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Kaizen Philosophy: Pratik Basu 6 ME-60 B.E. Semester 8 Mechanical Engg

Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement involving everyone in an organization. Key principles include teamwork, personal discipline, and always seeing room for improvement. Implementation concepts inspired by Kaizen include 5S for organizing the workplace, the PDCA cycle for continuous improvement, quality circles for problem solving, and Kanban for just-in-time production. Toyota widely adopted Kaizen practices after WWII to increase efficiency. Kaizen provides benefits like applicability across industries, measurable results from events, and higher operational efficiency through reduced waste. While it has been successful in Japanese culture, Western cultures may struggle with some of its collective principles.

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Rupakshi Saurabh Gaur
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45 views

Kaizen Philosophy: Pratik Basu 6 ME-60 B.E. Semester 8 Mechanical Engg

Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement involving everyone in an organization. Key principles include teamwork, personal discipline, and always seeing room for improvement. Implementation concepts inspired by Kaizen include 5S for organizing the workplace, the PDCA cycle for continuous improvement, quality circles for problem solving, and Kanban for just-in-time production. Toyota widely adopted Kaizen practices after WWII to increase efficiency. Kaizen provides benefits like applicability across industries, measurable results from events, and higher operational efficiency through reduced waste. While it has been successful in Japanese culture, Western cultures may struggle with some of its collective principles.

Uploaded by

Rupakshi Saurabh Gaur
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 18

KAIZEN PHILOSOPHY

Pratik Basu
6 ME- 60
B.E. Semester 8th
Mechanical Engg.
Presentation flow

 Introduction to Kaizen
 Key Principles
 Key Implementation Concepts
 5S

 Deming or Shewhart Cycle (PDCA)

 Quality circles

 Kanban

 TOYOTA Implementation
 Key Benefits
 Applications
 Future prospects
Introduction : What is “Kaizen”?

 Kaizen means "improvement".


 It is a Japanese workplace philosophy which
focuses on making continuous small
improvements which keep a business at the top
of its field.
 The philosophy involves everyone in the
organization – managers and workers alike – and
urges them to make never-ending efforts for
improvement.
 For example, in Japanese companies, such as Toyota
and Canon, several suggestions per employee are
written down, shared and implemented.
The Origin of Kaizen

 The foundation of Kaizen was laid in Japan after


the Second World War, when the country was
attempting to rebuild infrastructure and rethink
many systems.
 Several American experts on workplace
improvement including W. Edwards Deming and
Joseph Juran came to Japan to lecture and teach.
 Using information from these individuals regarding
the TWI (Training Within Industry) programs , the
concept of Kaizen began to be formed and it took
off in the 1950s.
Kaizen : Key principles
 The first is a heavy reliance on teamwork, in which
everyone's opinion is valued and considered.

 Workers also have strong personal discipline, and morale in


factories must improve under kaizen.

 Workers should also be confident about offering


suggestions for improvement, even when a system
appears to be functioning adequately

 Kaizen recognizes that there is always room for


improvement

 Finally, the system uses quality circles, worker groups who


meet and work together to solve problems and come up
with innovative changes.
Kaizen : Implementation Concepts

 Kaizen encompasses many of the components of


Japanese businesses that have been seen as a
part of their success.

 Some of these concepts inspired by Kaizen are:


 5S
 The Deming or Shewhart Cycle (PDCA)
 Quality circles
 Kanban
“5 S” in Kaizen
 “5 S” is a method for organizing a workplace, especially a
shared workplace (like a shop floor or an office space).
 “Seiri” (Sort): Tidiness, keeping
only essential items.
 “Seiton” (Set In Order):
Orderliness, eliminate extra
motion.
 “Seiso” (Shine): Cleanliness, keep
the workplace clean.
 “Seiketsu” (Standardize):
Standardize work practices
 “Shitsuke” (Self Discipline):
Sustaining, maintaining discipline
and reviewing standards.
The Kaizen cycle
 PDCA (Plan-Do-
Check-Act) cycle

 Also known as the


Deming or
Shewhart cycle

 It a continuous
never-ending
process i.e. cyclic
ad-infinitum
Quality Circles
 A quality circle is a volunteer group composed of employees,
who are trained to identify, analyse and solve work-related
problems and present their solutions to management.
 This improves the performance of the organization, while also
motivating and enriching the work of employees.
 First established in Japan in 1962 in the Nippon Wireless and
Telegraph Company, it quickly became popular and spread to
more than 35 companies in the first year.
Kanban
 Kanban (meaning “signboard” or “billboard”) is a concept related to lean
and just-in-time (JIT) production.
 The concept got shape when Toyota observed how supermarkets operate.
 The supermarket only stocks what it believes it will sell; Therefore has
limited and only necessary inventory
 Signboards clearly indicate to shoppers where what is stocked; so the
customers can shop efficiently and complete their shopping in time.
 For a lean and efficient system, it is required that the production is
determined according to the actual demand.
 In situations where supply time is lengthy and demand is difficult to forecast,
the best one can do is to respond quickly to observed demand.
 This is where a Kanban system can help: It works as a communication system
which immediately provides information about changed demand through
the entire supply chain.
Kaizen in Toyota
The Toyota Production System is known for it’s use of kaizen.

 After World War II, Taiichi Ohno was charged with setting up machine
shops for Toyota. He studied the Ford production systems. He analyzed
the various productive measures and discrepancies in the system.

 Based on the analysis, he outlined several production strategies for


Toyota. These production strategies later became benchmarks for
production practices across the world.

 Toyota thus became one of the first companies in the world to adopt
practices such as Kaizen. Analysts however feel that Kaizen kept TPS,
JIT, Kanban and other practices working smoothly as an interlinked
strategic operational plan.
Toyota’s use of Kaizen to solve labor crisis

 In the early 1990s, Toyota was facing acute labor shortage

 Toyota’s initial management focus was on increasing production


efficiency through higher production levels with less number of workers.
This resulted in increased stress and worker exodus

 The global upsurge in car demand during 1987-1991 led to drastic


increase in demand for labors

 Toyota realized that it would have to rely on Kaizen for modifying its
existing assembly lines to attract workers.

 The company decided to change its working conditions to


accommodate workers of more diverse nature

 The management decided to allow plants to set their own annual


production efficiency targets. Production efficiency measurement was
based on worker’s production time rather than on best production time
Key Benefits of Kaizen
 Widely applicable – Can be used in both
manufacturing and non-manufacturing
environments

 Highly effective & results oriented - Kaizen


events will generate quick results, Measurable
results, Establish the baseline, and measure the
change

 Higher operational efficiency –


 Reduces wastage, like inventory waste, time
waste, workers motion
 Improves space utilization and product quality

 A Learning Experience – Every member of a


Kaizen Team will walk away from the event
learning something new.
 Encourages big picture thinking

 Results in higher employee morale and job


satisfaction, and lower turn-over.
Kaizen – A mixed bag

 Why Kaizen works well for some…


 It has been suggested that Kaizen works particularly well in
Japan because it has a collective culture, and Kaizen relies
on collective values.
 The focus is more on improvement and refinement of
existing methods, rather newer innovations.
 And not so for others…
 People in more individualistic cultures (like in Western
corporations) may struggle with some of the basic
principles of Kaizen.
 Kaizen idea of improvement is contrary to the beliefs of
some Westerners, who place a high value on the
achievement and maintenance of perfection.
Kaizen can be applied to real life also…

Consider the case of a student’s bag. The items can be


classified into
 Notes and assignments

 Stationary (pens, notepads etc.)

 Other items like calculators, pen drive etc.

Regular checking of the stationary items ensures that the


notemaking is not affected due to lack of stationary.
Keeping notes and assignments organized enables faster
access to them.
Overall checking of bag at regular intervals ensures that
no necessary items are missing.
Conclusion

 “Kaizen” or “continuous improvement” should be


a part of our everyday life.

 The concept is simple but if properly applied can


lead to significant efficiency improvements for
organizations.

 Kaizen and its associated concepts like PDCA,


Kanban and Quality Circles have been critical to
the success of large organizations like Toyota,
Canon and Nippon.
Sources

 www.wikipedia.org
 www.howstuffworks.com
 Masaaki Imai(1986). “Kaizen: The Key to Japan's
Competitive Success” McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
 www.icmrindia.org
 www.toyota.com
Thank you.

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