Kaizen Applications and Uses
Change for the good: Kaizen applications and uses
Separate the term Kaizen into Kai + zen to get its transliteration: “change good.” Kaizen usually involves five S’s: sort through the process to tell apart the necessary from the unnecessary; set-to-order what has been identified as necessary to ensure users can easily locate, use and return it; shine all aspects of the work area, including floors, machines and furniture; standardize the first three S’s to maintain order and improve the process, revisiting each regularly; and sustain the process to instill these procedures as regular work habits.However, the Kaizen list is more than a simple five-step process to move through. It’s attitudinal, emphasizing dual key aspects of continual application and taking little steps to improvement. You can find Kaizen eminently enhances your place of business in three ways:
1. Implement Kaizen to reduce waste.
2. Instill Kaizen principles to increase productivity.
3. Appoint a Kaizen provider to improve employee engagement and morale.
Disseminate Kaizen information to remove and guard against waste
Waste, or "muda" in Japanese connotes far more than trash, to include anything that doesn't add value. Kaizen identifies eight "deadly enemies" of value added activity: motion waste; time delay; unnecessary material transport; producing defects; over-processing; over-producing; storing inventory; and missed opportunity. Remove waste anywhere in your business, from the production floor to your sales staff, to get more work done with the personnel you have.
Try: Manufacturing & Technology News reports how a Sony Disc Manufacturing plant in Terre Haute, Indiana used Kaizen to slash the needed operators while multiplying the number of finished products per labor hour over sevenfold. Brian Carroll’s B2B Lead Generation Blog talks about using Kaizen to improve sales lead generation.
Expand your business using Kaizen principles
Kaizen and other lean manufacturing techniques do not imply getting rid of people and loading the remnant with the work of the disappeared. It focuses on involving everyone--from CEO to cleaning crew--in an ongoing process to make their organization a better place to work. Better quality work with fewer defects means more of the right products going out to more satisfied customers, and more business.
Try: The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) publishes a case study in Lean Directions demonstrating how management can work with a union-organized workforce to embrace Kaizen to reduce waste rather than headcount. IMEC shows how different levels of the business actively participate in the Kaizen process.
Inspire employee loyalty with involvement in Kaizen
Once you overcome employee fear of job loss upon hearing "lean processes," you can show them that Kaizen actually can improve their quality of life at work. By participating at the most basic level, they take ownership in the company by making it a better place to work, more productive and more profitable. Beyond that, you can provide opportunities for certification in the Kaizen process similar to "belt" status in Six Sigma programs.
Try: ArticlesBase.com posts an article explaining how participation in Kaizen frees assembly line workers from drudgery associated with repetitive tasks and encourages employees to go the extra mile to become Kaizen certified. KAIZEN Institute provides training, consultancy and benchmarking for those desiring to delve further into the Kaizen process.
Copyright © 2011 Business.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
