As you know, Kaizen, one of the lean production techniques, focuses on activities carried out for the continuous improvement of problems. Nearly all successful companies apply Kaizen activities, encourage people to take part in these activities, and provide the necessary resources. What they mostly expect from this is that problems are continually thought through, that the steps required for improvement are taken, and that waste is reduced. In this way, efficient use of the company's resources is secured.
In our country, however, when improvement and Kaizen are mentioned, what comes to mind for many of our people is large and fundamental change, such as replacing machines. Mention a Kaizen activity in your company today, and you will see that most of the ideas that come forward are relatively large and, for the most part, solutions in which the person who suggested the idea does not take part. Unfortunately, this takes Kaizen activities away from being what they ought to be.
Whether a machine needs to be replaced is a matter of that machine's economic life and of the adequacy of the company's financial resources. All managers know this situation well, and in general there is always a budget and a plan. In other words, the company will want to replace machines according to its financial position and its budget.
Disadvantages of Focusing on Large Changes:
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Difficulty of Implementation: Because large and fundamental changes require high investment costs and long implementation times, they can lead to difficulties in practice.
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Employee Resistance: Employees may resist changing their habits and adapting to new systems.
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Loss of Productivity: Losses of productivity can occur while large changes are being planned and implemented.
The small problems that an employee may encounter, perhaps hundreds of times a day, are either never seen by the management level or are seen only very rarely. These small problems (Chokote) occur so often, and in such numbers, that they destroy a significant part of efficiency. What is worse, these small problems have ceased to be problems and have become part of the job. When employees are asked, they will say that this is their job. For example, a person removing flash at an injection molding machine will insist that this is a job. In fact, it is a mold and machine-setup problem. It needs to be eliminated.
Characteristics of Small Problems (Chokote):
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Frequent Repetition: The same problem appears again and again and causes waste.
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Small Appearance: Although they look small and unimportant, over time they cause large losses.
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Tendency to Ignore Them: Employees tend to ignore these problems or not to make enough effort to solve them.
In many places we explain that, for good Kaizen practice, employees' points of view need to change. What we mean by that change here is that small problems need to be placed on the agenda instead of discussing the large problems described above. Employees should be enabled to focus much more on these matters.
Benefits of Focusing on Small Problems:
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Fast Resolution: Small problems can be solved more quickly and easily than large changes.
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Employee Participation: Encouraging employees to solve small problems increases their commitment to the job and their motivation.
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Small Gains: The small gains obtained by solving small problems can, over time, turn into a large effect.
Recommendations for Focusing on Small Problems in Kaizen Activities:
Training and Awareness:
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In Kaizen training and workshops, direct employees to give their attention to small problems.
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Use visual materials and examples to build awareness of the effects of small problems in the workplace.
Employee Participation:
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Set up systems that encourage employees to report small problems.
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Hold brainstorming sessions to identify the root causes of problems and to develop their solutions.
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Thank and reward employees who contribute to the solution of small problems.
Teamwork:
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Encourage teamwork directed at solving problems.
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Enable employees from different departments to come together and develop shared solutions.
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Create platforms for sharing knowledge and experience.
Success Stories:
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Inspire employees by sharing examples of successful Kaizen applications.
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Emphasize the concrete successes obtained by solving small problems.