Kaizen

Kaizen literally means Continuous Improvement in Japanese, the country it first originated. It isn’t a process that addresses only one part of your company, but instead is a mindset that can be adopted in all aspects of your business, as well as personal life.

As with all Lean programs, a successful Kaizen implementation will result in better efficiency, reduction of wastes, and saved time and money. However, Kaizen does this by actually improving other processes.

By adjusting your work environment with small trackable changes, you can slowly and steadily find wastes, and eliminate them.

Most companies implementing Kaizen choose to either concurrently or first implement a 5S program as well. 5S is a system of sustainable organization for your workplace. By implementing a good 5S program, you lay the groundwork for a clutter-free and organized workplace so that residual wastes can be easily identified and eliminated. 5S does this by setting up daily organization guidelines and practices that all employee can easily adhere to, and a culture that sustains the changes.

Often the best changes for organization are the ones that are visual-oriented and observable. This could be things such as signs and labels, area separations, and tool identification such as shadowboarding and drawer organizers.

Floor marking is an easy way to not only make your facility look better, but also much safer as well. OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) REQUIRES all companies that have equipment such as forklifts, hi-lows, etc to have aisleways for pedestrain traffic marked, as well as areas of attention (such as electrical boxes). Additionally, it is often a good idea to mark things such as health-related areas like Eyewash stations and first aid kits, as well as fire extinguishers and fire exits, pallet areas, and equipment location. In the past, many companies had marked these sort of things with painted lines, and stenciled decals, but in the past few years most companies now prefer using Industrial Floor Tapes and Floor Signs. As opposed to paints, the Industrial Tapes and Signs do not fade over time, and in most cases last years and years, whereas most times painted lines require at least annual upkeep.

As with any new system or process, it can sometimes be difficult to just verbally explain the new system in a way that all employees can fully absorb. This is why many companies choose to use training tools such as DVDs or Powerpoint presentations to help visually aid the employee training.

Two such products for Kaizen are the TOAST Kaizen DVD and the Kaizen Training Powerpoint.

- With the 27 minute TOAST Kaizen Video, the process of Kaizen implementation is represented in a way that all employees can relate to- making toast. It highlights and covers the seven deadly wastes found in both administrative and manufacturing environments and processes. Whether you are just beginning with Kaizen, or already on your Continuous Improvement journey, this video narrated by Shingo prize recipient Bruce Hamilton will help your workforce realize the true potential of Kaizen.

- The Kaizen Training Powerpoint presentation is a 44 slide presentation designed to be a 40-60 minute overview of Kaizen. It is a great tool for group training sessions, or even individual learning, and can be used as foundation slides for an even more in-depth presentation if need be. It covers the background and history of Kaizen, what it is and how to implement it, the roadblocks to Kaizen success and how to overcome them, and includes a helpful knowledge check at the end.

With these tools, Kaizen implementation can be easy!

With the huge focus on Lean systems in the Industrial workplace today, many companies are looking for practical and cost efficient ways to improve their production floors and increase efficiency without spending heaps of money in the process. This is where Kaizen comes into play.

Instead of management making sweeping changes and costly upgrades, which is often the case when a company decides to upgrade their facility and processes- Kaizen instead uses a much smarter technique.

The developers of the Kaizen process realized that, long-term, the best and most lasting changes happen slowly, over time- And that the people to typically best recommend the changes that need to happen are the people who are working hands-on in the facility day-in and day-out. So in a Kaizen environment, ALL employees are encouraged to suggest ideas, even as small as the arrangement of workstation or desk items, tools, or materials. Small steps are taken to improve work flow and procedures- this way if something proves to be unsuccessful after a trial period, it can easy be reverted.

Over time these small, proven steps and changes add up to very amazing results. Most times, many of these changes have not cost the company any money, and yet people are able to work faster, work efficiently, equipment is running better than ever, wastes (of both time AND resources) are reduced drastically, and the work environment is cleaner and more organized than it has ever been. This is the power of Kaizen.

Kaizen goes hand in hand with other Lean processes, such as 5S, Kanban, and Just-In-Time, and has been used successfully in Japan for many decades. In fact, Kaizen and these other Lean systems have played a major role in turning Japan from a war-torn defeated country into one of the most powerful industrial nations in the world.