The general picture I encountered when I discussed Kaizen at many companies up to today was as follows: a section of employees / managers who know Kaizen activities in some way tend to do some work through their own efforts; managers want Kaizen work to be done, but they want the people who will take part to devote very little time to these activities, or they carry out some practices under the name of Kaizen activities (in particular, they perceive some of the work that comes out of the suggestion system as Kaizen).
In fact, if you look into it you will see that the Kaizen applied by Japanese companies consists of certain basic steps and has certain basic principles. Let us turn to these briefly now:
Kaizen Philosophy
In Japanese management culture, Kaizen carries the meaning of "change for the better." Continuous improvement is expected here. It often advances through small improvements and provides significant improvements in the employee's productivity.
For Kaizen to be applied successfully, the basic principles must be followed:
- Participation by everyone: Kaizen requires the active participation of all employees, from the lowest level of the company to the highest, and not of management alone. In many companies that apply Kaizen well, every employee's participation in Kaizen activities is treated as a mandatory personal target.
- Process focus: Kaizen should focus on the processes that produce the results, more than on the results. Kaizen tries to improve by simplifying processes, improving them, preventing errors, and preventing waste (Muda).
- Big change through small steps: When improvements are made, employees are expected to focus on small changes rather than large changes. That is, instead of trying to renew the machine or the mold, work is done toward improvements such as reducing the inventories at the station, reducing the replenishment quantity, making the tables smaller, reducing walking, and so on.
- Elimination of waste: An effort is made to eliminate Muda (waste), Mura (unevenness), and Muri (overburden).
- Standardization: An effort is made to apply the results of successful Kaizen activities at every workstation and to ensure that they are understood by everyone.
Unless you work on the basis of these principles, Kaizen is not absorbed by the employees. The work either remains limited to improvement on its own scale in partial areas, or it never comes to life. As a result, the benefit to be obtained from Kaizen never materializes.
Alongside this philosophy, steps have been defined for applying Kaizen systematically. Let us look at these steps now.
Kaizen Application Steps
1. Selecting the target and the subject
The first step is to determine the process in which the work will be done. This selection is generally made in line with the company's annual targets, its strategic priorities, and the urgent problems in the field (Gemba). In some cases, prioritization can be done with tools such as decision matrices.
2. Current-state analysis (Genchi Genbutsu)
I have found, by experiencing it many times, that problems are defined incorrectly, on the basis of general talk, or that recent events are described instead of the major problems. The current state, however, should be addressed on the basis of data, and what the problems really are should be identified by going down to the shop floor and going to the place where the work is done. Afterward, the root cause can be found with problem-solving techniques such as the 5 Whys, the fishbone diagram, and so on.
3. Developing solutions and the implementation plan
Solutions and proposals are developed according to the results of the analysis. During this, the participants need to focus, to be able to express their views comfortably, and for their proposals to be tried at least once. When solutions are planned, prioritization is done, a target is set, and the focus is on low-cost solutions.
4. Implementation
The planned solutions are tried in the field and put into practice. The results are identified and numerical values are collected. Perfectionism should be avoided at the implementation stage. A Kayseri proverb: "Perfect is the enemy of the good."
5. Control and evaluation
After implementation, the results are monitored and it is checked whether the targets that were set have been reached. Regular follow-up meetings and result reports are arranged in order to do this. What matters here is the result obtained. Monitoring and control are necessary for the implementation to last.
6. Presentation to management
The results of the Kaizen activities are presented to management by the participants. This step is generally skipped; however, it is a major source of motivation for the practitioners to express themselves and to convey to management, themselves, the solutions they have applied. This should be remembered.