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An essential element in Lean thinking is Kaizen. Kaizen is the Japanese word for a “good change” (Kai = change, Zen = good) or change for the better. It’s a continuous improvement tool to make work easier, safer, and more productive by studying a process, identifying waste, and applying small incremental improvements that ensure the highest quality.

Kaizen thinking is based on making little changes on a regular basis: always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness while reducing waste. Western philosophy is often summarized as, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” However, the Kaizen philosophy is to “do it better, make it better, improve it even if it isn’t broken, because if we don’t, we can’t compete with those who do.”

Many business leaders envision Lean initiatives as massive endeavors that require long training sessions, big meetings, and complete overhauls. Yet the reality is that some of the most successful Lean initiatives begin with a commitment to creating a culture that’s focused on small, continuous improvements. It’s the only way to achieve long-term success.

Kaizen involves every employee - from upper management to operators. Everyone is encouraged to come up with improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a month or once a year activity. Once we make this way of thinking normal the lack of any sort of event goes away. The ultimate goal is a culture of continuously looking at processes with an eye for improvement.

The Benefits of Kaizen

Kaizen is a Lean manufacturing tool that improves quality, productivity, safety, and workplace culture. Beyond the obvious benefit of improving processes, holding a Kaizen event can foster problem-solving, collaboration, and communication skills and allow employees to demonstrate leadership. If you are considering implementing Kaizen methodologies, you are undoubtedly curious about what the Kaizen benefits may be. The following are some of the most significant benefits that you will see using Kaizen in your facility:

• Kaizen simplifies the job. By having employees, management, and other important stakeholders constantly suggesting improvements, it simplifies everyone’s jobs – improvements should streamline all processes.
• Kaizen changes things up. Do you like doing the same old same old every day? If not, Kaizen is a great way to keep you on your toes and remove the boring tasks from the radar.
• Kaizen keeps things from being a total pain in your rear. If something’s not working, why continue to do it? Instead, it is far better to suggest improvements to solve problems before costly defects occur. Kaizen keeps your work from becoming a huge burden.
• Kaizen improves job safety records. By constantly improving processes, you will be abreast of important new safety standards, the latest in advances in equipment and technology, and the safest way to do things.
• Kaizen improves everyone’s productivity. If you eliminate wasteful tasks, then you save time. For example, is it necessary to create a report of reports every month? Are there less wasteful ways to do things? Is everyone making the best use of their time? Look into the answers to these questions to meet this Kaizen process goal.
• Kaizen improves the quality of your products. By following the Kaizen process steps, you can improve product quality. It is important to have quality products because this will increase your customer base, and ultimately, it will increase your bottom line.
• Kaizen saves you money and it saves you valuable time. By having high quality products, few accidents, few burdens, and highly productive employees, you will save time. When you save time, you save money. It’s a win-win situation, all around.

As you can see, there are many great Kaizen benefits that you will enjoy when implementing Kaizen in your facility. One of the biggest perks of Kaizen, however, is that the benefits never really end. Kaizen by its very nature is an ongoing strategy that is always looking for ways to improve your facility.

The initial benefits that are implemented will lead to further improvement opportunities down the road. When done properly, Kaizen just keeps going through the cycle of identifying improvement opportunities, coming up with solutions to those opportunities, implementing the solutions and finally testing them. If the solutions are positive, the cycle starts over with new improvement opportunities. This will continue forever, leading to an optimized facility that is never satisfied with the status quo.

Why Organizations Fail Implementing Kaizen

Since inception, Kaizen has been proven to help various organizations and has been long lauded as a success. However, certain conditions are needed in the corporate culture for this strategy to take effect in an organization otherwise you may not succeed.

Here are four top reasons why organizations fail when implementing the concept of Kaizen.

Equates to Improved KPIs

The over emphasis on the effect of Kaizen on KPIs would often overshadow the fact that improvements take time and are often incremental, and not revolutionary. Many cases, management write this strategy off as a failure when they do not see immediate results. Without a genuine desire to improve, the concept cannot thrive within an organization. While it is crucial to tying Kaizen to KPIs, management has to understand that Kaizen is not magic, it is in fact like a snowball rolling down a gentle slope, gathering momentum and size as it comes down.

Missing Training

Kaizen will never work if people do not implement its full suite of tools and concepts, with sufficient training given to take advantage of them. All the tools, especially the 5-why analysis and the mindset that everything can be improved, is an essential part. Remember to always provide the training people need so you can not only help them become more engaged, but also improve the chances of a successful kaizen.

Lack of Management Support

The importance of support cannot be over emphasized: it is essential that management isn’t just fully on board, but essential that they want to fully embrace the long-term commitment of kaizen to the organization. They need to pass on their enthusiasm and demonstrate that even they are continually looking for new and better ways of doing things.

It’s Not Continuous

My sensei once told me: “Tim-san, improvement cannot be sustained, improvement should be non-stop.” Continuous improvement should be continuous. Never consider yourself to be finished. There will always be something new that you can learn or a skill that you can improve. There is an area for improvement in all businesses, no matter how successful they are. Improvement has no limits and can be continued on an infinite level.

Kaizen is all about making things better in the long run and improving your KPIs and processes gradually. It is a strategy that needs to be implemented now, for the future. However, before implementing this concept to any organization, one must evaluate and understand their organizational structure and processes, to implement Kaizen or any management strategies effectively. As I always say, there are no cookie-cutter solutions that can solve all problems.

10 Steps to Creating Success

As no process can ever be declared perfect, there is always room for improvement. Kaizen involves building on gains by continuing experimentation and innovation. Ensuring your Kaizen is successful requires following a series of steps from start to finish:

1. Find Problem. First look at your business and find an opportunity for improvement. Start by analyzing the productivity of each department within the company. Look for departments that struggle with missed deadlines, inferior quality or production bottlenecks. Once you decide on a department, try to find specific processes where small improvements can add the most value. Start out with something small that can be changed easily.

2. Find a Sponsor. Executive leaders aren’t always directly involved in the Kaizen event, but they should be enthusiastic supporters who understand the process and objectives. Their support is important because it makes it more likely that employees will fully engage. Leaders are often involved in removing roadblocks and providing necessary resources for the event.

3. Pick a Leader. Appoint a team leader to manage the Kaizen event. You should ensure that your team leader is positive about creating change and is fully aware of the business case for making improvements, a team leader that is unconvinced or feels threatened can restrict the improvements being made.

4. Select Your Team. Typically, team members should comprise of people that work within the area in which the event takes place plus various people from other support areas such as maintenance, administration, sales, etc. It may also be worth adding a few people from the next area in which a kaizen event is planned so that they have some experience for the next event.

5. Create a Charter. Clearly define goals and expectations of the Kaizen event. The main focus of the event should be an area or process in which it has been determined that an inefficiency is reducing value to the customer. The focus can be narrowed by analyzing KPIs, root causes, and other Lean metrics. Keep in mind that the end goal is to promote continuous improvement and reduce waste.

6. Perform Training. If your team has had lots of practice with Kaizen events, pre-event training might not be necessary. Otherwise, it is essential to take the time to provide guidance on what to expect during a Kaizen event and which improvement tools will be used. The team should be training on your improvement management technology and know how it will be used before, during, and after the event to support the effort and capture the knowledge generated. Everyone should be clear about their role and know how their performance will be measured.

7. Understand the Situation. Start by analyzing the productivity of each department within the company. Look for departments that struggle with missed deadlines, inferior quality or production bottlenecks. Once you decide on a department, try to find specific processes where small improvements can add the most value.

8. Implement Solutions. Now that you have figured out the problem it is time to analyze it. Try to figure out what different options you have available to solve this problem. Once you have figured out what solutions are available, decide which one is going to be the best for your particular situation. Then start putting your solution into action.

9. Check Your Improvement. Once the event is complete and the desired improvements are in place, it is essential to make a follow-up plan to measure results and ensure the improvement is sustained. Make sure that you monitor the progress of the improvements being implemented and review whether the implementations are truly improvements. You may find that additional adjustments to new processes are necessary or that some of the changes have not been fully applied

10. Repeat. Kaizen doesn’t stop when you’ve successfully completed your Kaizen event. You should see this Kaizen event as just an ongoing series of efforts and improvements. The true spirit of Kaizen is in “continuous improvement” and “slow and gradual change.”

Kaizen keeps you reaching, stretching to outdo yesterday. The continuous improvements may come bit by bit. But, enough of these small, incremental gains will eventually add up to a significant, valuable competitive advantage. Also, if every employee constantly keeps an eye out for improvements, major innovations are likely to occur. Higher levels sometimes lose perception of what’s going on in the “trenches” because they aren’t in them every day. Good companies realize that and encourage feedback from staff. The spirit of Kaizen can trigger dramatic breakthroughs, whether it be redesigning a simple form or developing new company protocols.