What Is the Kaizen Method?

The Kaizen Method

Continuous improvement

History has shown us that when circumstances are adverse and resources scarce, the power of ideas is the best tool for overcoming any difficulty.

After the Second World War, Japan was a defeated country, full of doubt and with a fragile, weakened economy, a far cry from the image we have today of this Asian powerhouse.

Over the following four decades, the Japanese government, together with the country's business owners, took on the task of rebuilding and strengthening the economy, developing various initiatives aimed at improving and modernising companies' various internal processes. To this end, seminars, courses and studies were carried out, all with the sole purpose of better understanding how a company operates, in order to improve and update it, and thereby position Japanese industry as one of the most powerful and efficient in the world.

Concepts such as quality control were introduced and modernised, applied for the first time company-wide, along with auditing processes and countless other exercises to improve production systems.

This is how the concept of "Kaizen management" began to develop and spread throughout Japanese companies.

Later, in the 1980s, the renowned Japanese organisational theorist and management consultant Masaaki Imai developed the Kaizen method, and through his book "Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success", revolutionised the world of business efficiency.

The word Kaizen combines two Japanese concepts: KAI, meaning change, and ZEN, meaning goodness or good.

In simple terms: Kaizen means improvement and, applied to organisations and how they operate, the Kaizen concept refers to "gradual, continuous improvement" involving everyone with a stake in an operation's success — employees, administrative staff and managers alike.

In a philosophical application, the Kaizen concept proposes continuous improvement in every area of life, whether personal, professional or family-related. There's an instinct in human beings to keep getting better, a predisposition to grow and evolve. Kaizen seeks to extend this tendency to the place where people spend a third of their lives — the workplace — and to do this, it's necessary to involve every team member in this task of improving their own work environment, since everyone has something to contribute from their own unique perspective.

It's hugely important to convey to employees that Kaizen isn't an end in itself, but a means to achieve constant, organic improvement of every process involved in project development and production.

The journey is the destination.

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Working better

The Kaizen method places all its attention on quality above any other factor. This point is central to every stage of a company's development, from human relationships within a team, to the design of the machines used to make products, including the training employees receive to deliver better service to customers.

Starting from this premise, Kaizen's work focuses on two major areas:

• Customer satisfaction

Achieving satisfied customers is central to running a successful company, which is why the Kaizen method begins by identifying and understanding customer needs and expectations, in order to later address and exceed them. This is how every service and product a company offers its customers must meet customer needs and expectations in every respect, whether cost, quality, timeframes, etc. Products and services must always be improving to add value to them and thereby exceed not only customer expectations but also the competition.

• Process improvements

In pursuit of customer satisfaction and maximum efficiency, every process carried out within the company must positively influence the product or service and the customer experience — to achieve this, a thorough review is needed to identify every process that, in one way or another, benefits the customer's experience with the company. After completing this diagnosis, these processes can be integrated into the continuous improvement system. At the same time, any process that shows no benefit to customer wellbeing must be modified or eliminated. As mentioned earlier, the Kaizen method focuses mainly on quality, and from there generates all the changes and improvements, since through it, and its application across every area and process of a company, the company can build a successful, lasting career.

Kaizen techniques and tools

To achieve greater customer satisfaction and improve process quality, the Kaizen method proposes some techniques and tools that should be implemented in the company, these are:

• Total Productive Maintenance (TPM): this technique is developed within work teams, to help them reach their maximum efficiency potential, aiming to prevent any situation that could harm their processes.
• Total Quality Management (TQM): this technique is used for continuous improvement in the control and management of a company's processes, with an overall view of the whole system, involving every employee taking part in them.
• Suggestion system: With this technique, every employee is involved in improvement processes through suggestions. Being able to draw on employees' perspective on the company's processes completely changes the outlook, allowing other areas needing improvement to be identified.
• Quality control circles: this technique focuses on developing small work and reflection groups, where employees propose changes, improvements or solutions to the various problems found in the company's production processes.

A company operating under Kaizen method principles shouldn't let a day go by without improving some aspect of its operations. This work requires commitment and involvement from the whole company, because only this way can constant, unmatched benefits be achieved.

Trust and success

The Kaizen method proposes a series of guidelines that make it easier for a company to succeed in its continuous improvement process.

Some of these are:

• In the area of human relationships, trust is essential, so certain principles are established to foster its development among team members.
• Communication, knowing how to listen and convey ideas.
• Respect for others.
• The ability for self-criticism and to recognise one's own weaknesses.
• Motivation to work collectively.
• A constant pursuit of self-improvement as human beings
• Going beyond the stereotypical employee and building real bonds between people.
• Eliminating ego and power struggles.
• Recognising and valuing achievements.
• Boosting employees' strengths.
• No one is irreplaceable, but everyone is essential to the team.
• Trusting people's abilities, delegating responsibilities.

The big picture

We can summarise all the elements the Kaizen method develops in these five steps, also known as the 5S, which correspond to five Japanese words and concepts.

• Seiri - Organisation: A place for everything, and everything in its place.
• Seiton - Reduce searching: Making it easier for people, services or materials to move around simplifies operations.
• Seiso - Cleanliness: Cleanliness and simplicity in every aspect of work mean greater ease of operation.
• Seiketsu - Standardisation: When a procedure and how it's carried out are simplified, processes become simpler and safer, avoiding
• possible setbacks.
• Shitsuke – Discipline: Discipline and good work habits based on agreed rules are essential and beneficial, whether between colleagues or in relation to customers. These concepts must be understood, learned and absorbed by every member of the company for the overall process they're part of to work and reach its full potential. This way, continuous improvement work develops smoothly, successfully and efficiently.

The message

Just like our own way of life, a company must be in a constant process of improvement, in order to grow, evolve and stay competitive. It must develop strategies and tools that let it keep permanently refining its processes, involving its whole team at every hierarchical level, sharing achievements and valuing good initiatives. Innovation is important, but small changes and improvements every day can lead a company to compete in a global market and achieve greater profits.

The spirit and message of this transformative work is:

Do it better, make it better, improve it even if it isn't broken or defective, because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do.