Kizen Concept

Available ONLINE www.vsrdjournals.com

VSRD-MAP, Vol. 1 (3), 2011, 120-125

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1Principal, Hindustan Institute of Technology & Management, Ambala, Haryana, INDIA. *Correspondence : [email protected]

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An Overview of Kaizen Concept 1Vineet Kr.*

ABSTRACT

Kaizen means a constant effort not only to maintain but also upgrade standards. KAIZEN means continuous

improvement. The word implies improvement that involves everyone—both managers and workers—and entails

relatively little expense. The kaizen philosophy assumes that our way of life—is it our working life, our social

life, or our home life—should be the focus of constant improvement efforts. This concept is so natural and

obvious to many Japanese that they often do not even realize that they possess it! In my opinion, kaizen has

contributed greatly to Japan’s competitive success. Although kaizen improvements are small and incremental,

the kaizen process brings about dramatic results over time. The kaizen concept explains why companies cannot

remain static for long in Japan.

Keywords : JIT, TQC, ZD.

1. INTRODUCTION

KAIZEN means continuous improvement in personal life, home life, social life, and working life as a whole. As

related to the work place kaizen means continuous improvement involving managers and workers, customers

and suppliers alike. The productivity improvement, TQC activities, QC (quality control) circles, ZD (zero

defects), Kanban and suggestion system can be reduced to one word: KAIZEN – paints a far clearer picture of

what has been going on in the Japanese industry Western management, meanwhile, worships innovation: major

changes in the wake of technological breakthroughs; the latest management concepts or production techniques.

Innovation is dramatic, a real attention-getter. Kaizen, on the other hand, is often undramatic and subtle. But

innovation is one-shot kaizen ongoing. Most “uniquely Japanese” management practices, such as TQC or

company-wide quality control, quality circles, and our style of labor relations, can be reduced to one word:

Kaizen. Using the term kaizen in place of such buzzwords as productivity, TQC, ZD (zero defects), JIT (just-in-

time), and the suggestion system paints a clearer picture of what has been going on in Japanese industry. Kaizen

Vineet Kr. / VSRD International Journal of Mechanical, Auto. & Prod. Engg. Vol. 1 (3), 2011

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is an umbrella concept for all these practices. However, Hasten to add that these practices are not necessarily

confined to Japanese management, but should rather be regarded as sound principles to be applied by managers

everywhere. By following the right steps properly applied, any company, no matter what its nationality, can

benefit from kaizen.

Kaizen Fundamentals :

Employee empowerment

Self discipline

Recognition

2. TWO ELEMENTS OF KAIZEN

If we look carefully at definitions, we can see at least two elements that construct KAIZEN, those are:

improvement/ change for the better and ongoing continuity. Lacking one of those elements would not be

considered KAIZEN. For instance, the expression of “business as usual” contains the elements of continuity

without improvement, or on the other hand the expression of “breaks through” which contains the element of

change or improvement without continuity. KAIZEN should contain both elements.

3. KAIZEN CONCEPT IN AN INDIVIDUAL LIFE

KAIZEN, as you could learn from the definitions is a common word and very natural to individual, continuous

improvement in personal life, home life, social life, and working life. Everybody deserved to and should be

willing to improve himself for better continuity. “If a man has not been seen for three days, his friends should

take s good look at him to see what changes have been fallen him” quoted from the old Japanese saying describe

how natural KAIZEN is. However, when KAIZEN is adopted in organization and management prospective, it is

easier to talk about than to do. How can we develop and organization that has some change and improvement

every day? That’s what KAIZEN institute is promoting. Not a day should go without some kind of improvement

being made somewhere in the company.

4. TRANSPLANTING KAIZEN IN ORGANIZATION

Transplanting KAIZEN in the organization, we soon realize that transplanting these natural concepts of

KAIZEN into organization and management is not an easy. It is very natural that people will response some

kind of change in their work place, where they become unsatisfied with their present conditions. They intend to

make improvements starting from their own work place. Some of the improvements can be carried out directly.

Perhaps the boss want even notices them. However when approval is required several kinds of responses from

the boss could have taken place. A good response is the boss encouraging their subordinates to carry out their

ideas. The boss then appreciates or gives recognitions. That is what we expect when we proposed something.

The positive response given by the boss will then developed trust with the subordinates and stimulate other

improvements. This will create the momentum for continuing improvement


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5. GEMBA

Gemba is a Japanese word meaning 'real place,' where the real action takes place. In business, Gemba is where

the value-adding activities to satisfy the customer are carried out. In the manufacturing industry, there are three

major activities directly related to earning money, developing, producing and selling products. Without these

activities, the company cannot exist. Therefore, in a broad sense, Gemba means the sites of these three major

activities. In a narrower context, however, Gemba means the place where the products are made. In Japan, the

word is usually used in this narrower context, since it is believed that production sites have been one of the

business arenas most neglected by management. Managers seem to write production off as only a secondary

means to earn money, and usually place far more emphasis on such sectors as financial management, marketing

and sales, and product development. When Gemba or production sites do become a focus of management

attention, though, they can be turned into a utopia capable of making the company far more successful and

profitable. In the service sectors, Gemba is where the customers come into contact with the services offered. In

the hotel business, for instance, Gemba is everywhere: the lobby, the dining room, guest rooms, the

receptionist's desk, check-in counters, and the concierge station. At banks, tellers are working in Gemba, as are

loan officers receiving applicants. The same goes for employee's working desks in offices and for telephone

operators sitting in front of switchboards. Thus, Gemba spans a multitude of offices and administrative

functions." The efforts to bring about cleaner production take place in Gemba. Hence a few more lines on

Gemba will be in order. The problem with most managers is that they prefer their desk as their workplace, wish

to distance themselves from the events taking place in Gemba. Most managers come in contact with reality only

through their daily, weekly or even monthly reports, or other meetings.

In the field of cleaner production, manager’s first priority should be to go to Gemba and observe. Gemba is your

teacher. When you go to Gemba, what you see is the real data. The report from Gemba you read sitting at your

desk is merely secondary information. There is a golden rule of Gemba management, called the 5-Gemba

principles, as follows:

5.1. WHEN A TROUBLE (ABNORMALITY) HAPPENS, GO TO GEMBA FIRST

This is the first and most important principle. Many managers learn about the problems that happened in Gemba

from a report that reaches them several days or weeks after. The best solution is to go to Gemba at once when

you hear that a problem has happened.

5.2. CHECK WITH GEMBUTSU (MACHINES, TOOLS, REJECTS, AND CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS)

Gembutsu¸ Japanese means some tangible things on which you can put your hands. If a machine is down, the

machine itself is gembutsu. If a customer is complaining, the customer is gembutsu. For instance, if the machine

is down, go to Gemba and have a good look at the machine. By looking at the machine, and asking the question

“why” several times, you can probably find out the reason for the breakdown on the spot.

5.3. TAKE TEMPORARY COUNTERMEASURES ON THE SPOT

For instance, if the machine is down, you have to get it started because the show must go on. Sometimes you


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kick the machine to get it started. If a customer is angry, you will need to apologize, or even give some gift to

appease. But these are only temporary measures and do not address the real issue, which leads to the next point.

5.4. FIND OUT THE ROOT CAUSE

By repeating the question “why” several times, you can find out the root cause of the problem.

5.5. STANDARDIZE FOR PREVENTION OF RECURRENCE

Once you identify the root cause, and come up with a countermeasure, you should standardize such a

countermeasure so that the same problem will not recur.

6. Gemba KAIZEN

In order to solve problems found in Gemba, today’s managers often try to apply sophisticated tools and

technologies to deal with problems that can be solved with a commonsense, low-cost approach. They need to

unlearn the habit of trying ever-more sophisticated technologies to solve everyday problems. There are two

approaches to problems solving. The first involves innovation – applying the latest high-cost technology, such

as state-of-the art computers and other tools, and investing a great deal of money. The second uses

commonsense tools, checklists, and techniques that do not cost much money. This approach is called kaizen.

This article will show how kaizen can achieve significant improvement as an essential building block that

prepares the company for truly rewarding accomplishments.

6.1. Housekeeping, Muda Elimination, and Standardization

Everyone in the company must work together to follow three ground rules for practicing kaizen in Gemba:

1. Housekeeping,

2. Muda elimination.

3. Standardization.

Housekeeping is an indispensable ingredient of good management. Through good housekeeping, employees

acquire and practice self-discipline. Employees without self-disciplines make it difficult to provide products or

services of good quality to the customer. In Japanese, the word Muda means waste. Any activity that does not

add value is Muda. People in Gemba either add value or do not add value. This is also true for other resources,

such as machines and materials. Muda elimination can be the most cost-effective way to improve productivity

and reduce operating costs. Kaizen emphasizes the elimination of Muda in Gemba rather than the increasing of

investment. The third ground rule of kaizen practices in Gemba is standardization. Standards may be defined as

the best way to do the job. Products of services are created as a result of a series of processes; certain standard

must be maintained at each process in order to assure quality. Standards also can prevent recurrence of the same

problem. As a general rule of thumb, introducing good housekeeping in Gemba reduces the failure rate by 50

percent, and standardization further reduces the failure rate by another 50 percent. Yet, many managers elect to

introduce statistical process control and control charts in Gemba without making efforts to clean house,


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eliminate Muda, or standardize. Management (especially Western management) must regain the power of

common sense and start applying it in Gemba. In the following, various aspects of Muda elimination will be

explained.

Muda of over production – This is regarded as the worst type of Muda. If you produce more than your

customer needs, you have extra pieces that need to be taken care of, such as handling and keeping in stock.

Muda of inventory – This is the result of over production. If you process only Produces what the next process

needs, you can eliminate Muda of inventory altogether.

Muda of waiting – How often do you see operators just waiting for the material to arrive or the machine to

start? No value is added when operators are waiting and looking.

Muda of motion – When the operator is moving around, looking for tools or going to get the work pieces, no

value is added.

Muda of transportation – When materials are moving on the trucks, forklifts, or on the conveyer, no value is

added.

Muda of producing rejects – Producing rejects leads to rework, or else rejects must be thrown away, a big

Muda.

Muda of processing – By rearranging the working sequence, often you can eliminate a particular process. The

concept of Muda elimination is central to kaizen, since eliminating something we have been doing does not cost

any money. If Muda of inventories had been practiced, the tragedy at Bhopal, India, could have been avoided.

Likewise, we often hear of warehouse-full of appliances going into ashes by fire. Again, such a loss could have

been avoided if only we were successful in building an ultimate of production system - Just-in-Time (lean)

production system, which can be reached after eliminating all sorts of Muda. The elimination of Muda can be

just as effective in service sectors. There are two contrasting approaches to the problem solving. One is solving

a problem after it has happened. Most of problems we encounter today are of this nature. After a problem has

arisen, we make concerted efforts to identify the root cause, solve the problem, and standardize the new

procedure for prevention of recurrence. The five Gemba principles fall under this category. This approach is

called analytical approach. The other category is the one in which we anticipate problems and try to solve them

in advance. This approach is called design approach, as it is often employed at the designing stage of a new

product or project. In dealing with such issues as environmental and social problems, the impact of the design

approach will be far greater than the analytical approach. The design approach means, in a nutshell, to improve

the quality of planning. If more careful and insightful considerations are given at the initial stage of planning,

many problems can be anticipated and solved with a stroke of a pen. This is a most economical way to solve a

problem. Various tools to be used for the designing approach, such as FTA (Failure –free Analysis) and FMEA

(Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) have been developed over the years. As we enter the next millennium, we

should be spending more efforts for anticipating and avoiding problems in advance, rather than being busy with

fire-fighting in dealing with business-related problems as well as social, governmental, and environmental

problems as well.


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7. Ten Basic Tips for Kaizen Activities

Discard conventional fixed ideas.

Think of how to do it, not why it cannot be done.

Do not make excuses. Start by questioning current practices.

Do not seek perfection. Do it right away even if for only 50% of target.

Correct it right away, if you make mistake.

Do not spend money for KAIZEN use your wisdom.

Wisdom is brought out when faced the hardship.

Ask “WHY”? Five times and seek root causes.

Seek the wisdom of ten people rather than the knowledge of one.

KAIZEN ideas are infinite due to continuous improvement.

8. CONCLUSION & FUTURE SCOPE

Kaizen as suggested in their sphere of work has resulted in a cascading effect in terms of improvement in quality

of products. Kaizen has been major factor in the TQM Quality Management movement a. Kaizen has changed

the mindset of the work force. Kaizensists say that quality is a system or means to economically produce goods

for services, which satisfy customer requirements. The quality route is the surest way to achieve higher profits

and Kaizen has helped in achieve of the same. Kaizen means change for better. This technique is adopted in

various industries and is implemented successfully. Kaizen creates and excellence to implementation of

suggestion scheme. Kaizen helps by reducing wastage of any kind in the organization there by this contribute

significantly to overall productivity improvement.

9. REFERENCES [1] KAIZEN Manual - TVS RUBBER SUNDARAM INDUSTRIES LTD. GURGAON.

[2] Dr. K.C. Arora,;A Textbook of TQM & ISO 14000 .

[3] P.L.JAIN,;Quality Control & TQM

[4] Basterfield,;Total Quality Management ,Pearson Education

[5] Ahuja. I.P.S,; ‘Strategies for affecting quality improvement in technical education’, The Journal of

Technical Education.

[6] McAdam R. AND Lafferty, B,; ‘A multilevel case study critique of six sigma: statistical control or strategic

change?’, International Journal of Operations & production Management.

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Kizen Concept