Kaizen-Continuous Improvements

Kaizen

From the Japanese words “kai-” which means “change” and “-zen” which means “good” The popular meaning from Toyota is “continuous improvement” or “small incremental improvements” of all areas of a company, not just manufacturing like Cost ,Quality , Productivity , Safety , Morale

KAIZEN EVENTS

A typical Kaizen event goes something like this:

1.      Set goals and provide any necessary background.

2.     Review the current state and develop a plan for improvements.

3.     Implement improvements.

4.     Review and fix what doesn’t work.

5.     Report results and determine any follow-up items.

This type of cycle is frequently referred to as PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Act). PDCA brings a scientific approach to making improvements:

• Plan (develop a hypothesis)
• Do (run experiment)
• Check (evaluate results)
• Act (refine your experiment; then start a new cycle)