Kaizen
(HBS Solutions Ltd. July 2006 by Bora Büyük)

Japanese term that means continuous improvement, taken from words 'Kai' means continuous and 'zen' means improvement.

Some translate 'Kai' to mean change and 'zen' to mean good, or for the better.  It is the worker’s contribution to changing the world around him. It benefits him, the customer, the company all at once. Kaizen is an idea with implementation thought, ready to apply and generalize for the workforce.

The same japanese words Kaizen that pronounce as 'Gai San' in chinese mean:

Gai= The action to correct.

San= This word is more related to the Taoism or Buddhism Philosophy in which give the definition as the action that 'benefit' the society but not to one particular individual. The quality of benefit that involve here should be sustain forever, in other words the 'san' is and act that truely benefit the others.

 Kaizen approach begins with “…. a conscious attempt to precisely define value in terms of specific products with specific capabilities offered at specific prices through a dialog with specific customers.” (Womack & Jones, 1996)
The philosophy is build on never-ending efforts for improvement involving everyone in the organization, meaning from bottom to top.
Continious improvement in every detailed process has to become the way of doing business. It should become a part of organizations culture, the way of thinking. To empower this culter, management has two major components;

1. Maintenance, and
2. 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 is achieved through a combination of discipline and human resource development measures.

Under the improvement function, management works continuously towards revising the current standards, once they have been mastered, and establishing higher ones. Improvement can be broken down between innovation and Kaizen. Kaizen signifies small improvements as a result of coordinated continuous efforts by all employees.
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 an important criteria in reviewing the performance of the worker's supervisor and the manager of the supervisor.

The Japanese management encourages employees to generate a 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.

Quality control (QC) circles can be viewed as a group-oriented suggestion system for making improvements. QC Circules is a small group that voluntarily performs quality-control activities in the workplace.

• Quality Circles: Groups which meet to discuss quality levels concerning all aspects of a company's running.
• Improved Morale: Strong morale amongst the workforce is a crucial step to achieving long-term efficiency and productivity, and kaizen sets it as a foundational task to keep constant contact with employee morale.
• Teamwork: A strong company is a company that pulls together every step of the way. Kaizen aims to help employees and management look at themselves as members of a team, rather than competitors.
• Personal Discipline: A team cannot succeed without each member of the team being strong in themselves. A commitment to personal discipline by each employee ensures that the team will remain strong.
• Suggestions for Improvement: By requesting feedback from each member of the team, the management ensures that all problems are looked at and addressed before they become significant.
Kaizen will help;
• Increase employee involvement through team participation,
• Implement improvements in quality, cost, and delivery, the three key drivers of customer satisfaction,
• Obtain a faster return on investment,
• Improve process documentation, communication, and training.