KAIZEN

EVERY DAY, AND IN EVERY WAY,I'M GETTING BETTER AND BETTER...

It doesn't take a dramatic leap forward every two or three years to keep a manufacturingcompany ahead of the pack - quite the reverse. It's those little tiny steps that the Japanese

are so good at that make all the difference, or so they say.Find out for yourself as Takeo Soeda introduces the mysteries of KAIZEN.

The most important feature of successfulJapanese manufacturing companies isthe existence of a KAIZEN culture.KAIZEN literally means "improvement",

but in Japanese it also carries the connotation ofcompany wide, ongoing, incremental improvement.With these improvement activities involvingeveryone in the workshop.

Innovation is another type of improvement but itusually means a sudden drastic change, often car-ried out with huge investment by a small number ofengineers and managers. The introduction of CNCmanufacturing cells can be regarded as innovationwhile devising small jigs or foolproof mechanismsare typical examples of KAIZEN.

Good management must have both innovationand KAIZEN in a balanced way in order to succeedin product development, manufacturing and market-ing. Innovation is particularly importantfor success-ful product development. But when it comes tomanufacturing, KAIZEN plays more the importantrole. Our impression at CHU SAN REN is that west-ern managers are concerned more with innovationwhile Japanese managers are concerned more withday to day KAIZEN.

Why is KAIZEN so important?Many manufacturing companies today are living

in a high variety, low volume product environment.This means that they must produce a large varietyof products every day with a short lead time, econ-omically and without errors. In such a situation it isvery unlikely that onetime innovation in machines orproduction technology can solve the problem. To besuccessful in such an environment the KAIZEN phil-osophy suggests that companies should:

• Devise many jigs and fixtures so that onemachine can be used for various jobs.

• Install 'foolproof devices for all machines sothat workers do not turn out defective parts.

• Arrange piece part storage so that workers canpick the right parts easily.

• Devise an easy scheduling method so that aforeman can efficiently do the planning ofmany small production lots while utilisingworkers and machines to the maximum.

• Prepare easy to follow operation standards foreach product so that a worker can do the jobcorrectly and efficiently.

• Configure a flow line so that many varieties ofproducts can be produced quickly withoutbuilding WIP.

Such initiatives are not a matter of one timeinnovation but are to do with continuous improve-ments involving everyone in the workshop. To besuccessful they must actively involve the peoplewho know the job best. Workers and foreman mustbe allowed to play a main role in solving the day today operational problems - most of which can, afterall, be handled by a knowledge of a few commonsense techniques.

What should be KAIZENed?A large number of wasteful elements are already

embedded in most companies production pro-cesses and workshop practices. Often the assump-tions that cause the waste are unconscious, taken forgranted or regard as a given. By using Just in Timetechniques it is possible to clearly identify thecauses of waste and inefficiency. In the JIT concept,any move or time which does not add value toproduct is regarded as waste. From this perspectivemost of what is done in a workshop can be a KAIZENtarget. Why is a part sitting here for a long time afterbeing processed on the machine? Why is the workerwalking empty handed or just standing watching amachine run? Why is so much time spent in adjust-ing machines? Why, why why... there are endlessopportunities for KAIZEN activity.

How to promote a KAIZEN culture?As with other initiatives a key question that has

to be asked with regard to KAIZEN is "how can theorganisation ensure that KAIZEN is implemented on

a continuous basis?" In Japan this is done throughwhat is called a 'policy deployment system'. TheKAIZEN programme is incorporated into an annualcompany wide target setting scheme.

There are normally three levels of target set.Firstly, 'general targets' are set for the whole com-pany. These are then taken by departmental mana-gers who apply them to their areas. The departmentaltargets are then made more detailed by sectionleaders who apply them to their work group. Thecorporate policy will state, for example, that theoverall in-house defect ratio should be less that 1 %.Then the department policy will state that the defectratio of, say, product X should be less than 0.3%.Finally it could be the welding section policy whichwill state that 'foolproofing devices' should be in-stalled in all spot welding machines producing pro-duct X. The results achieved are recorded eachmonth on a table posted in the workshop and amonthly performance review meeting is held to dis-cuss progress.

The route to successThe day to day small improvements of KAIZEN

are very much encouraged in successful Japanesecompanies. The opportunity for KAIZEN is infiniteonce it is understood that any operation which doesnot add value to the product is waste and should,therefore, be eliminated. The JIT framework pro-vides a mechanism for identifying this waste andsuggests how to eliminate it. Finally, the KAIZENphilosophy needs to be explicitly stated in an annualcorporate plan, monitored monthly, in order to en-sure that all employees of the company are com-mitted to its implementation. EQ

Takeo Soeda is a consultant with CHU SAN RENfrom Nagoya, Japan. He will be running a numberof one day seminars on KAIZEN in England duringNovember 1991. Details of the seminars can beobtained by ringing George Boulden of ALA Inter-national on (0788) 565787.

Efl

MANUFACTURING ENGINEER NOVEMBER 1991