Continuous Improvement

Kaizen

 Kaizen ( 改善 ), Japanese for "good change". It has been 
applied in healthcare, psychotherapy , life-coaching, 
government, banking, and other industries
 Kaizen is the process of continuous improvements in small 
increments that make the process more effective ,efficient, 
controllable and adequate
 Improvements are usually accomplished at little or no expense 
with out sophisticated techniques or expensive equipments
 It focuses on simplification by breaking down complex 
processes into their sub-processes and then improving them.
 Kaizen-Main objectives

 Managerial  practices ,which must broaden its perspectives, 
whilst increasing its involvement
 Shifting values ,which are socially and culturally adrift as quality 
is concerned
 Organizational effectiveness-the agenda of leadership, 
motivation and goal setting
 Kaizen

Process driven

Quality awareness, quality control

Total employee involvement

Standardization Good labour management

relations
KAIZEN
(continous improvement)
Customer orientation
Effective leadership, cross
communication

Reducing Adaptability to changing

waste environment
Visibilty and control
 Three Basic principles of Kaizen

• Work place effectiveness – The Japanese developed 5S

addressing
tools for the effectiveness
• Elimination of waste , strain and discrepancy –
Elimination of three MUs.
Sl.NO Japanese Name Meaning
1 Muda Waste
2 Muri Strain
3 Mura Discrepancy

The wastes are not free, but have been paid for the organization,
since those produce wastes also get paid and material
wasted costs money. There for one has to minimize and
eliminate the waste in the organization
• Standardization :

Kaizen stresses standardization of process, materials ,

machinery etc… with the following objectives
 Represent the best, easiest, safest way to carry out a job in the form
of operating procedures and work instructions
 Represent the best way to preserve know-how and expertise
 Measure performance and standardize the same
 Standardize the procedures for maintenance
 Standardize the training program
 Standardize the audit for diagnosing the problem
 Standardize the procedures for preventing occurrence of errors and
minimizing the variability
Kaizen improvement focuses on the use of

 Value-added and non-value added work activities

 Muda, which refers to the seven classes of waste –over
production,delay,transportation,processing,inventory,wasted
motion and defective parts
 Principles of material handling
 Principles of motion study
 Documentation of standard operating procedures
 The five S’s for work place (Five S frame work for good house
keeping)
Seiton –Tidiness/Proper arrangement
 Seiri - Orderliness
 Seiso –Clarity
 Seiketsu- Personal cleanliness
 Shitsuke - Discipline
Kaizen improvement focuses on the use of

 Better communication through visual displays such as

posters, bulletins etc.
 Just in Time principles
 Team effort on problem solving, conflict reduction and
communication.
 5s principle
 Seiko(Tidiness/Proper Arrangement)
Identification of materials ,equipments and tools, data and
information which are necessary, not necessary, discarding or
giving another destination to unnecessary items and necessary
space for required or necessary items.
 Seiton(orderliness)
 It is not only essential to tidy the place but also arrange them in
the orderly manner.
 Seiso(Cleanliness)
A part from a place being tidy and orderly it should be clean
The shop floor should free of wastage, oil spills ,wastes etc.
 5s principle
 Seiketso(Personal cleanliness)
This point talks about maintaining good sanitary conditions and
maintaining good personal hygiene
Only a clean place can be conscious enough about keeping his
work place clean and tidy.
Information cleanliness: communications should be clear
,objective, easy to read and understand.
 Shitsuke(Discipline)
 Discipline in every job a person does
This is not restricted to job related to organization but also
personal work
 Poka-Yoke

 Japanese term means mistake proofing.

 The term adopted Shigeo Shingo as part of the Toyota
production system
 The idea is to identify areas in which errors are likely to
occur ,then introduce a number of devices that are a safe
mechanism for preventing the error in the first place.
 Instead of sampling ,self inspection is promoted and following
that, the person next in receiving line also checks the item
before working on it.
 Examples of Poka -yoke in consumer products

 Automatic transmissions: the inability to remove a car key from the ignition
switch of an automobile if the automatic transmission is not first put in the
"Park" position, so that the driver cannot leave the car in an unsafe parking
condition where the wheels are not locked against movement.

 3.5" floppy disks: the top-right corner is shaped in a certain way so that the
disk cannot be inserted upside-down.

 SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards: The SIM card used in cellular
phones has its upper left corner trimmed diagonally to guide the card
correctly into position .
 Poka yoke in Manufacturing

• Poka-yoke can be implemented at any step of a manufacturing

process where something can go wrong or an error can be
made.
• For example, a jig that holds pieces for processing might be
modified to only allow pieces to be held in the correct
orientation
• A digital counter might track the number of spot welds on each
piece to ensure that the worker executes the correct number of
welds
 Continuous Improvement rather than
Innovation

Innovation Kaizen
Creativity Adaptability
Individualism Teamwork, systems-approach
Specialist-oriented Generalist-oriented
Technology-oriented People-oriented
Information: closed and Information:Open,shared
proprietary
Functional Orientation Cross-functional orientation
Seeks new technology Building on existing technology
Limited feedback Comprehensive feedback
Comparison of Kaizen and Innovation over
Time
Innovation+Kaizen

Kaizen
Business Success

Innovation

Time