After completing this module, you will be able to:

•Define the Kaizen methodology.

•Explain Kaizen philosophy for an organization.

•Narrate the literal meaning of Japanese terms Kai - 改 and Zen - 善 .
•Examine the historical accounts of Kaizen methodology.
•List the eleven principles of Kaizen.
•State importance of PDCA/PDSA in Kaizen methodology.
•Discuss the two different Kaizen approaches Flow versus Process Kaizen.

•Review the introduction of Kaizen events.

•Explain the importance of Kaizen Cycle.
•List the five core ideas related to Kaizen methodology.
What is Kaizen?
Kaizen is known as Continuous Improvement. It is often referred to as an organisational tool
where employees at all levels of a company work cohesively and proactively to gain
consistent, small improvements to the business process. It creates synergy within the
organisation's distinct talents to create a robust engine for continuous improvement.

Kaizen is a philosophy as well as a plan for action.

•Philosophy: Kaizen, philosophically, is about building a cultural change in a company. The
cultural change will result in employee participation at all levels of the organisation.
Ultimately it will become a part of the thinking process of all managers and workers of the
company.
•Action Plan: Kaizen, as part of the action plan is about planning events emphasized on
improving targetted areas in a company. These proceedings incorporate teams of workers at
all levels, with a robust focus on involving workers.
Kaizen Philosophy in an Organization

importantly, Kaizen in action what makes it as a philosophy in

an organization. When Kaizen is implemented as an action plan
through a continuous and long-term plan of effective events, it
educates workers to think out of the box about their daily
activities. The consistent enforcement and involvement of
workers in Kaizen events as an action plan create incredible
extended value by creating the culture that is required for
effective continuous improvement.

Kaizen works better with other Lean programs like 5S and

Standardized Work. 5S offers current state analysis of the work
patterns. Whereas standardized work narrates the present best
practices for a process. Combining these two approaches;
Kaizen targets to fill gaps as improvements for those processes.
• " 改 " the Japanese word is transliterated as “kai-” which means “change”.
• " 善 " the Japanese word is transliterated as “-zen” which means “good.”

Therefore the term Kaizen literally means good change and translated as “continuous improvement”. It also
means “small incremental improvements” of all departments of a company, not just production.

In trading and manufacturing corporates, Kaizen direct all company's measures focused to continuously
improve all departments. However, Kaizen requires to involve all employees from the head of operations to the
work floor workers. It also relates to processes, for instance, procurement and supply chain. The philosophy of
Kaizen has been implemented in manufacturing industries, life-coaching, the healthcare sector, government
institutions, and banking sector.
The little work improvement method was proposed in the USA under the Training Within Industry program (TWI Job
Methods). Instead of empowering big changes, or extended innovative overhauls to attain desired goals, TWI methods
advocated that organizations should begin with minor improvements, ideally ones that could be adopted on the very same
day.

The major objective of these activities was to cope up with time and resources constraint during World War 2. The objective
of the method came down to improving the implementation of the current workforce and technologies.
Economic and Scientific Section (ESS) Group
The Economic and Scientific Section (ESS) group was assigned to improving Japanese management skills. Edgar McVoy
was phenomenal in arranging Lowell Mellen to Japan to properly implement the Training Within Industry (TWI) programs in
1951.

The ESS group had a training film to introduce TWI's three "J" programs:
• Job Instruction
• Job Methods
• Job Relations
The program is entitled "Improvement in Four Steps". It thus introduced Kaizen to Japan.

JUSE and Dr Deming

The Emperor of Japan awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure to Dr Deming in 1960 for the evolution, inception, and
application of Kaizen in Japan. Eventually, the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) developed the yearly
Deming Prizes for the success of firms and professionals in the quality and excellence in products.

On October 18, 1989, JUSE presented the Deming Prize to a US-based company named Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL), for
its outstanding achievement in-process and quality-control management. It was the first company outside of Japan to win the
Deming Prize.
Masaaki Imai and Kaizen Institute Consulting Group (KICG)

Masaaki Imai was born in 1930. He worked as a Japanese organizational theorist and management consultant. He is known
for his work on quality management, particularly on Kaizen. He instituted Kaizen Institute Consulting Group (KICG), in
1985, to assist western companies to teach the concepts, systems and tools of Kaizen. Today, the Kaizen
Institute professionals have applied for methodology and kaizen training courses across virtually all business sectors
throughout the globe.
11 Principles of Kaizen
The Kaizen follows 11 specific principles, which are listed below:

1.Improve every issue continuously.

2.Repeal old and traditional concepts.
3.Acknowledge no excuses and make things happen.
4.Deny the status quo. Implement new methods and hope that it will work.
5.If something comes out to be wrong, rectify it.
6.Involve everyone to play part in problem-solving.
7.Acquire information and accept opinions from multiple people.
8.Before taking decisions, use 5 why method by asking “why” five times to get to the root cause.
9.Think economical. Save money through little improvements and spend the use of money on further improvements.
10. Always remember improvement has no limits.
11. Never stop trying to improve.
Kaizen PDCA Approach
This type of cycle is frequently referred to as PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Act). PDCA brings a scientific approach to
making improvements:
•Plan - This phase is meant to develop a hypothesis for an improvement. It includes a plan for a number of improvement
measures.
•Do - This phase directs the implementation of the hypothesis.
•Check - The hypothesis for improvement is either validated or new findings are discovered when the hypothesis is not
validated.
•Act - If the hypothesis is validated, the improvement is standardized through SDCA cycle. If the hypothesis is not validated
then root cause analysis is done and new measures are identified for improvement.
Old Japanese Versus Kaizen Approach
The Old Japanese Approach In the old Japanese approach, management has two prime functions: maintenance and
improvement as illustrated in info-graphic in next tab. This maintenance is different from the term commonly used for.
Maintenance is related to activities focused towards incorporating managerial, current technological, operating standards
and keeping such standards' implementation through training and reinforcement programs. Under the maintenance,
management keeps supervision on training, technology, methods so that everybody can follow standard operating procedures
(SOPs).
Improvement, on the other, refer to activities focused toward improving implemented standards. This is the core area of top
management.
The old Japanese management model thus focuses on the notion to Maintain and improve standards.
The Advanced Kaizen Approach
The advanced Kaizen Approach differentiates between two aspects of improvement which can be classified as Kaizen
improvement and the other as the innovation improvement.
Innovation improvement revolves around big improvement as an outcome of the huge investment of resources in new
machinery, equipment or technology. Innovation is therefore expensive. Some business owners are fascinated with
innovation, therefore they seem to be impatient and ignore the long-term advantages of Kaizen and focus only on innovation
improvements.
Kaizen improvement counts small initiatives improvements as an outcome of continuous efforts. Kaizen, in contrast with
innovation, focuses on human efforts, effective communication, ethics, morale, training, involvement, teamwork, and
discipline. Kaizen improvement is, therefore, a commonsense approach and it is a low-cost approach compared with
innovation improvement.
The Concept of Internal Customers
Organization's processes are a set of processes, and each process has its supplier as well as its customer. These are known as
internal customers.
Supplier A --------> Customer A
Customer A = Supplier B
Supplier B --------> Customer B

Therefore all subsequent processes owners are customers. A customer can be internal or external. Internal customers are
stakeholders within the company. All professionals working in a company will treat the fellow persons in that company as
internal customers. This will result in realization leading to commitment for internal processes as well. Ultimately this
concept will yield a high-quality product to external customers.
SDCA Cycle
Every time a problem is reported in any process, the following concerns must be asked:
• Did it occur because we did not have a standard?
• Did it occur because the standard was not implemented?
• Did it occur because the standard was not sufficient?
Only when a standard has been developed and followed, reinforcing the present process, should one move on to the PDCA
cycle for further improvement.

Thus the SDCA cycle standardizes and reinforces the present processes, on the other hand, the PDCA cycle improves these
processes. SDCA is focused on maintenance, and PDCA is focused on improvement. Both are the responsibilities of
management.
Process versus Result
Kaizen encourages process-oriented thinking since processes must be improved for results to improve.
Failure to attain intended results refers to a failure in the process. Management must recognize and
correct such process-based defects. Kaizen emphasizes on human efforts; a fact that differs greatly with
other dominant management concepts, such as a result-oriented approach. In Kaizen, people are
rewarded for adhering to the processes and improving within that, in result-oriented approach people are
rewarded only for high sales, high production numbers. However, the improvement process approach
will yield greater results also in the longer run.
A process approach also should be implemented in the inception of the numerous Kaizen strategies, such
as:
• The Plan Do Check Act (PDCA) cycle
• The Standardize Do Check Act (SDCA) cycle
• Quality, Cost, and Delivery (QCD)
• Total Quality Management (TQM)
• Just in Time (JIT)
• Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

Kaizen strategies have been unsuccessful in numerous organization for a very simple reason which is the
fact that they had ignored the process approach. The other important and crucial element in the Kaizen
approach is the leadership or top management commitment.
Putting Quality First
The main objective of quality, cost, and delivery (QCD) is quality which comes at the top of the
list. It does not really matter if price and delivery conditions are optimum and excellent for
customers, but the quality is compromised. Leadership involvement is needed to reinforce the
notion of "Putting Quality First".

Some conventional managers focus on delivery and reducing costs however they do it at the
cost of business reliability and customer retention.

Data-Driven Decisions

Kaizen is a solution oriented model and thus focuses on problem solving. So as to

comprehend and correct a problem correctly, relevant data should be gathered and assessed. If
you go on solving a problem without the use of data, it will be an attempt based on feelings
rather than any scientific methodology. Gathering data on the present status aids you to
comprehend where you are now focusing; this helps as a starter for improvement.
Gathering, confirming and analyzing data for improvement is a theme for Kaizen programs.
Kaizen Approach
The discussion below focuses on such interpretations of the word, as frequently used in the context of modern
management discussions. Two kaizen approaches are flow Kaizen and Process Kaizen. The use of the kaizen model for
continuous improvement needs that both flow and process kaizens are used, although process kaizens are used more
often to focus workers on continuous small improvements.
Flow Kaizen

The flow Kaizen is focused on the flow of information and materials. It is also identified with the reorganization of a
production work-space, or a whole site or factory.

For example, improving the flow of information and materials in an organization

process Kaizen
The process Kaizen means the improvement of the individual work stand. Therefore, improving the way production
workers do their job is a part of Process Kaizen. It can also be summarized as "Adapting work to workers".

For example, improving the ergonomics of a workstation.

The Three Ms - Muri, Mura, Muda
Muri, Mura and Muda are three Ms, and workplace production issues. Kaizen can be focused on all removing any one of
them or their combination.
Muri – Overburden
Muri means overburden. Muri can reside in an industrial process or in equipment. It means it can overburden both
equipment or workers by directing them to work at a difficult pace with high force and labour for an extended time span
against the manufacturer's design criterion for equipment and or suitable work hours or load on a person. The Kaizen
activities can be performed to remove Muri.
Mura – Unevenness
Mura means Unevenness in a process. This unbalanced or uneven approach is due to the production system itself rather
by the end consumer. This makes the worker work hard at one time while waiting for the other part of the time. Or this
can be put in this way that a bottleneck station has to work hard all the time while subsequent stations have to wait for
the material. This is an unbalanced approach. The Kaizen activities can focus on work areas to improve processes and
remove Mura.
Muda - non-value activities
Any activity that exploits resources but does not create any value for the end-consumer or internal customers. Within this
wide range of Muda, it is vital to differentiate between two different types of Muda, that relies on several major
overhauling that cannot be removed quickly. The other type of Muda comprises of activities that can be removed quickly
through Kaizen.

7 types of Muda are:

• Overproduction
• Unneeded Inventory
• Unneeded Motion
• Defects
• Over-processing
• Waiting Time
• Over Transportation
Steps for Kaizen Event
A standard Kaizen event is implemented in the following sequence:

• Set goals and link it with the organizational context.• Study the current state and establish a plan for improvements.
• Apply improvements.
• Study and fix what doesn’t work.
• Report results and determine any follow-up items.
Brief on Kaizen events
The ultimate purpose of Kaizen is a cultural change, proceedings to kick-start Kaizen efforts or emphasize on a group of
problems which had evolved. The concentrated methodologies to initiate rapid changes to attain a short-term goal are also
the extension of Kaizen philosophy.

There are numerous names associated with Kaizen events:

• Kaizen Blitz
• Rapid Process Workshop
• Focused Improvement Workshop
• Kaizen Burst
• Kaizen Workshop
• Continuous Improvement Workshop
In addition, these are based on tools or focus on particular areas. For instance 5S, total productive maintenance and value
stream mapping.
Kaizen Cycle
Kaizen cycle for continuous improvement:
Employee Involvement
Engage employees, gather help in specifying issues and problems. By involving them, you can create acceptability for
change. Often, this is organized as particular groups of the person charged with gathering and transferring information
from a wider group of employees.
Search Problems
Using feedback from all employees, gather a list of problems and potential opportunities. Create a shortlist if there are many
issues. Prioritize them based on cost-saving potential.
Solve it!
Empower and support employees to present creative solutions, with all types of ideas encouraged. Select a solution or
combination of solutions from the offered ideas and just for encouragement gift one of the ideas the title "winning
solution"
Solution testing
Implement the winning solution and combination of solutions, involve everyone in the implementation phase. Start with
pilot implementation programs or initiate other small-scale steps to validate the solution.
Study the results
At numerous intervals, review progress, with all details about who will be the point of contact and plans to keep floor
employees involved in the implementation. Study how successful the implementation of the solution is.
Standardize
If the results are satisfactory, it is time to select the solution organization-wide. The process to take the solution at an
organization level is to standardize the solution, change, idea implementation etc.
Repeat the Cycle
These steps should be recycled on an ongoing basis, with new ideas or solutions to a problem that needs to be validated.
For this purpose, the list of the problem will have to be updated with brainstorming sessions with employees.
The Core of Kaizen
There are five basic Kaizen Core Principles that are incorporated in every Kaizen activity and in every Kaizen culture.
Organizations also call it as a core of Kaizen initiative. The application of these five principles in any company is
fundamentally vital for the efficient culture of Continuous Improvement. It is also a momentous move in the areas of
productivity, quality, and labour-management relations.

The five core ideas of Kaizen are:

•Identify and know your Customer

•Let processes and material Flow without any waste
•Gemba walk to resolve problems at the floor
•Enhance and empower people
•Be Open and Transparent
Key points are the Module
What is Kaizen?
Kaizen is known as Continuous Improvement. It is often referred to as an organisational tool where employees at all levels of
a company work cohesively and proactively to gain consistent, small improvements to the business process.

Kaizen as Philosophy for Organization

Kaizen, philosophically, is about building a cultural change in a company.
Kaizen as an Action Plan
Kaizen, as part of the action plan, is about planning events emphasized on improving targetted areas in a company.
Literal Meaning of Kaizen•
" 改 " the Japanese word is transliterated as “kai-” which means “change.”
• " 善 " the Japanese word is transliterated as “-zen” which means “good.”
1 to 11 Kaizen Principles
• Improve every issue continuously.
• Repeal old and traditional concepts.
• Acknowledge no excuses and make things happen.
• Deny the status quo. Implement new methods and hope that it will work.
• If something comes out to be wrong, rectify it.
• Involve everyone to play part in problem-solving.
• Acquire information and accept opinions from multiple people.
• Before making decisions, use 5 why method by asking “why” five times to get to the root cause.
• Think economical. Save money through little improvements and spend the use of money on further improvements.
• Always remember improvement has no limits.
• Never stop trying to improve.
PDCA SDCA
PDCA means plan-do-check-act (PDCA) and SDCA means Standardize-do-check-act.
Policy Statement
The policy statement related to Kaizen from management is an important endeavour for Kaizen culture. Top
management must issue a well thought and a clear-cut policy statement to induce Kaizen in an organization.
The customer-oriented approach
The customer-oriented approach in Kaizen philosophy is that every process has customers and suppliers. For a process,
the preceding process is the supplier and the processes following it are the customers.
Flow Kaizen
The flow Kaizen is focused on the flow of information and materials. It is also identified with the reorganization of a
production work-space, or a whole site or factory.
Individual Process Kaizen
The process Kaizen means the improvement of the individual work stand. Therefore, improving the way production
workers do their job is a part of Process kaizen. It can also be summarized as "Adapting work to workers".

Kaizen Cycle
Kaizen Cycle is based on following steps:
• Employee Involvement
• Search Problems
• Solve it!
• Solution testing
• Study the results
• Standardize
• Repeat the Cycle
Core Ideas of Kaizen
Identify and know your Customer
• Let processes and material Flow without any waste
• Gemba walk to resolve problems at the floor
• Enhance and empower people
• Be Open and Transparent
After completing this module, you will be able to:
•List major Kaizen systems such as TQM, TPM, JIT etc.

•Explain the goal of the Kaizen process.

•Describe the levels of Kaizen process implementation, organizations can undertake.
•Define the 3Ks associated with Gemba Kaizen.
•Discuss the concepts of an inverted and normal triangle related to management and Gemba Kaizen.
•State importance of direct earners and how indirect earners should help them.

•Explain the Kaizen implementation process.

•List the seven steps procedure for the implementation of Kaizen in any organization.
•Define the PQCDSM principle for Kaizen.
•Explain how PQCDSM can help in the implementation of Kaizen
Major Kaizen System
The following are major systems that should be in place in order to successfully achieve a kaizen strategy:
•Total Quality Control (TQC) and Total Quality Management (TQM)
•A Just-in-Time (JIT) Production System (also called as Toyota Production System)
•Small-Group and Team activities
•A Suggestion or Feedback System
•Policy Deployment
•Total productive maintenance (TPM)
Total Quality Control/Total Quality Management

Control (TQC), which, in its initial deployment, focused on the control of the quality control process. This has now
developed into a system involving all issues related to management and is now denoted internationally with the term
known as Total Quality Management (TQM).

The meaning of "T"

The "T" in TQM refers as “total,” meaning that it encompasses every individual in the company, from leadership to middle
managers, supervisors, and workers at the floor. Moreover, it encompasses external parties like suppliers, contractors,
dealers, and wholesalers.

The meaning of "Q"

Japanese TQM should not be referred specifically as a quality control measure only; TQM has been instituted as a strategy
to help top management to be more competitive and profitable by assisting it to improve in all areas of business. In TQM,
"Q", means “quality,” which has a priority. Other goals include cost and delivery.

The meaning of "M"

The "M" in TQM means to “manage through controls” or we can say it as a “management control through process.” In
TQM, key processes must be identified, controlled, and improved on continuously so as to enhance results. Leadership role
in TQM is also incorporated so as to plan to check the process against the result so as to improve the process. It, however,
does not mean to denounce the process on the basis of the result.
The Just in Time Production System

The Just in Time (JIT) production system focuses on uprooting non-value activities of all types and ultimately making a lean
production system that is robust enough to handle variations in customer orders. This production system is helped by some
lean methodologies and concepts:

• Takt time (The time it takes to produce one unit) Versus Cycle Time
• One-Piece Flow
• Pull Production
• Automation or Jidoka
• U-shaped cells
• Setup time reduction

To internalize the ideal JIT production system, continuous Kaizen activities must be implemented in order to remove non-
value activities found in Gemba Walk. JIT drastically minimizes cost, ensures the product delivery in time, and incredibly
improves company profits.
 Total Productive Maintenance

Total productive maintenance is simply known as "TPM". A number of manufacturing concerns are now
implementing total productive maintenance (TPM) internationally. TQM focuses on enhancing overall
management performance and quality, TPM focuses on improving equipment quality as well.

TPM wants to maximize equipment efficiency through a total system of preventive maintenance spanning the
lifetime of the equipment.

Just as TQM engages everybody in the organization, TPM engages everybody at the site or plant. The 5S Lean
methodology (discussed in Alison Course: The 5S System - Lean Methodology on Workplace Optimization
and Housekeeping), is yet another important activity in Gemba, which may also be a helpful methodology to
TPM.

Note: 5S initiatives have however remarkable success in many realities even without TPM.
Policy Deployment
Hoshin Kanri is the Japanese name for Policy deployment. To understand how Kaizen helps policy deployment; Kaizen strategy focuses on
initiating small improvements, its outcome maybe not that effective if individuals are doing Kaizen for the sake of doing it without any
objective and aim. This is where we need policy deployment.

Leadership
Management should develop transparent targets to counsel every worker and ensure leadership for all Kaizen activities focused on the
targets. Real Workplace Kaizen strategy needs to monitored with its implementation through leadership involvement.

Long Term Strategy is broken into Short Term Goals

Top management or leadership must establish a long term strategy for the organization's goals. It may be broken down into short term goals
on annual or half-yearly objectives. Leadership must have a Plan to Deploy strategy as well, trickling it down through lower levels of
management until it trickles down to the workers at the floor. As the strategy translates down to the lower level, the plan should also
incorporate specific action plans and activities.

For example, a policy statement says “We must reduce our cost by ten percent to be competitive in the market” may be broken down at the
work floor to activities like minimizing inventory and rejects, boosting productivity, saving utilities and enhancing line configurations.
The Suggestion or Feedback System

The suggestion or feedback system is as an integral part of a person driven Kaizen. It focuses on the boosting morale of
employees and the advantages of employee participation.

Boosting Employee Interest

Japanese managers envision this system as the main tool so as to boost employee interest in Kaizen by helping them to offer as
many suggestions as they can, no matter how small ideas are being provided.

Kaizen Culture
Employees are also empowered to talk about their suggestions verbally with supervisors or managers and sometimes take it
into action, even before initiating the suggestion forms. This system does not envision great economic returns from every
suggestion instead it focuses on developing Kaizen minded people and creating workers as partners in the Kaizen endeavour.
Small Group Activities
A Kaizen program also incorporates Small Group activities. Examples of these activities are:
• Informal activities
• Voluntary activities
• Intra-company groups
These activities are carried out to do specific tasks in the workplace

Quality Circles
The most known and popular small group activity is Quality Circles. Quality circles are designed to resolve not only
quality issues but also concerns related to safety, cost, and productivity. Quality circles may be acknowledged as group-
oriented Kaizen activities. Quality circles are being substantially important in enhancing product quality, safety and
productivity in Japan.
Management Role in Quality Circles

The role of Quality Circles is however overrated at times. Quality circles on its own are nothing without leadership
direction. Top Management should offer a leadership role in different ways for example building QA (Quality Assurance)
systems, arranging Employee Trainings, developing and deploying policies, and developing an organization wide Cross-
Functional systems for QCD (Quality Control Deployment). Quality Circle activities, which pays, are driven by top
management who plays an invisible but important role in empowering these activities.
The Ultimate Goal of Kaizen Strategy
As Kaizen focuses on improvement, it is important to know areas of business activities which needs to be enhanced
improved most. The answer to this question is Quality, Cost, and Delivery (QCD) and Quality, Cost and Scheduling
(QCS). When the three conditions defined by the term "QCD" and "QCS" are met, customers are satisfied.

Quality
Quality means not only the quality of finished goods or services but also to the quality of the business processes that
makes those products or services.
Cost
Cost means the complete cost of design and development, production, sales, and installing or servicing the product or
service.
Delivary
Delivery refers to supplying the requested volume of units on time. (OTIF)

Collaboration & Top management Role

QCD processes engage all organization's functions and departments such as research and development (R&D), Engineering and
Maintenance, Production, Sales and Marketing (S&M), and After-Sales service.
In order to implement QCD, cross-functional collaborations are needed. External collaboration is also needed with suppliers and dealers.
It is top management’s job to assess the current status of the organization’s QCD and to develop priorities for its QCD improvement policy.
Level of Kaizen
There are different levels of Kaizen. Levels of Kaizen are founded on the extent of problems or defects. Therefore the
problem should be quantified in terms of the pain it offers and the cost and time of solution for correcting it. If the problem is
overrated and not prioritized, an individual have an invalid approach in implementing Kaizen, and may consume unneeded
action or waste productive time.
Small Kaizen
Small Kaizen are simple and as the name suggests these are quick measures. It is helpful to solve small problems that is faced in the
workplace. Small Kaizen does not demand huge resources and time to improve the current situation. Numerous small problems that rest at the
floor are often neglected as workers failed to notice that because they are used to work in that.
One of the effective ways of practicing small Kaizen is using “Kaizen Suggestion Board”. Small Kaizen topics are normally discussed among
Work Improvement Team (WIT) members.

Tips for Small Kaizen

• It is not recommended to seek Kaizen suggestions under staff shortages or high work load. • It is recommended to establish Kaizen
suggestion board and let staff contribute to make suggestion or ideas for improvement. But they should be less stressed.
• Section in-charge or WIT Supervisor then make a decision, which ideas will be picked first, and the implementation progress of
small Kaizen will be communicated to other staff at the Kaizen suggestion board meeting.
• Kaizen activity begins from feeling and realizing small issues or problems at the floor.
• Keep “KAIZEN Memo” as a record of small Kaizen activities.
• Record the problems discussed, countermeasures implemented in Memo. Capture team pictures as achievement and place it in the Memo.
Large Kaizen
Large Kaizen approach is implemented to cope up with complex problems that require expert inputs and additionally other
resources. Large Kaizen needs sufficient time to assess the problem thoughtfully to deal with the problems and avoid
recurrences. Large Kaizen can extend to over six months. It can be taken as a project that involves root cause analysis also.

Time consumed for every single step is reliant on data collection techniques, countermeasures to be applied, review
of improvement and monitoring by Work Improvement Teams (WIT).

Gemba, Management and Kaizen

Gemba means "at floor". In Japan, production work is often referred as 3K:•
Kiken - “dangerous”
• Kitanai - “dirty”
• Kitsui - “difficult”

The Gemba was considered a place where managers don't want to go as if they consider it a career's dead point. Today, on
the other hand, the leaders and presidents of renowned Japanese companies have sufficient working experience in Gemba.
Their insight on Gemba enables them to provide assistance at Gemba accordingly. Gemba is where the real work happens.

1.Toyota Kaizen Methods : Six Steps to Improvement. (2012). Hoboken: Taylor And Francis.
Focus of Gemba
Gemba walk or simply "Gemba" is a Japanese concept which focuses on adding customer-oriented value at the floor that
needs to be incorporated in the product or service. It actually helps the company to thrive and prosper. The merger of Gemba
and Kaizen is also known as Gemba Kaizen.

The different management layers comprise of top management, engineering persons, middle management and supervisors.
They all exist to offer the required help and support to the work-site for operations. For that reason, Gemba should be the
ground of all improvement initiatives and the origin of all information.
Hence, different levels of management must keep close contact with the realities of the Gemba so as to fix all problems arise
there. Management assistance offers should begin from the particular needs of the worksite and that is where the role of
Gemba comes in. When management does not acknowledge the Gemba, it tends to denounce the actual improvements on
the worksite.
Management Role
Management exists to help the Gemba do a better job by reducing constraints as much as possible. In reality, some managers
correctly understand their role. More often, managers regard the Gemba as a failure source, where things always go wrong,
and they neglect their responsibility for those problems.

In some Western companies where the influence of strong unions practically controls the Gemba, management avoids
involvement in Gemba affairs. Sometimes management even appears afraid of the plant and seems almost lost or helpless.
Even in places where the union does not exercise a firm grip, Gemba work is left to veteran supervisors who are allowed by
management to run the show as they please. In such cases, management has lost control of the workplace.
Supervisors and Workers Role
Supervisors should play a key role in Gemba management, and yet they often lack the basic training to manage or to do their
most important job: maintaining and improving the standards and achieving quality, cost, and delivery.

More intense communication between management, supervisors and operators is needed, resulting in a much more effective
two-way information flow between them. Workers had a good understanding of management expectations and of their own
work. The resultant productive tension on the floor made the task much more demanding to meet management expectations
and empowering workers a feeling of pride in daily work.

Having Gemba at the top of the management structure needs a dedicated workforce. Employees must be inspired to achieve
their roles, to be proud of the jobs, and to value the contribution they add to their company. Giving workers a feeling of
mission and pride is a fundamental part of middle management’s responsibility to their Gemba role.

Gemba and Management Structure

Both inverted and normal concepts are equally valid in terms of Gemba and Management interaction. Both Gemba and
management enjoy equally important status. The Gemba offers the product or service that satisfies the customer. The
management provides support by focusing on strategy and deploying the policy to attain that goal in the Gemba
Inverted Triangle

• Inverted Triangle: Gemba residing on top of the management structure. Inverted

triangle exhibits Gemba at the top because managers can examine where they
should get information from and discover from workers at the floor so as to offer
relevant help. Gemba, therefore, becomes the origin for initiating commonsense,
low-cost improvements.

• Normal Triangle: Gemba residing at the bottom of the management structure.

Management stays on top of the organization. Management should take the initiative in
developing policies, objectives, and priorities and in providing resources for example
money and manpower. In this model, management must work through leadership and
identify the level of Kaizen most promptly required. This is also known as policy
deployment.
Direct Earners versus Indirect Earners from Gemba

In business reality, there are indirect earners. These are those people who are not directly involved in making products or
providing services. These are the people residing on the top layers. They don't have a direct role in daily product making or
services offering. Examples are CEO, Directors, Managers, President, and other supporting areas for instance Quality, Finance,
Human Resource etc.

Apart from how hard these people work in their respective areas, they do not directly earn money instead they are in the
company to support those who are directly earning money, making products, delivering services etc.

The problem is that indirect earners sometimes think they are highly qualified, and it is also true. But this attitude will not help
the company. Due to this reason, they make the job of direct earners difficult. Instead of this mindset, they should think about
how they can support those on the floor to make the work easier and better for direct earners.
Direct Earners
Direct earners are those who are involved in the manufacturing of the product or the delivery of services. These are
Production personals at the floor. If they stop work for one minute, the business prospect of making more money will be lost
by one minute. There are some other roles who directly support direct earners for example maintenance personals,
procurement personals etc. If the maintenance personals will not help production people to minimize the downtime,
production department won't be able to resume the production. Similarly, if the procurement personals won't help production
personals with raw materials availability in time, production will stop again.
The Importance of Gemba

The idea of bifurcating direct earners versus indirect earners will help professionals to understand the importance of Gemba
Kaizen. Gemba Kaizen is an improvement on the floor for direct earners. Therefore, indirect earners should also help the
direct earners at Gemba. It is also important to note here that Gemba is not only focused on production but also for cost,
delivery and quality. However, the focus is an improvement on the floor.

he House of Gemba
Gemba

Two major aspects of implementing the Gemba approach on a daily basis relates to resource management:

• Maintenance is related to maintaining the status quo by implementing standards at the floor.
• Kaizen is related to the improvement of the floor standards.

Organizations manufacture quality products or services at an affordable cost and offer them on time to please their
customers, and as a result, customers become loyal. Gemba managers work to improve any of these three functions
which are quality, cost, or delivery (QCD) and combination of any two or three. The house of Gemba illustrates
activities to achieve QCD.
Illustration of House of Gemba Activities Attributes of Successful Gemba Kaizen
•Gemba management must acknowledge responsibility for achieving quality, cost, and
delivery (QCD).
•Gemba Management should offer the objectives for the Gemba to attain but should be
responsible for the outcomes as well.
•Gemba management should assist the Gemba team in attaining the target.

•Gemba needs are more clearly identified by the workers on the floor.
•Management should help Gemba team to minimize resistance at the floor.
•Someone among workers on the floor is always thinking about all types of problems
and solutions on the production line. Successful Gemba Kaizen will take their inputs.
•Worker and management-led Continual improvement become achievable.

•Solutions focuses on commonsense and economical methods instead of costly and

method-oriented ways.

•Workers should appreciate Kaizen and are indeed inspired by this methodology.
•Awareness of Kaizen and work efficiency can be improved simultaneously.
•Employees, on the floor, can think about Kaizen during work.
•It is not even necessary to have upper management’s approval to make small
improvements. Middle management can do that.
 7 Steps to Apply Kaizen in any Organization
Kaizen is the second name to Continuous improvement. Changes are brought to the organization’s processes with a rational
timeline. One of the major benefits of Kaizen is the fact that it is continuous and not a time-oriented process.
Kaizen acknowledges more improvement is always possible. This concept helps employees and managers to implement
Kaizen in the company.
Because of the advantages of continuous improvement, many company owners, managers want to apply Kaizen in their
organization. The point is, How one should do that?

Here are the seven steps to apply Kaizen in any organization:

1st Step: Involve employees for Kaizen

Before you proceed for Kaizen, the first step is to involve your employees because it will help organizations to carry out the
project smoothly with employee support.

The application of Kaizen, needs your employees to be motivated and involved. You need to have a workplace free from
inertia. Inertia is the resistance to change. In order to have a workplace free from inertia, your organization needs the
cooperation of the workforce and interaction between leaders and workforce.
2nd Step: Find and List Problems
In this second step, start with a 360-degree review of the workplace and involve the workers in this process. The 360-degree
review will help you in finding the problem in the workplace. If these problems are rectified, the organization will be more
productive.

Problems can be related to any department, for example, the marketing department, production department, finance
department or any other area where improvements are required. The deliverable of this step is the list of problems. Then these
problems are shortlisted based on the impact and reasonable overcoming factor of controlling it.

Kaizen is a continuous process and one can always come back to the existing non-priority problems later. However, it is
important, to begin with, a small set of problems and then improving on an ongoing basis.

3rd Step: Think and Find Solutions

Managers can formulate creative persons in a team who are capable of. These professionals can focus on problem-solving.
They might have to allocate time to search for solutions to the problems; the site is facing.

It is always better to have multiple brains instead of one to generate optimum solutions for a given problem.

Do not rush for solutions, allow the team to think deeply with due time and develop some alternative solution on the basis of
cost, time to implement that solution, resources involved, and the impact of the solution. Based on these four criteria analyze
the list of solutions, and select the most appropriate ones.
4th Step: Implement the Solution
Pilot implementation is the most workable way to test out a new proposal of a solution particularly in big organizations.
Most people want to delay this stage due to critical thinking, complexity or sometimes ignorance. They think of creating
big changes in organizations, which is not even possible as it will affect the daily processes of organizations. However, a
small pilot solution will help you gauge the effectiveness of the solution. Moreover, also will help you in making a
Domino-effect in the entire organization after the success of small scale implementation.

At this time, the application must be done in an organized manner. If the ideas proposed needs to improve a bit more, then
by anyway, manage the team's excitement and establish the workability of idea on the table before applying it in the
company. A planned and managed implementation is vital for a solution so that the outcomes can be tracked.

5th Step: Check the Implementation

At incidences during the application of the solution, there is mere communication of ideas to subordinates wherein the job is
assigned to someone else. This is what makes it problematic to apply Kaizen and this is where checking and auditing of the
implementation should take place. One needs to make sure that implementation is done to the floor level so that the solution
can yield proper results.

As leaders, one needs to have reliable professionals at all points who is liable for the implementation. So a leader can appoint
the task to a team leader who can translate the job it in the team, maintaining review on the progress and then report back to
the top management. Audits need to be exercised and the progress needs to be monitored. Checking the results is the main
target of this exercise.
6th Step: Standardize the implementation
If the outcomes are not positive, one needs to go back to the third step wherein one should apply alternative ideas, which were
on the table. At this point, one needs not to get frustrated and annoyed because there are many advantages to Kaizen and
gradually with certainty, one will notice the advantages.

On the other hand, if the outcomes were positive and the leader finds the process improving, then standardize the process all
across the departments and all sites so that the company operates more efficiently and productively. Standardization is the best
outcome of implementing Kaizen.

Standardization boosts morale because it saves time and manpower, as a consequence, having employees satisfied and more
productive. Standardization also stands for helping workers by having standard procedures which they need to implement and
by avoiding the bureaucracy at a minimal level.

7th Step: Repeat

As the team has not implemented shortlisted ideas, which were selected in Step 2, the team can then scrutinize the
extended list again and repeat the complete procedure again so that another shortlisted idea can be optimized. The true
essence of Kaizen is in “slow and gradual change”.

The repetition of these steps for an extended period of time will make the culture of the organization aligned with the
Kaizen culture. It is focused to remove waste and to enhance processes so that everything runs in an efficient and
improved.
PQCDSM and Kaizen
PQCDSM is an important TPM implementation tool. Each word in PQCDSM is an indicator of operational efficiency.
PQCDSM means Productivity, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Safety and Morale.
Productivity (P)
Productivity is related to the utilization of production hours. Lost production output can be because of material shortage,
manpower issues, and tools etc. OEE is one of the important metrics in TPM. It means overall equipment efficiency. According
to TPM standards, minimum 85% OEE must be attained. Therefore, it means minimum 85% productivity must be attained as
one in three-factor of OEE.
Quality (Q)
Quality is the second important consideration of OEE as well as PQCDSM. There should be zero customer complaints.

This can be achieved by minimizing rejection and rework, by evading mistakes in the first place. In customer terms, it means
that there should be no returns.

Cost (C)
Cost is the third important part of PQCDSM. If focuses to reduce the manufacturing cost by some percentage. The cost is
reduced by minimizing the production and maintenance expenses, inventory cost and communication-related cost etc.
Delivery (D)
Delivery is the fourth tool of the PQCDSM, it focuses to deliver products on time to the customer. The delivery rate should be
100%. It can be attained by reducing the time in logistic losses, time in supply to any of the support functions.

Safety (S)
Safety is the fifth tool of PQCDSM. It focuses to have zero accident or accident-free zone area by making sure the safety of
workers on machines, safety in material handling, packaging, etc.
Morale (M)
Morale is the last PQCDSM tool. In order to enhance employees motivation, they are involved in doing a number of
Kaizens, for example, one point lesson (OPL). It also incorporates the organization of autonomous maintenance teams so
that better cohesion and teamwork should be encouraged.
Major Kaizen Systems –
TQM, JIT, TPMTQMTQM means total quality management. In TQM, key processes must be identified, controlled, and
improved on continuously so as to enhance results.

JIT
The Just in Time (JIT) production system focuses on uprooting non-value activities of all types and ultimately making a
lean production system that is robust enough to handle variations in customer orders.

TPM
Total productive maintenance is simply known as "TPM". TPM focuses on improving equipment quality as well. TPM
wants to maximize equipment efficiency through a total system of preventive maintenance spanning the lifetime of the
equipment.

Policy Deployment, Feedback System

Policy Deployment Management should develop transparent targets to counsel every worker and ensure leadership for
all Kaizen activities focused on the targets. Policy Deployment is a process through which management adopts Kaizen
as a top level strategy which trickles down in the organization. Everyone contributes to that policy by making small
changes.

The Suggestion or Feedback System

The suggestion or feedback system is as an integral part of a person driven Kaizen. It focuses on the boosting morale of
employees and the advantages of employee participation.
 Major Kaizen Systems –
Small Group Activities A Kaizen program also incorporates Small Group activities. Examples of these activities are:

• Informal activities
• Voluntary activities
• Intra-company groups

The focus of Kaizen Event

The focus of Kaizen events depends on management priorities. However, Kaizen events can also focus on specific Lean
methodologies for example:

• 5S Workplace Kaizen
(Take Alison course - The 5S System - Lean Methodology on Workplace Optimization and Housekeeping)
• TPM Kaizen
• Machine Setup Reduction Kaizen (SMED - Single Minute Exchange of Dies)
• Flow Kaizen or Value Stream Mapping
• Supply Chain Kaizen
Success Factors of Kaizen Event
There are different names and focus of Kaizen events, however, the underline concept is same that is an incremental
improvement in the business processes.

Robust leadership and effective planning are two important inputs for successful Kaizen events. If an organization
compromises any of the two inputs, the Kaizen team will be confused about the management expectation of events. The
event is likely to fail in such a case.

However, successful implementation of Kaizen Event can yield breakthrough improvements, normal events result in twenty
to hundred percentage improvements in areas for instance quality, delivery, productivity etc. Kaizen events should also be
implemented in departments other than production, as it is not Gemba Kaizen only. Organizations can save significantly
through these events.
Planning Items for Kaizen Event

The focus, objective and expected target of the Kaizen event should be explicitly defined in planning. Planning items for
Kaizen event includes top management commitment and understand, Proficiency of Kaizen facilitator, specification of
responsibilities, timelines for an event etc.
Top Management Commitment and Understanding
The top management should be taken into full confidence and they should understand the importance of the event so they
can offer their commitment in terms of resources provision, coping up with any resistance etc. Without top management
commitment, the project cannot be successful.
The Role of Kaizen Facilitator
It is important to hire a Proficient Facilitator or also top management can get an internal employee trained for Lean
methodologies and Kaizen to be a facilitator. Someone has to lead and facilitate the Kaizen event, someone who should be
well experienced in lean methodologies and tools. For the event to be successful, a facilitator should have the experience of
running such programs. A qualified facilitator can assist the team to be on track and keep them in the right track to obtain
the best achievable results.
If an organization fails to select a good facilitator, the whole process will be confusing and the teams will be disheartened. A
qualified consultant can also help organizations for such events.
Kaizen or Quality Control (QC) Story
Kaizen process or quality control story is a problem-solving process for medium issues in your workplace. There can
be one Kaizen story in a Kaizen event and there can be multiple Kaizen stories. It all depends on the scope of the
Kaizen event.
We have already discussed some of the seven steps of the Kaizen Story in earlier topics. This topic is incorporated so
that you are not amazed by these terminologies. The Kaizen process is based on the PDSA process (discussed earlier).
Kaizen or QC Story interprets the PDCA/PDSA in the following steps:
•Choose Kaizen theme
•Analyze the Situation
•Perform Root cause analysis
•Specify the countermeasures
•Apply identified countermeasures
•Check the effectiveness of the countermeasures
•Standardization of effective countermeasures
Step 1: Proposing a Kaizen Theme
Kaizen theme proposal and selection is one of the most important parts of Kaizen story.
How a Kaizen Theme is made?Kaizen theme is:
• A problem the workplace is facing
• A problem the work-area needs to improve
• A displeasing issue pointed out by customers

Process of selecting Kaizen theme should be:

• It should be headed by the Work Improvement Team (WIT)
• It should be done by employing the brainstorming technique (Brainstorming is a method in a meeting involving all
staff in the workplace)
• Employ matrix to assess feasibility, ask each step from the team, is it feasible to do, if not then why.

Kaizen Theme Description

Kaizen theme is described with:

• Simplified sentence having the basic structure of “What” and “Where” it is required to be done.
• Clarity on the rationale for selecting the theme.

Examples:
• Reduce time for finding items in the store department
• Reduce the number of mistakes on specimen sample collection in the ward
• Reduce the overstock of inject-able medicine in the clinic
 Tips for Selecting Kaizen ThemesSome of the tips are:

• The theme is likely possible to carry out within the host department.
• The issue is related to everyone in the department.
• The issue can be solved within three months or even before that.
• Advantages to the host department and its customers.

Step 2: Current Situation AnalysisKaizen theme was selected in first Step 1, which the “Problem” of the site area or department. The “Current
Situation analysis” comes after the theme has been selected. This process is related to brainstorming with the work improvement team (WIT)
on possible reasons, which contribute to the “Problem”. The deliverable of this process is a list of Contributing factors.

After listing the “Contributing factors,” which leads to the “Problem,” it is important to gauge the frequency of occurrence of listed
“Contributing factors” of the problem. It is important to note here:

• Keep step by step Record of the current process of noting the frequency of contributing factors. It will help to specify the type of data
collected.

In order to keep the record, the following items should be considered:

• Team members' knowledge on Kaizen concerning Kaizen theme and its contributing factors.
• Review if quantitative data are gathered rightfully and concerned with the Kaizen theme or not.• Review whether data is gathered from
reliable and trustworthy data sources or not.
• Check if a suitable methodology is utilized for data collection or not.
• Check if Data gathering methodology is explicitly recorded or not.
• Examine whether the data collection period is clearly specified or not
Step 3: The Problem's Root Cause Analysis
(RCA)Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a methodology to analyze and study the contributing factors or reasons for failure or
problem. there are various tools which are used for RCA:
• Fishbone analysis or Cause and Effect Analysis for complex problems
• 5 Why Analysis for simpler problems

Fishbone (Cause-Effect) analysis will be the correct tool for assessing the root cause for a problem selected for Kaizen
theme. Many beginners in Kaizen confuse the fish head with Kaizen theme.

What should be on the “Head of fish”?

“Head of fish” is not a Kaizen Theme. Common mistake found in beginners is to put KAIZEN theme as “Head of fish
(Diagram 10)”. However fish head should be the contributing factor and the analysis should be made on a contributing
factor. For example:

The theme is "Minimize long waiting time at payment processing queue of the superstore." There are many contributing
factors to this theme, for instance, if you place it in the fish head, you will end up with contributing factors again. The
contributing factors can be "Skill level of the operator at the payment processing desk", "Takt time and Cycle time of the
payment processing operation is not balanced", "Manual method of payment processing used" etc. Now, for instance, the
skill level is the fish head, the possible reasons for that contributing factor can be many for instance new hiring, improper
training, lack of supervision, cultural resilient, overload etc.
Step 4: Identification of countermeasures
In this phase, it is vital to realize how to specify countermeasures utilizing Tree diagram and assess feasibility utilizing
Matrix diagram.

It is often seen that countermeasures in the second line are not well recognized, and links between countermeasures are not
clear. Therefore, those issues need to be carefully checked and supported with technical inputs for the right selection of
countermeasures.

After listing of countermeasures, feasibility must be checked with Matrix diagram.

For instance, “conduct training” was selected as a primary countermeasure. Then, for this purpose following actions
should be taken to conduct a training
• One needs to "develop training materials".
• One needs to "conduct a training session".
• One needs to "monitor and mentor trained staff".

Then, feasibility was validated for all three activities using Matrix diagram. But, only “conduct a training session” can
attain high mark and marked as feasible. Then here comes a rational question. Is it reasonable to conduct a training session
without training materials? The answer must be a big "NO". Training should be accompanied by training materials.
Step 5: Implementation of countermeasures
All countermeasures selected in Step 4 are fed into an action plan for the application of countermeasures. The action plan is
established utilizing 5W&1H methodology. 5W stands for "When, Where, Who, What, Why" and 1H stands for "How". The
methodology will simplify important issues. A checklist must be established to check the progressions of countermeasures
application within the given time-line.

Action plans and checklist need to be showcased in a display board where all workers have access and they can see the status.
This is very imperative to tell the staff to apply selected countermeasures within the agreed timeline.

The following issues need to be properly checked:

• All countermeasures selected should be implemented within the department or area.• The action plan is established on the
basis of “5W&1H” methodology.

• Checklist for monitoring of implementation progression is established. • Suitable time for application of countermeasures is
mentioned.
Step 6: Checking the effectiveness
In this step, the same data gathered in Step 2 should be gathered again for checking the implementation of Kaizen activities.
The new data in comparison will show the improvement level.

Hence following items need to be reviewed:

• Confirm that Mandatory data is gathered to check effectiveness.• Confirm if it is the same data collection methodology is
used.
• Confirm the data collection period is same as applied in Step 2.
• Review table of comparison for effectiveness, check if it is prepared or not.
• Check whether Pareto Charts are prepared for before and after Kaizen.
Step 7 - Standardization of effective countermeasures
The main objective of this step is to replicate good improvements of Kaizen to avoid recurrence of resolved problems.
Standardization should be done on the PDSA model.

Careful Consideration of Standardization

The following items should be carefully considered:

• Check if Standardization plan has listed all effective countermeasures or not.

• Check if Standardization is prepared based on “5W&1H” (already discussed).
• Review If monitoring checklist for standardized activities is established and utilized or not.
• Check if All employees are provided access to Standardization plan or not.
Refresher for Standardization
All countermeasures recognized, as “effective measure” must be listed at the left side of the Standardization plan. The
formula of Standardization plan is the similar to the action plan, which was established in Step 5. based on 5W&1H
methodology to simplify the activities.

After the preparation of Standardization plan, there must be a framework to persist on effective measures to avoid getting
back. It is often noticed that work improvement teams (WITs), often start relaxing after Step 6. Therefore they mostly neglect
step 7. The role of facilitator and leaders comes in where need to provide refreshers to the team to motivate them for
standardization
International Standards Versus Kaizen
Kaizen focuses on continuous improvement for quality, productivity, safety and other areas. International standards like ISO
9001 (Quality Management System - QMS), ISO 45001 (Occupation Health and Safety Management System Standard -
OH&SMS) also talks on improvement in Clause 10. Kaizen talks about continuous improvement whereas ISO 9001, ISO
45001 specifies requirements about continual improvement.

The ISO 9001, ISO 45001 improvement is related to systematic improvement in quality management system, health and safety
management system respectively. Whereas Kaizen improvement is related to Lean methodologies, Quality, Production and
Safety, it also counts small improvements or daily workplace improvements as well.
Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement means that organizations are constantly looking for small-scale improvement in everyday
workplace practice apart from Kaizen stories and themes. The workforce at the floor is daily improving by taking small
initiatives of Kaizen or continuous improvement. For example, even having a marked waste bin is also considered as a
Kaizen. However, this approach has not been adopted by the international standards like ISO 9001, ISO 45001 for
management system-level improvements instead the standards use the term continual improvement or simply as an
improvement.

Continual Improvement
The term "Continual" specifies time span that encompasses over an extended period of time, but with due breaks of
interruption. The International standards like ISO 9001, ISO 45001 uses this term as the standard making bodies have
realized that improvement at management system level cannot be continuous. An improvement at the management system
level will be incorporated and then it has to sustain for a period of time to check its effectiveness. It is not possible to
improve at management system level daily or weekly. Internal audits and management reviews are planned at defined
intervals. At the management system level, internal audit and management reviews play an important role for improvement
but after the due interval.Logically any improvement to be sustainable needs to follow a continual improvement process
instead of continuous. Although the Kaizen methodology uses the term continuous as the methodology emphasizes on
sustaining the improvements made, therefore it will be better to name it "Continual" instead of "Continuous".
Monitoring and Measurement (M&E)

Responsibility

Monitoring and measurement on an ongoing basis for Kaizen activities are important to keep a check on improvement and
prevent it from falling back. Responsible persons for the Kaizen Monitoring and measurement are the designated personals
in the Quality Improvement Teams (QITs). Therefore, QITs members need to be knowledgeable and expert on the Kaizen
process, usage of monitoring and measurement tools, and techniques for record-keeping.

Ways of coaching WITs

Based on the accounts from various practising Kaizen professionals, regular technical inputs after some time from QIT are needed to coach WIT
(Work Improvement Team) at a different department. There should have different communication ways between QIT and WIT. The way QIT
communicate with WIT in the organizations needs to be mutually agreed and practised periodically.

Following items should be considered for coaching:

• A regular visit with specified frequency to departments of section areas should be planned in which QIT provide technical and expert advice to
WIT.
• QIT should welcome WIT at their office if they need any help.
• Verify the completed work before moving to the next step in Kaizen story.
• Employ some type of checklist to assess the progress and examine results for consultation.
• A joint presentation session by QIT and experienced WIT where they share experiences and achievement stories for team counselling and
motivation.
The key points from this module are:
•Kaizen events are small or big improvement projects with a directed aim for specific improvement. Normally they are 7-
15 days long events facilitated by a leader with the implementation team being mainly the members of a specific area in
which the Kaizen event is being conducted. Also, the team can include a few more people from supporting departments
and from management.
•The focus of Kaizen events depends on management priorities. However, Kaizen events can also focus on specific Lean
methodologies, for example, the 5S Workplace Kaizen.
•Successful implementation of Kaizen Event can yield breakthrough improvements, normal events result in twenty to
hundred percentage improvements in areas for instance quality, delivery, productivity etc. Kaizen events should also be
implemented in departments other than production, as it is not Gemba Kaizen only.

•The focus, objective, and expected target of the Kaizen event should be explicitly defined in planning. Planning items for
Kaizen event includes top management commitment and understand, Proficiency of Kaizen facilitator, specification of
responsibilities, timelines for an event etc.
•It is important to hire a Proficient Facilitator for Kaizen events. Also, top management can get an internal employee
trained for Lean methodologies and Kaizen to be a facilitator.

•Within planning, the management and facilitator should define the scope of the event. The scope includes physical
boundaries, departments and areas, the theme of the event etc.
Perform Root cause analysisRoot Cause Analysis (RCA) is a methodology to analyze and study the contributing factors or
reasons for failure or problem. there are various tools which are used for RCA:

• Fishbone analysis or Cause and Effect Analysis for complex problems

• 5 Why Analysis for simpler problems

Analyze the Current Situation

The “Current Situation analysis” comes after the theme has been selected. This process is related to brainstorming with
the work improvement team (WIT) on possible reasons which contribute to the “Problem”. The deliverable of this
process is a list of Contributing factors.
Kaizen Theme

Kaizen theme proposal and selection is one of the most important parts of Kaizen story.

Specify the countermeasures

In this phase, it is vital to realize how to specify countermeasures utilizing Tree diagram and assess feasibility utilizing
Matrix diagram. It is often seen that countermeasures in the second line are not well recognized, and links between
countermeasures are not clear. Therefore, those issues need to be carefully checked and supported with technical inputs
for the right selection of countermeasures. After listing of countermeasures, feasibility must be checked with Matrix
diagram.
Apply identified countermeasures
All countermeasures selected in Step 4 are fed into an action plan for the application of countermeasures. The action plan is
established utilizing 5W&1H methodology. 5W stands for "When, Where, Who, What, Why" and 1H stands for "How". The
methodology will simplify important issues. A checklist must be established to check the progressions of countermeasures
application within the given time-line.

Check the effectiveness of the countermeasures

In this step, the same data gathered in Step 2 should be gathered again for checking the implementation of Kaizen activities.
The new data in comparison will show the improvement level
Standardization of effective countermeasures
The main objective of this step is to replicate good improvements of Kaizen to avoid recurrence of resolved problems.
Standardization should be done on the PDSA model.