Chapter Kaizen—Continuous Improvement
9
Intro…… & concepts
❖Kaizen is recognized worldwide as an important pillar of
an organization’s long-term competitive strategy.
❖Maintain and improve work standards with the
responsibility delegated to the worker.
❖Most important concepts in Japanese management and
is credited with being the key to Japanese competitive
success.
❖Emphasis on process, complemented with management
acknowledgement. Contrasts with results-oriented Kaizen means “continuous
management, which is ingrained in western thinking.
improvement.”…….born in Japan
❖Involves every employee. following World War II.
❖Encompasses components: Quality circles, automation,
suggestion systems, justin-time delivery, Kanban and 5 S.
❖“uniquely Japanese” and “umbrella” of management
practices—productivity improvement, TQC activities, QC
(Quality Control) circles, or labour relations—can be
reduced to one word, Kaizen
Gemba Kaizen
Gemba in Japanese means “real place,” or the place where real action occurs.
The problem with most managers is that they prefer their desk to be their
workplace, and wish to distance themselves from the events taking place in
the gemba. The five gemba principles are shown below:
1. Go to the gemba
2. Check the gembutsu
3. Take temporary measures or countermeasures on the spot:
4. Find the root cause:
5. Standardize to prevent recurrence:
Major Tools of Gemba Kaizen
Waste Elimination
• 3 types of wastes— muda, muri and mura.
• Gemba Kaizen is the process of identifying, reducing
and eliminating muda, muri and mura from the The various types of muda
gemba. are as follows:
• Muda in Japanese means work without a product or 1. Muda of overproduction:
effort wasted. Muda is any wasteful activity or any 2. muda of inventory
obstruction to the smooth flow of an activity. 3. Muda of waiting:
• Activity = Work + Muda 4. Muda of motion:
• Expenditure = Cost + Waste Each activity is 5. Muda of transportation:
associated with a cost. 6.Muda of producing rejects
• Any expenditure on the muda is a waste. Therefore, 7. Muda of processing
less muda equals happier clients (as it impacts
quality, cost and delivery of products and services).
Lean Management
First developed by Taiichi Ohno in the 1990s with
particular focus on manufacturing firms to
improve their business and reduce waste.
Ford, Toyota and Boeing are some of the
companies that have used lean techniques and
are known as the best innovators in the industry.
Lean was originally developed by Taiichi Ohno of
the Toyota Motor Company in Japan based on the
concepts pioneered by Henry Ford.
Ford started using lean manufacturing principles
in all its operations in 1981.
The re-engineering effort “Ford Production
System,”
5S Building Blocks of Lean
▪ 5S foundation of Kaizen. ▪ Visual controls:
▪ S in Japanese (seiri,
seiton, seiso, seiketsu ▪ Streamlined layout:
and shitsuke). ▪ Standard work
▪ 5-S a part and key
component in ▪ Batch-size reduction:
establishing a visual ▪ Teams:
workplace and a
component of lean ▪ Quality at the source:
manufacturing. ▪ Point of use storage:
▪ Focuses on implementing
visual order, organization,
▪ Quick changeover:
cleanliness and ▪ Pull/kanban:
standardization. ▪ Cellular/flow:
▪ Results: improved
profitability, efficiency, ▪ Total productive
service and safety. maintenance (TPM):
Tools for Continuous Improvement Guidelines for Preparing the Kaizen
Proposal
• 1.7quality control tools
1. The Kaizen should be self-explanatory.
• 2.5-Why analysis: The why concept 2. Sustenance of results must be clearly
Why Why Why Why Why
evident.
• 3.Approach to continuous 3. Ease of replication for other units/areas
improvement: The PDCA cycle must be evident.
(Plan–Do–Check–Act)
4.Clear impact on customer/quality/bottom
line/intangible benefit must be presented.
Identifying Opportunities for Kaizen 5. Each team should have a maximum of
• Customer surveys: five members including a coordinator.
• Employee suggestions: 6. The team must be a natural operating
team.
• Brainstorming:
7. The presentation must follow a
• Benchmarking: systematic
Kaizen Sheet BENEFITS OF KAIZEN
▪ Toyota is well known as one of the leaders
in using Kaizen.
▪ In 1999 at one US plant, 7,000 Toyota
employees submitted over 75,000
suggestions, of which 99 per cent were
implemented.
▪ Result in improved productivity, improved
quality, better safety, faster delivery, lower
costs and greater customer satisfaction.
▪ Find work to be easier and more enjoyable,
thus resulting in higher employee morale
and job satisfaction and lower turnover.
▪ Reduces waste in areas such as inventory,
waiting times, transportation, worker
motion, employee skills, overproduction,
excess quality and in processes. It improves
space utilization, product quality, use of
capital, communications, production
capacity and employee retention.
▪ Kaizen focuses on creative investments that
continually solve large numbers of small
problems.
What is the 5S? 5-S Programme
❑Component of lean manufacturing.
❑5-S programme focuses on
implementing visual order,
organization, cleanliness and
standardization. The results that can be
expected from a 5-S programme are
improved profitability, efficiency,
service and safety.
❑5 S is the key to total quality
environment. Japanese factories are
well known for their cleanliness and
orderliness.
❑Japanese call their factories parlours.
The 5-S practice is a technique used to
establish and maintain quality
environment in an organization. T
❑he name stands for five Japanese
words—seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and
shitsuke.
Conducting a 5-S Audit
Auditing helps evaluate the performance level of each
“S” and identifies the gaps so that further improvement
can be initiated to achieve the desired level of
performance. Prepare a systematic audit sheet for each
The 5-S Movement “S,” covering all elements like scoring criteria, for
instance on a scale of 1 to 5, the area to be audited, the
owner of the area, date of audit, auditor’s name and
Step 1 Seiri (straighten up): level and the opportunity for improvements (OFIs).
Step 2 Seiton (put things in order): Level 1: Self-audit by the 5-S practitioners/area owners.
Step 3 Seiko (clean up): Level 2: Peer audit.
Step 4 Seiketsu (standardization): Level 3: Final audit by the unit head/facilitator/external expert.
• Provide due weightage for awareness of the 5-S concepts
Step 5 Shitsuke (discipline): and their physical deployment at the workplace.
• Be unbiased during the audit.
• Check all the area or sample area as applicable.
• Check for all the activities involved.
• Give attention to areas of negligence, safety and hygiene
aspects.
• Focus on following the implementation strategy.
Company-wide Quality Control (CWQC)
• Hardware, software and human-ware are the three CWQC signifies a statistical and systematic
building blocks of business. approach for Kaizen and problem solving.
• CWQC starts with human-ware. statistical application of quality control (QC)
concepts, including the use and analysis of
• CWQC has become an elaborate system of corporate
problem solving and improvement activities. The statistical data.
CWQC is expected to yield the following results:
The following are the salient features of CWQC:
• Provide products and services that satisfy customer
requirements and earn customer trust. 1. Company-wide total quality control (TQC) with
• Steer the corporation towards higher profitability the participation of all employees
through such measures as improved work procedures,
fewer defects, lower costs, lower debt service and 2. Emphasis on education and training
more advantageous order filling.
3. Quality control circle activities
• Help employees fulfill their potential for achieving
corporate goals with particular emphasis on areas 4. CWQC audits as exemplified by the Deming
such as policy deployment and voluntary activities.
Prize audit
• Help the corporation cope with any severe
environmental changes or other external problems, 5. Application of statistical methods
win customer confidence and secure and improve
profitability. 6. Nationwide CWQC promotion
Kaizen—The Practice
A well planned Kaizen programme can be broken down into three segments—management
oriented Kaizen, group-oriented Kaizen and individual-oriented Kaizen—depending on the
complexity and the level of Kaizen.
Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
❖QFD is a planning tool used to fulfill customer expectations. Focuses on customer
requirements, referred to voice of the customer and is a disciplined approach to
product design, engineering and production and provides in-depth evaluation of
a product.
❖QFD can improve engineering knowledge, productivity, quality and reduce costs,
product
❖A series of interlocking matrices that translate customer needs into product and
process characteristics.
House of Quality
❑Primary planning tool used in
QFD.
❑Translates the voice of the
customer into design
requirements that meet
specific values and matches
those against the way in
which an organization meets
those requirements.
❑Primary chart in quality
planning.
Quality Control Circles (QCC)
❖Originated in Japan.
❖In April 1962, Dr K. Ishikawa presented this idea in
the inaugural issue of JUSE’s journal Gemba to QC.
❖Last 36 years, concept introduced in 130 countries,
well established only in ASEAN countries
❖small team of people usually from the same work
area who voluntarily meet on a regular basis to
identify, investigate, analyse and solve their work-
related problems.
❖QCCs adopt a democratic process and introduce a
participative management culture in the
organization. circle put their minds together to solve
work-related problems & presents solutions to
management and implements them after approval
❖3 major attributes—(1) participative management,
human resource development technique and
problem solving technique.
Poka-Yoke
❑In the early 1960s, quality guru Shigeo Shingo combined the concepts of
“successive,” “independent” and “source” inspections with Toyota’s in-
house “fool proofing” techniques and devised the famous production
philosophy “poka-yoke” (poka means mistake or inadvertent errors, while
yoke means proofing. It is derived from the word “yokeru” meaning, to
avoid).
❑The initial term was “baka-yoke,” which means “fool-proofing.” In 1963, a
worker at Arakawa Body Company refused to use the “baka-yoke”
mechanisms in her work area because of the term’s dishonourable and
offensive connotation.
❑Itchanged to “poka-yoke”, which means “mistake-proofing.” It was
designed as a tool to achieve and sustain “zero defects.” Poka-yoke refers to
the absolute elimination of defects in the production process.
Quality of Work Life (QWL)
❑“The quality of relationship between employees
and the total working environment.”
❑QWL, a process by which an organization
responds to employee needs by developing Factors Influencing and
mechanisms to allow them to share fully in Deciding the QWL
making the decisions that design their lives at
work. ❖Attitude
❑Considers people as an “asset” to the ❖Environment
organization rather than “costs.” ❖opportunities
❑Satisfying not only their economic needs but also ❖Nature of job
their social and psychological ones. ❖People
❑job designs and organization of work. ❖Stress level
❑Balance between career and personal lives. Flexi ❖Career prospects
time, alternative work schedules, compressed
work weeks, telecommuting, etc. ❖Challenges
❑Technological advances. QWL programmes in the
form of increased productivity, efficient, satisfied
and committed workforce for achieving
organizational objectives.
