satisfaction. Teian kaizen, on the other hand, represents a theory
based approach and refers to strategic improvements that are prejudiced by
management. Here, the implementation of latest processes and practices play
most dominant role. The overall goals of teian kaizen are improved business and
manufacturing practices. The most prominent teian kaizen methods include to
quality control and Just-in-time management.

KAIZEN AND MANAGEMENT

It is also essential that management is trained and be behind the effort. Kaizen will result in many
more suggestions for improvements and changes and will take
away from a strict focus on moving items quickly through the existing production
process. Management must be prepared to recognize some time away from current
work to focus on changes with longer-range impact.
Management has two major components which are maintenance, and
improvement. The objective of the maintenance function is to maintain current
technological, managerial, and operating standards. The improvement function
is aimed at improving current standards. Under the maintenance function, the
management must first establish policies, rules, directives and standard operating
procedures (SOPs) and then work towards ensuring that everybody follows SOP.
The latter 1s achieved through a combination of discipline and human resource
development measures.

Under the improvement function, management works constantly towards

modifying the existing standards, once they have been mastered, and establishing
higher ones. Improvement can be broken down between innovation and Kaizen
Innovation involves a drastic improvement in the existing process and requires
large investments and big efforts. Kaizen signifies small improvements as a result
of coordinated continuous efforts by all employees.

Initiating and implementing TQM programs need great quantity of planning

and research. Managers are required to acquire training in various TQM practices
prior to implementing the same. There are costs involved with the whole process
of TQM. It is the manager’s responsibility to distribute budgets for TOM at the
beginning of every financial year.

A manager needs to work closely with the senior management, human resource
professionals to develop perfect implementation strategies. A manager has to act
as a bridge between the senior management and the entire workforce.
1. The role of a manager is to act as a facilitator at the workplace. It is the duty of a manager
to assist employees in implementing IQM. As a manager, it is also his responsibility to
choose and assign right individuals who can work as line managers and take charge of the
whole project. The employees to be selected must be reliable and diligent and capable as
much as necessary to handle a key project like TQM. It is the mana8er s responsibility to
allocate resources for TQM, schedule time tor different training programs and be grateful
for employees who come up with a variety of improvement ideas and strategies which
would aid the organization bring better quality products. Further train subordinates to
guarantee smooth implementation of TQM without any obstacles.

2. A manager must communicate the benefits of total quality management to all other
members of the organization. Call employees on a common platform and address the
benefits and the importance of TQM. Make them understand how successful
implementation of TQM programs would give to way to high quality products which
would benefit the organization and the employees as well.
A manager is always a strong source of inspiration for the employees. He needs to practice
TQM himself before expecting others to believe in the same principle. Customer feedbacks
should be cautiously screened and taken into consideration while creating company’s major
strategies. A manager must also provide frequent reports to staff members stressing scope of
improvement.

Process vs Results
Processed-oriented thinking mostly centers on how processes are carried out through the
assessment of performance indicators generated by measuring or observing the process flow.
Instead, process results/outcomes are obtained, monitored and evaluated systematically. For
 example, micro level performance indicators include lead time, cycle time, throughput time,
and defective part ratio. While macro level performance indicators consist of profits or
customer satisfaction which would be monitored in result-oriented thinking.
Kaizen focuses at improving the process rather than at achieving certain results. Such
managerial attitudes and process thinking formulate a major difference in the manner an
organization masters change and achieves improvements. This concepts of process-oriented
thinking indicates that there must be some problems in a process if the outcomes are not
encouraging to the firm.
Kaizen recognizes the connection between outcomes and processes. If the results from an
organization are of poor quality, the processes used to achieve those results necessitate
concentration. Tis understanding is a component of the framework of Japanese society, even
on the personal level, and explains why Kaizen is so successful there.

Figure 7 Kaizen Process

The manner in which processes are addressed is a key element of Kaizen. While in the West, innovation
or radical change is often sought, Kaizen hunts for constant incremental change, which generates
remarkable results eventually. Since the changes in Kaizen are small, errors can effortlessly be corrected
with no involvement of much risk or expenses. This is likely to make Kaizen processes less wasteful than
innovation, where error can have tremendous loss effects.
Table 2 The Features of Process and Results criteria

P (Process-Oriented) criteria R (Result-Oriented) criteria

Long term orientation.
Efforts for improvement are important.
It is cared how the processes work and how the
results are obtained.
Process-oriented indicators are followed.
Awards are determined on the basis of how
process flow.
Rewards are generally based on recognition and
honor geared to the effort made.
Discipline, time management, skill development,
participation and involvement, morale, and
Shor-term orientation.
Performance and results are important.
Degree of goal achievement is important
Result-oriented indicators are followed.
Award are determined on the basis of results of
the processes.
Rewards are generally related to financial
performance.
The results and reaching goals in designated time
frame are important.
 communication are important.
A supportive and collaborative role is seen among Control-centric behavior is more common among
managers in process-oriented management. result-oriented managers.

Quality gurus strongly note that a combination of process-oriented and result-oriented management
should be implemented throughout the entire operational system instead of focusing on just one
orientation (either process or result) as this heightened focus may not be enough to generate successful
continuous improvement strategy. Continuous improvement can be either a team management or top
management initiative. In order to be able to utilize these two management approaches appropriately, the
basic features of process-oriented or result-oriented management should be studied prior to getting on a
continuous improvement journey. The distinctive features of process-oriented and result-oriented criteria
are given in table 2 below.

PDCA/SDCA Cycles
Center to the philosophy of Kaizen are two cycles that involve processes for improvement and for
maintenance; Plan-Do-check-Act (PDCA) and Standardize-Do-Check-Act (SDCA). When improving
processes the following are the phase:
1. Planning Phase- Planning is the most vital phase of total quality management. In this phase employees
have to come up with their problems and queries which need to be addressed. They need to come up with
the various challenges they face in their day to day operations and also analyze the problem’s root cause.
Employees are required to do necessary research and collect relevant data which would help them find
solutions to all the problems.
2. Doing Phase- In the doing phase, employees develop a solution for the problems defined in planning
phase. Strategies are devised and implemented to overcome the challenges faced by employees. The
effectiveness of solutions and strategies is also measured in this stage.

Figure 8 Kaizen PDSA Cycle

3. Checking phase- Checking phase is the stage where people actually do a comparison analysis of before
and after data to confirm the effectiveness of the process and measure the results.
4. Acting Phase- in this phase employees document their results and prepare themselves to address other
problems.

Maintenance cycle, SDCA is invoked when failure occurs. Standardization seeks to stabilize
processes so they can be improved. Through understanding if a failure occurred because a poor or non-
existent standard or because an existing standard wasn’t followed, managers can implement specific
actions to correct it. Once a standard is put into place and put into practice, it can become the focus of the
PDCA cycle.
The SDCA cycle ensures that the improvements that have been done using Kaizen works well
and improvements do not slide back. SDCA prevents the deterioration and therefore it is extremely
important that both the SDCA and PDCA cycles are well established. Improvement without
standardization is stillborn to say the least.

The SDCA Cycle

Standard is the best, safest and easiest way, to achieve and maintain a defined quality level.
Standards should be:
1. Be simple, clear and conspicuous
2. Be the best, easiest, safest way- should only have one at a time
3. Preserve know-how
4. Be guide-lines that enable performance
5. Measurement of tasks delegated
6. Assure quality, cost, delivery and safety
7. Show relationship between cause and effect

With standards:
1. Management becomes possible
2. There is a basis for training
3. There is a basis for audit or diagnosis
4. Problems are prevented from recurring and control variability

Putting Quality First

 Kaizen also talks about improving performance in terms of three dimensions
which are quality, cost, and delivery (QCD). Quality is typically among the most
essential criteria customers use to make the purchase. Quality is usually customer
defined and referred to as the perceived characteristics and features of a product.
This includes the quality of processes that go into it.

Kaizen requires that quality 1s a primary goal. There could be so many goals
for the firms to achieve such as goals of quality, cost, and delivery. However, the
firm should always put quality first priority. Kaizen recognizes that without a
quality product, organizations will not be able to compete. If managers make some
changes on delivery to make it cheaper or cutting costs somehow, and it ends up
making the quality worse, they risk sacrificing not only quality but the life of the business as well.

Cost is generally looked at coming from the manufacturer s viewpoint, as the

overall cost of making and selling a product. An important factor, here, is the
elimination of waste in many aspects of work, such as production, inventory,
repair, rejects, motion, processing and so on.

Delivery refers to bringing the necessary quantity of products in the right place
at the right time. The company may offer better prices using reduced cost and
attractive delivery terms. However this does not guarantee competitiveness, it
the quality of goods and services falls short of consumer expectations. Some cost-
oriented managers do not resist the lure of cutting cost at the expense of quality
This could work well in the short-term, but would likely to endanger not only
profitability, but also reputation and market position of the product in the long
term

Speak with Data

Kaizen is a problem-solving process. Since Kaizen deals with addressing

problems or limitations, every situation must be correctly understood. Kaizen
has no room for "seat of the pants operations. In order to correct the problems
in a process, detecting the problems is the first thing to do. Sound data must De
8athered and evaluated for Kaizen to work for improvement. Without this data
the company will be like a flying blind. It will never be able to tell what is working
and what needs to be improved. Data is the lifeblood of kaizen.

The Next Process is Customer

The last concept of kaizen is that the next process is the customer. This means
workers think that next process is the customers. So, all workers in any process on no account pass on
flawed parts or imprecise pieces of information to those in next process particularly when the
organization has a strong commitment to consumer satisfaction. If all workers have to be cautious on
what they are doing, the customer get high-quality product and service as a result.

Kaizen promotes the concept or internal and external customers. Through

regarding every process in a series ds a customer of the preceding process, every
stage of production can be concentrated for a quality result. If each internal
customer is delivered high quality goods, the external customer will have a high
quality product to purchase.

Kaizen views the whole work in a specific organization as a series of interrelated

processes where each consists of a supplier and a customer. The supplier provides
the process with inputs such as materials and/or information. The supplier can
be another process within the organization or someone outside the organization.
Same goes to the customer; the customer is either someone in the organization
(internal customer) or the final customer out in the market (external Customer). The
Customer receives or deals with the output of the process. Having this in mind, all
individuals within an organization deal with customers either internal or external
ones. That is, the next process is always regarded as a customer. Through this,
Kaizen tries to set up a natural commitment to on-going process improvement
throughout the organization to ensure that external customers will always receive
high quality products.

KAIZEN SYSTEMS

Next, the systems of kaizen have to be understood. Kaizen encompasses many

e components of Japanese businesses that have been seen as a part or their
success. Total quality control/total quality management, just-in-time delivery
total productive maintenance, suggestion system, policy development, suggestion systems, and small-
group activities are all included within Kaizen system of
running a business.

TQM Control

Total quality control (TQC) and total quality management (TQM) are widely
used in manufacturing, education, government and service industry now. TQC
TQM have been developed as a strategy to help management in becoming more
competitive and profitable through helping it to improve in all phases of business.
TOM necessitates that the company uphold some quality standard in all phases of
its business. This needs ensuring that things are completed right the first time and
that defects and waste are removed from operations.

TQC is a management tool for improving total performance. TQ means

organized Kaizen activities involving everyone in a company. Managers and
workers alike should be part of a totally systemic and integrated effort toward
improving performance at every level. It is geared towards increased customer
satisfaction through satisfying such corporate cross-functional goals as quality,
cost, scheduling, manpower development, and new product development.

In Japan, TQC activities are not limited to quality control alone. Elaborate
system of Kaizen strategies has been developed as management tools within
the TQC approach. TQC in Kaizen is a movement intended at improvement or
managerial performance at all levels.

According to the Japan Industrial Standards, "implementing quality control

effectively necessitates the cooperation of all people in the company, including
top management, managers, supervisors, and workers in all areas of corporate
activities such as market research and development, product planning, design preparation for production,
purchasing, inspection, sales and after-sale services, as well as financial control personnel administration,
and training and education. Quality control carried out in this manner is called company-wide control or
total quality control (TQC).

Quality control in Japan deals with quality of people. It is the fundamental

concept of the Kaizen-style TQC. Building quality into its people brings a company
a half-way towards producing quality products.

JIT Production System

Many people have misconstrued Just-in-time (JIT) production. In one of most

frequent misunderstanam8s, a company expects its suppliers to deliver just-in-
time. However, JIT production has something to do with internal process. JIT is a
revolutionary way to trim down cost while at the same time meeting the customer's
delivery needs. For example, new stock will be ordered automatically when stock
reaches the re-order point level. So, this system ensures that the firm can maintain
the minimum required number of stock every day, which saves a lot of inventory
costs. Also the firm can meet the customer s delivery needs.

Elements of JIT
1. Make stable and level the Master Production Schedule (MPS) with uniform
plant loading create a uniform load on all work centers through regular daily
production and mixed model assembly.
2. Decrease or eliminate set up times. Aspire for single digit set up times less than
10 minutes or one touch setup. This is done through better planning, process,
redesign, and product redesign.
3. Trim down lot sizes. Decreasing set up times allows economic production of
smaller lots, close cooperation with suppliers which is necessary
reduction.
4. Shrink lead times. Production lead times can be reduced by moving work stations closer together,
applying group technology and cellular manufacturing concepts, reduce wait-in-line length and
improving the coordination and cooperation between successive processes. Delivery lead times
can be decreased through close cooperation with suppliers, perhaps by inducing suppliers to be
located very near to the factory.
5. Preventive maintenance. Use of machine and worker idle time to preserve equipment and avoid
breakdown.
6. Flexible work force. Workers should be trained to work on several machines, to carry out
maintenance tasks, and to do quality inspections.
7. Oblige supplier quality assurance and execute a zero defect quality program.
 Small lots (single unit) conveyance. Make use of a control system like Kanban system (or other
signaling system) to transport parts between work stations in
Smaller quantities. In its better sense, JIT with Material Requirements Planning
(MRI) System is used to transport the parts between workstations.

Reasons for a move from batch mode to Just-in-time (JIT)

1. Batch production system is the most inefficient way to make products.
2. Difficult to meet customer requirements, which come in varying orders, like varying volumes in
varying time frames and soon.
3. The batch .system derives from the agricultural mentality. The batch system, purchase material
and produce in huge batches and there are many processes. At every process, gather the batch and
at the end collect the finished product in a batch, which is stocked up in the warehouse.
4. This kind of production system is based on market projection, is good when there is demand.
5. End up with large inventory of unsold products and overload capacity, and then borrow money to
carry that inventory. By that time, got hold of too many people tor every process.

Total Productive Maintenance

In industry, total productive maintenance (TPM) is a system of maintaining and improving the
integrity of production and quality systems through the machines, equipment, processes, and employees
that add business value to an organization.
TPM focuses on maintaining all equipment in top working condition to avoid breakdowns and delays in
manufacturing processes.

The term total productive maintenance is attributed to Nippondenso, a company that created parts
for Toyota. However, Seiichi Nakajima is regarded as the father of TPM because of his numerous
contributions to TPM.

One of the main objectives of TPM is to increase the productivity plant and
equipment with a modest investment in maintenance. Total quality management (TQM) and total
productive maintenance (TPM) are considered as the key
operational activities of the quality management system. In order for TPM to be
effective, the full support of the total Workforce is required. This should result in
accomplishing the goal of TPM: “Enhance the volume of the production, employee
morale and job satisfaction.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a modern Japanese concept. The origin

of TPM can be traced back to 195l when preventive maintenance was initiated
in Japan. However the concept or preventive maintenance was taken from USA.
Nippondenso was the first company to begin plant wide preventive maintenance
in 1960. Preventive maintenance is the concept wherein, operators produced
goods using machines and the maintenance group was dedicated with work of
maintaining those machines. However with the automation of Nippondenso,
maintenance became a problem as more maintenance personnel were required.
So the management decided that the routine maintenance of equipment would
be carried out by the operators which are termed as autonomous maintenance, one
of the features of TPM. Maintenance group took up only essential maintenance
works.

Thus Nippondenso which already followed preventive maintenance also added

autonomous maintenance made by production operators. The maintenance crew
went in the equipment modification for improving reliability. The modifications
were made or incorporated in new equipment which leads to maintenance
prevention. Thus preventive maintenance along with maintenance prevention and
maintainability improvement gave origin to productive maintenance. 1he intention
of productive maintenance was to get the most out of plant and equipment
effectiveness to attain optimum life cycle cost of production equipment

By then Nippondenso had made quality circles, involving the employees

input. Thus all employees took part in implementing productive maintenance.
Based on these developments Nippondenso was awarded the distinguished
plant prize for developing and implementing TPM, by the Japanese Institute of
Plant Engineers (JIPE). Thus Nippondenso of the Toyota group became the first company to achieve the
TPM certification.

Another objective of TPM is to increase the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of plant
equipment. TPM also addresses the causes for accelerated
deterioration while creating the correct environment between operators and
equipment to create ownership.

OEE has three factors which are multiplied to give one measure called

OEE Performance x Availability x Quality = OEE

Each factor has two associated losses making 6 in total, these 6 losses are as
follows:
1. Performance-running at reduced speed and minor tops
2. Availability-breakdowns and product changeover
3. Quality startup rejects and running rejects
The objective finally is to identity then prioritize and eliminate the causes of
the losses. This is done by self-managing teams that problem solve. Employing
consultants to create this culture is common practice.

The eight pillars of TPM are mostly focused on proactive and preventative
techniques for improving equipment reliability:
1. Focused Improvement
2. Autonomous maintenance
3. Planned Maintenance
4. Quality Maintenance
5. Cost Deployment
6. Early Equipment Management
7. Training and Education
8. Safety Health Environment
 With the help of these pillars productivity can be increased.

Types of maintenance
1. Breakdown maintenance - It means that people waits until equipment tails and
repair it. Such a thing could be used when the equipment failure does not
significantly affect the operation or production or generate any significant loss
other than repair cost.

2. Preventive maintenance - It is a daily maintenance (cleaning, inspection, oiling

and re-tightening), design to retain the healthy condition of equipment and
prevent failure through the prevention of deterioration, periodic inspection or
equipment condition diagnosis, to measure deterioration. It is further divided
into periodic maintenance and predictive maintenance. Just like human life is
extended by preventive medicine, the equipment service life can be prolonged
by doing preventive maintenance.
a. Periodic maintenance (Time based maintenance TBM) - Time based
maintenance consists of periodically inspecting, servicing and cleaning
equipment and replacing parts to prevent sudden failure and process
problems
b. Predictive maintenance-This is a method in which the service life of important part is
predicted based on inspection or diagnosis, in order to use the parts to the limit of their
service life. Compared to periodic maintenance, predictive maintenance is condition
based maintenance. It manages trend values, by measuring and analyzing data about
deterioration and employs trend a surveillance system, designed to monitor conditions
through an online system.

3. Corrective maintenance- It improves equipment and its components so

that preventive maintenance can be carried out reliably. Equipment with design weakness must be
redesigned to improve reliability or improving maintainability.

4. Maintenance prevention- It indicates the design of new equipment. Weakness of

current machines are sufficiently studied (on site information leading to failure
prevention, easier maintenance and prevents of defects, safety and ease of
manufacturing) and are incorporated before commissioning a new equipment.

Policy Development

People follow policies, good or bad. The need, therefore, is for organizations
in developing countries to realize the importance of clear, well-defined policy
statement's on quality, reflecting management's commitment and orientation
and to propagate them through various modes, such as circulation of documents,
newsletters, training, meetings, pledge cards and personal contacts.

It needs to state the level of defects or errors that is acceptable. The policy
also needs to state the relationship between the company and the customer. The
policy should be direct and concise and should clearly define management's
commitment to quality. The policy on quality has to be a statement that will not be
misunderstood. It has to cover conformance to requirements, time and money.

Once the policy is written, management needs to determine how to explain

it to employees. The best method is for top executives to meet personally with groups of employees to
explain the policy. This also ensures that the commitment and interest of top management is properly
understood by all.

Suggestion Systems

On the other hand, suggestion system is regarded as individual-oriented

kaizen. Suggestion system encourages all workers to talk about their suggestions
orally with supervisors and put them into action right away, even before
submitting suggestion forms. However all the workers don't need to expect to get
economic benefits from each suggestion. The process to think and have the idea
of each worker is vital. This system is different from Western management which
emphasis on the economic benefits and financial incentives of suggestion system.

The suggestion system is an integral part of an established management

system that aims at involving employees in Kaizen. The number of worker’s suggestions is regarded as
important criteria in reviewing performance of the worker’s supervisor and the manager or the supervisor.
The Japanese management encourages employees to generated great number of suggestions and works
hard to consider and implement these suggestions, often incorporating them into the overall Kaizen
strategy. Management also gives due recognition to employee's efforts for improvement. An important
aspect of the suggestion system is that each suggestion, once implemented, leads to an upgraded standard.

Three Stages of the Suggestion System

A staff suggestion system is a formalized mechanism which encourages

employees to contribute constructive ideas for improving the organization in
which they work. The overall aim is to gather, analyze and implement ideas in
order to create results that have a positive impact on the business and/or deliver
new value to customers. The following are the three stages of implementing
suggestion system:
1. Encouragement. In the first stage, management should make every effort to help the workers
provide suggestions, no matter how primitive, for the the betterment of the worker's job and the
workshop. This will help the workers look at the way they are doing their jobs.

2. Education. In the second stage, management should stress employee education

so that employees can provide better suggestions. In order for the workers to
provide better suggestions, they should be equipped to analyze problems and
the environment. This requires education.

3. Efficiency. Only in the third stage, after the workers are both interested and
educated, should management be concerned with the economic impact of the suggestions.
Benefits of a Suggestion System
Implementing an effective Staff Suggestion System that generates a sustainable
flow of good quality ideas is not impossible. In Toyota, 700,000 ideas are generated
annually with a 99% implementation rate.

Here are the benefits of a suggestion system, namely:

1. Improves one's own work and the working environment

2. Engages and empowers employees
3. Creates ownership and trust
4. Improves motivation and morale
5. Improves customer satisfaction
6. Improves profitability

Many organizations have made the mistake of putting up suggestion boxes

and expect employees to participate and contribute good quality ideas to improve
the products, services and the Working environment without creating a supporting
infrastructure to manage the flow of suggestions.

More often than not, these suggestion boxes are either empty or become
collectors of trash.

For a suggestions system to be successful and effective, the following factors

have to be considered:
1. Formation of a suggestions committee to plan and manage the suggestions system
2. Defining the suggestions process, including a feedback system
3. Promoting the suggestions system
4. Evaluation system
5. Award system
6. Sustaining the suggestions system

Why Suggestion System Stumbles and How to Avoid Them

Most suggestions remain to be suggestions because of:

1. Delays in approving ideas - Respond within the day to team member ideas
whenever possible. The approval may be a "go do it or to give coaching to
ideas that require further thought and development. For complex or large
ideas, respond within a week, or encourage the idea generator (person) to
break the problem down into several smaller parts.

2. Complex approval process (committees)-The approval process should undergo

Observation, discussion and approval by the team leader or supervisor. It's
better to go see the actual issue in the actual place than to discuss the issue in a
Conference room based on ideas written on a piece of paper.
3. Backlog of suggestions needing approval or implementation-Ironically, asking for
quantity over quality will force the identification of smaller problem that are
easier to solve. This reduces the backlog as more of them are "just do it" ideas.
This increases the skill and confidence of people to 80 through the problem
solving process (thinking) as well as the action itself (experimentation).

4. Less than 99% of ideas implemented-An idea should be nurtured and the idea
generator (person) should be coached so that basically every idea is approved.
Provide guidelines on what is a good kaizen. Track approval rating visually
and have a management team problem solve the gap between current condition and 99%
implemented.

5. Inappropriate kaizen suggestions - Once again, clear guidelines for what is

a good kaizen idea. Focus on the customer, improve own work, and keep
environmental targets from management policies in mind. Process focus, not
people issues, is appropriate.

6. Allowing anonymous suggestions-This defeats the purpose of kaizen as a people

development tool since the idea generator cannot be coached. It's alright to
allow anonymous suggestions where people feel need to "blow the whistle".
Except that this indicates that the workplace is not sate professionally,
emotionally or physically and is not a stable environment for kaizen. Fix that
condition before launching Suggestion systems and anonymous suggestions
would not be an issue.

7. Unfair rewards -Every idea should receive a small reward. Larger awards
may be given based on several categories like effort, creativity and impact
of the kaizen idea. Encouraging kaizen idea generation, development and
implementation by teams, and giving team rewards also lessens the possibility
of unfair rewards being given to individuals.

8. Motivating by cash only- Since humans are at the heart of kaizen, and humans
need both extrinsic (cash) and intrinsic motivation. Sustained kaizen needs
intrinsic motivation like recognition, self-actualization, skill development,
feeling fulfilled, or saving the environment through kaizen suggestions.
Management attention and leadership is required.

9. Lack of promotion and support of the kaizen suggestion program-Endorse kaizen

in all its forms in a variety of ways. Take a long-term view of kaizen a people
development and communication strategy. Start by encouraging idea
generation by teams, and aiming for quantity over quality. Hold periodic "championships or
promotional events based on themes.

10. Lack of timely implementation- Companies can do these entire well and still not
ideas put in place quickly enough if resources. Meaning time, money,
materials, skills are not enough for the number of great ideas team members
are generating. The skill matrix is a great enabler for suggestion systems. Once
 again, the management should evaluate the gaps in the 4Ms (manpower,
material, machine, method) resources to keep suggestions moving smoothly.

Small Group Activities

A kaizen includes small-group activities-informal and voluntary groups
organized to carry out specific tasks in a workshop environment. The quality
circles are the most popular type. Quality circles are designed to address not only
quality issues but also such issues as cost, safety, and productivity. Quality circles
are regarded as group-oriented kaizen activities.

Small Group Activity (SGA) is also known as focused or continuous

improvement in English. SGA finds its origin in the Japanese industry where
it is called Quality Circles (QC). SGA is a method for problem solving in teams
by structurally searching for the root causes and eliminating them. After
standardization of the solution the reoccurrence of the problem is prevented. The
feeling of ownership is intensified because those who are directly involved solve
the problem in a multifunctional team.

The members of the team learn to use techniques (cause and effect diagram,
fishbone-diagram) to find and eliminate root causes. The team is also taught
communication skills, working in teams and decision making, in order to use each other’s knowledge and
experience.

The structure of an SGA project is derived from the PDCA-circle from Dr. w
Edward Deming and exists of 8 steps on the basis of the SGA Circle. The SCA
team works independently and reports the progress by means of communication
boards.

The introduction of SGA leads to the following results:

1. Team-building
2. Improved communication
3. Higher involvement
4. Learn how to analyze and solve problems