1. Quality Engineering and Quality Management
Kaizen Basics
Quality Engineering and Quality Management
Hello, and welcome to the lesson on the basics of Kaizen. The majority of the material to be presented here is from the reference book Kaizen by Masaki Imai.
© University of Wisconsin-Madison

2. KAIZEN
DEFINITION:
KAIZEN is a management philosophy and strategy for running a company.
It involves gradual, unending improvement, doing little things better, continuously setting and reaching goals, and thereby establishing ever-higher standards.
Let’s begin our discussion of Kaizen as a management philosophy and strategy for running a company. Kaizen can also be viewed as a continuous process that involves making gradual, unending improvements, and thereby establishing ever higher standards of performance for the organization.

3. KAIZEN CONTINUOUS PROCESS
Never get there, only get better (improve) relative to the past.
EXAMPLE
Learning is a continuous process of gaining knowledge, insight, understanding, and wisdom.
Education is one strategy to foster learning.
Because Kaizen is a continuous process, as such, an organization never get there, they only get better (improve) relative to the past. For example, learning is a continuous process of gaining knowledge, insight, understanding, and wisdom. Education is one strategy to foster learning.

4. KAIZEN
KAIZEN solves problems by establishing a corporate culture in which everyone can freely admit problems and work together to prevent their recurrence.
KAIZEN is also a customer-driven strategy for continuous improvement in the processes that affect costs, quality, scheduling, and delivery.
Creating improvement under the Kaizen strategy involves everyone in the organization, not just a few specialists. The focus is on having everyone feel free to admit problems, and work together to prevent their recurrence. Another core value in Kaizen is that of customer-driven quality. Thus Kaizen is a customer-driven strategy for continuous improvement in the processes that affect costs, quality, scheduling, and delivery.

5. KAIZEN is a Way to Improve ALL Aspects of an Organization
QRM--KAIZEN of Material Flow & Lead-time
TPM--KAIZEN of Physical Environment
TQC--KAIZEN of Support Systems
KAIZEN is the overriding concept of good management.
KAIZEN <--> CQPI*
*Continuous Quality and Process Improvement
Kaizen, or continuous improvement, is a fundamental concept and can show up under various names. Perhaps you’ve heard of quick response manufacturing, or QRM. Essentially that’s Kaizen, or continuous improvement of material flow for the purpose of reducing lead time and in-process inventories. Companies have also embarked on many projects related to preventive maintenance, or total productive maintenance (TPM). Again, this is simply Kaizen of one’s maintenance and physical environment systems. Thus the basis philosophy of Kaizen can manifest itself in many different ways.

6. KAI – to break apart or disassemble ZEN – to feverously improve
What does KAIZEN Mean?
KAI – to break apart or disassemble
ZEN – to feverously improve
Must do the Kai first!
The word Kaizen has two component parts. KAI means to break apart or disassemble. This involves understanding the current process to identify waste and opportunities for improvement, often done using process or value stream maps, or other team processes. The second component, ZEN, means to feverously improve the process, thus putting it back together as a more effective process. The KAI component must be done first.

7. KAIZEN BLITZ IS:
A focused team effort to rapidly compress time, thus eliminating or greatly reducing waste to increase customer satisfaction.
Often done in 3 to 5 days
There are different ways to do Kaizen. One way is to do a Kaizen Blitz. This involves creating a focused team effort for only a few days. The team members thus step back from their regular jobs to focus on eliminating or greatly reducing waste on a selected process area. The other way is to establish a team, which in addition to their normal duties, carries out a Kaizen project over several weeks or months.

8. KEY ELEMENTS OF KAIZEN TEAM WORK
Use a people-focused, not technology-focused approach to achieve competitiveness
Emphasize teams to gain collective knowledge and energies
Foster cooperation, mutual respect, and common goals
Let’s now look at the 4 key elements of Kaizen. The first is teamwork. Instead of focusing on technology, Kaizen is people-focused, getting people to recognize and address problems by putting their collective knowledge and energies together to accomplish common goals. Cooperation, mutual respect, and common goals are fundamental for good teamwork.

9. KEY ELEMENTS OF KAIZEN COMMUNICATION Involve people in solutions
Create and foster a culture where people are free to make and admit mistakes
Listen first, speak second
Foster non-blaming/non-judgmental views
To do this, the second key element of communication is obviously important. People can’t identify and solve problems together and prevent problems in the future unless they are able to openly admit mistakes and/or problems, and address the related root causes and key issues. Communication in Kaizen also involves the idea of listening first and speaking second - hearing what the other person has to say before you offer your opinions. And then if you do disagree, disagree with the idea in a non-judgmental manner, not with the person offering the idea.

10. KEY ELEMENTS OF KAIZEN ELIMINATION OF WASTE
Identify and eliminate anything that doesn’t add “value” to the product for the “customer”
Practice “process oriented thinking”
Elimination of waste—the third key element, focuses on eliminating anything that doesn’t add value to the product from the customer’s point of view. Waste can exist anywhere within an organization, within any process. In this course we are going to be looking at organizations as linked and integrated processes.

11. KEY ELEMENTS OF KAIZEN CONTINUOUS “SMALL STEPS”
We will satisfy our customers by improving our processes continually
Take small steps…learn…improve…but do it!
The fourth and final key element of Kaizen is that of “continuous small steps”. This involves making change through trying new ideas, learning from the experience, and continuously improving everything in an organization to lead to higher levels of competitiveness and customer satisfaction.

12. WHY IS CHANGE NECESSARY?
Customer requirements are continuously increasing.
Rapid growth in new equipment and expensive technologies is often limited and constrained in terms of effectiveness.
Today’s global marketplace and more knowledgeable customers are increasing the competitive pressures on almost every type of organization. Customers are expecting more. You’ve heard the phrase: “faster, cheaper, better.” How does an organization live up to those increasing demands without changing, and changing rapidly? Also, many companies have implemented expensive new equipment and technologies, only to be disappointed in the results they’ve obtained. In many cases, the new systems and processes did not perform to their designed potential. Quite simply, companies did not get what they’re paid for.

13. WHY IS CHANGE NECESSARY?
Organizations are often plagued by established levels/practices of waste.
Competition is involved in on-going improvement. Unless a company changes and improves dramatically, the competition will catch and surpass it.
“Improve or Perish”
Likewise, established levels of waste in their processes often plague organizations. Unless a company looks at their processes or modes of doing business and improves them, they may not survive long-term since their competition will catch and surpass them.

14. WHY IS CHANGE NECESSARY
A world-class company needs to implement new policies and practices that foster gradual, incremental, unending, and continuous improvement in its “processes.”
Use a team/group approach to continuously identify and implement improvements in all processes - both shop floor and business practices.
So, very simply, in today’s competitive marketplace, to be a world-class, or best-in-class company, there is a need to implement new policies and practices, often using a team or group approach, that will foster gradual, incremental, unending, and continuous process improvement to increase one’s competitiveness.

15. WHY IS CHANGE NECESSARY?
Reorganize and manage all operations as “processes,” and measure the process improvement.
Empower the workforce, and provide people with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to achieve KAIZEN as a way of life.
Thus Kaizen focuses on reorganizing and managing all your operations as processes and being able to measure the amount of improvement that you’re making. This involves not only the four key elements of Kaizen, but also providing an empowered workforce, with the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to bring about continuous improvement, and make Kaizen a way of life. This involves change!

16. MANAGING CHANGE
“Our job is to manage change. If we fail, we must change management.”
Thus companies need to manage change involving continuous improvement in its processes and practices.
You may have heard the following statement about management: “Our job is to manage change. If we fail, we must change management.” In this course, we’re going to address how to manage change involving continuous improvement activities as well as making larger, more abrupt changes, or innovation.

17. TYPES OF CHANGE Abrupt Change: Innovation Gradual Change: KAIZEN
Throughout the course, we’re going to be addressing different types of change and how to implement it. One type of change is abrupt change or innovation. The other type of change is Kaizen.

18. TYPES OF CHANGE KAIZEN Small Steps Many Involved Conventional Know-How
Requires Efforts
Process-Oriented
Slow-Growth Economy
People
INNOVATION
Big Steps
Few Involved
Technological Breakthrough
Investment
Result-Oriented
Fast-Growth Economy
Technology
In a side-by-side comparison of Kaizen vs. innovation, you can see that they are really two very different approaches to change. Abrupt change or innovation typically depends on large financial investments and a few specialized people. For example, implementing new computer technologies and information systems, or new automated equipment, typically represents high-capital investments that involve very few people in the organization. The proper use of innovation can provide a “Great Innovative Leap Forward” if used correctly. Unfortunately, this high-cost approach does not always provide the benefits that are expected. By contrast, Kaizen typically involves little or no capital investment. With Kaizen, the organization makes ongoing small improvements in the current standards of performance by focusing the energies of people throughout the organization, not just a select few technical people. Both are important. To be competitive, organizations need to use both types of changes.

19. ROLES AND TYPES OF CHANGE
Ideal Job Function Situation
Top Mgmt.
Middle Mgmt.
Supervisors
Workers
Innovation
KAIZEN
Maintenance
(Current Status)
The roles of the people in the organization also vary, in terms of their responsibility and involvement in not only implementing innovation or Kaizen, but also in terms of maintaining the company’s current systems and processes. As shown in the Ideal Job Function Situation, top management has a large role in fostering innovation and Kaizen, but a small role in maintenance. This is the opposite of the operations staff, where maintenance is their primary focus.
Reference Page 7 in Kaizen by Masaki Imai, McGraw-Hill

20. WHAT IS MAINTENANCE?
Refers to activities directed to maintaining current technological, managerial, and standard operating procedures (SOP).
Establish policies, rules, directives, and standard procedures
Provide training
Maintain discipline (adherence)
By definition, maintenance refers to those activities directed at maintaining the current technology, managerial, and standard operating procedures of an organization. It involves such things as establishing policies, rules, standard operating procedures, providing training so that people understand them, and then maintaining discipline for adhering to the systems and procedures that have been defined.

21. INNOVATION WITHOUT KAIZEN
What should be (standard)
Maintenance
Larger Innovation
What should be (standard)
What actually is
Maintenance
Many companies have been unsuccessful in terms of maintaining their competitive position, simply because they’ve too focused on innovation alone. They’ve tried to buy their way to the top. Innovation without Kaizen typically results in lower levels of performance. Without maintenance, the actual gains expected from innovation deteriorate over time. Instead of getting a great leap forward in terms of productivity, quality, or whatever measure of competitiveness is appropriate, it actually falls off. Thus the next investment in innovation needs to be even higher to bring the company back up to a competitive performance where it needs to be.
Innovation
What actually is
Time
Reference Page 26 in Kaizen by Masaki Imai, McGraw-Hill

22. INNOVATION WITH KAIZEN
New standard
Kaizen
What should be (standard)
Innovation
New standard
Kaizen
By contrast, combining innovation with Kaizen and maintenance not only maintains the gain of the innovation, but also uses Kaizen to continuously improve and refine the new systems, and thus establish an ever-increasing higher level of performance. Consequently, the next innovation can either be a smaller capital amount or can give the company a larger performance increase relative to the competition. It’s clear that in terms of competitive achievement, Kaizen and innovation together are what’s important, not simply one or the other alone.
Innovation
Time
Reference Page 27 in Kaizen by Masaki Imai, McGraw-Hill

23. INNOVATION Plus KAIZEN
HOW CAN THIS BE DONE IN YOUR ORGANIZATION?
How can one implement Kaizen and innovation in an organization to increase its competitiveness? Well, this is going to be the focus of our course, and we will be looking at a variety of different quality management and planning tools and techniques to accomplish this. This is the end of the lesson on Kaizen. Bye now.