Kaizen
Small steps, big results over time
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What Is Kaizen?
A philosophy of continuous, incremental improvement involving everyone in the organization from CEO to frontline workers.
Kaizen (改善) is a Japanese word meaning "change for better" or continuous improvement. In business, it refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to assembly line workers.
Unlike innovation (kaikaku), which involves radical change, kaizen focuses on small, incremental improvements made every day by everyone. The power comes from compounding: many small improvements add up to significant transformation over time—without the risk and disruption of big-bang changes.
A key principle is that the people doing the work are the experts on that work. Kaizen events (workshops) bring together frontline workers to identify waste, test improvements, and implement changes quickly. This builds ownership and develops problem-solving capability throughout the organization.
- •Building a culture of continuous improvement
- •Engaging frontline workers in problem solving
- •Making incremental process improvements
- •Developing people while improving processes
- •When sustainability matters more than speed
- •When radical transformation is needed (use kaikaku)
- •Crisis situations requiring immediate structural change
- •When process is fundamentally broken and needs redesign
- •If leadership doesn't support the culture
- •Treating kaizen as a one-time event rather than ongoing culture
- •Managers solving problems instead of coaching workers
- •Not following up on sustaining improvements
- •Focusing only on big improvements, ignoring small ones
- •Not connecting kaizen to business goals
Standard Example
Kaizen Focus: Reduce changeover time on CNC Machine #4
Team: 4 operators, 1 maintenance tech, 1 supervisor (3-day event)
Day 1 - Observe:
• Current changeover: 47 minutes
• Video recorded 3 changeovers
• Team identified internal vs. external work
• Spaghetti diagram showed excessive walking
Day 2 - Improve:
• Moved tools to point of use (shadow boards)
• Pre-staged next job materials
• Converted internal setup steps to external
• Created standard work for changeover
Day 3 - Implement:
• Practiced new method 5 times
• Refined tool placement based on feedback
• Final changeover: 18 minutes (62% reduction)
• Documented new standard work
30-Day Follow-Up:
• Average changeover: 20 minutes
• Operators identified 3 more improvements
• Sharing method with other machines
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