KAIZEN UMBRELLA

Kaizen forms an umbrella that covers many techniques including Kanban, total productive maintenance, six sigma, automation, just in time, suggestion system and productivity improvement, etc.

Principles of kaizen management The principles of Kaizen that must be understand are: People are the most important asset. Teamwork provides results and gives everyone a feeling of accomplishment. A dozen heads are better than one. Everyone must be open to change and improvements. Ideas from workers, management, suppliers, and customers can lead to new, better and easier ways of doing things. Gradual changes are easier to accept than complete overhauls and employees are more likely to accept gradual change. Small changes will demonstrate how a tiny improvement can provide real results.

Old ways of doing things may be comfortable, but not very efficient. Everyone in a company has to accept Change is Good and necessary for company survival. Making excuses is unacceptable if it is We have always done it this way and dont see why we have to change now. Keeping the old ways may result in a company not being able to survive the competition. If the job is right the first time, waste will be reduced. Waste accounts for as much as 35% or higher of manufactured product. By eliminating waste, profits increase. 7. Correct process errors immediately or they become larger. Equipment breakdowns and failures are a result of letting a minor problem become a major headache.

KAIZEN PRACTICE Kaizen process can be divided into three segments depending upon complexity and level. 1-Management oriented-Concentrate on logistic and strategic issues and provides momentum to keep up progress and morale. 2-Group oriented kaizen-it is a permanent approach and is represented by QC circles and SGAs that uses various statistical tools for problem solving. It calls for full PDCA cycle and identifying problems and causes. 3-Individual oriented Kaizen-It is achieved in form of suggestion system.

What are the 7 Wastes? These wastes are... 1. Defects: - Quality defects originate rework, scrap and lost raw materials. If these defects go all the way to the customer, the loss will be even greater. To avoid this, we move from the traditional and obsolete Quality Control still in use in some facilities, to the innovative Quality at the Source (Jidoka) concept. Here, each member of the organization is empowered and will make sure that no faulty products leave or arrive at their work-stations. This is supported with ingenious Mistake Proofing (Poka-Yoke) devices. 2. Waiting: - Caused mainly by low reliability and/or availability of the equipment, lack of stock or poor scheduling. Here we have several tools, strategies and disciplines that will prevent this type of loss. Analyzing your process, we will be able to propose cost-effective improvements, from simple relocations or remapping to TPM and other

implementations. 3. Processing: - Over-processing takes place everywhere. Think of those steps that do not add any real value. Processes that can be inaccurate and/or incorrect. We can team up with your manufac- turing force and find the appropriate actions that will start saving you time, materials, space and money. 4. Production: - Over-production is just as bad as under- production. Production may also be too early or too late. Make sure production is performed at the right time in the right quantity. Lean Manufacturing establishes a one-piece flow environment where production obeys the market. We help drastically reduce this disagreement between supply and demand.

5. Motion: - There are many cases of people required to perform unnecessary motion, or awkward movements, or where motion is not efficient (not adding value to the product). One of our customers saw in just a few hours, the reduction from 42 miles of motion of 24 people in three shifts to less than 2 miles of motion with 16 people in two shifts. Our mission is to use the same resources to produce more. 6. Inventory: - Having too much raw material, WIP (work in process), finished goods because of large lots is sometimes overlooked and is a financial loss. SMED (Quick-Setup Strategy) implementations assist manufacturers to reduce lot sizes. Cellular organization or re-organization cuts WIP drastically. JIT deliveries provide instant solutions to the conventional warehouse problems. We are ready to help!

7. Transportation: - A defective or poor layout of the plant, an ineffective material handling system, an inconvenient location, all cause too much transportation which adds cost and risk to the operation. A value stream mapping will give you a cutting edge to reduce some of that overlooked unnecessary transportation. We are prepared to introduce these improvements and help many companies achieve their goals.

The Japanese concept of kaizen, or continuous improvement, has been long lauded as a success. However, there have been charges levied against kaizen that it is simply a passing management fad, popular one day but out the next. Such an attitude is a truism: if a company treats it as a fad then it will be a fad. Here are six reasons why organizations fail when implementing kaizen. PROBLEMS IN KAIZEN IMPLEMENTATION

One of the reasons of kaizen failure is that a company is not fully committed to making kaizen the cornerstone of their strategy. Kaizen isnt simply a set of tools for implementation: it is a long term mind-set in which every single employee is committed to making things better. 1) Kaizen is seen as a short term project:-

The emphasis here is on long-term improvement. Although the concept of kaizen is quite simple to understand, it is difficult to master and will need time before it is fully understood by all employees. The main problem with implementation is that often companies expect a quick turn around and visibility in KPIs within a year, and when it doesnt appear, write kaizen off as a failure.

In reality, benefits will start to be felt in the small scale, before slowly propagating throughout the organization. When Toyota started producing cars, it was seen as many goods made in China are treated today: undesirable and of low quality. 40 years down the line, Toyota is considered the poster child for quality.

A company needs to be married to kaizen for it to succeed, as it is very much a long term relationship spanning the rest of their lives. Toyota has still not perfected the car and they never will, as kaizen dictates that theres always something that could be done better or more efficiently.

2) Overemphasis on tying kaizen to KPIs

Kaizen can only succeed in places where there is a true desire to improve. While it is important to tie kaizen to KPIs, over emphasis on it would ignore the fact that improvements are often incremental, not revolutionary. Kaizen is like a snowball rolling down a gently sloping hill it gathers momentum and increases

in size as it comes down. The improvements gradually accumulate over time, as processes are perfected and methodologies tweaked.

3) Implemented in a heavily bureaucratic organization

Lack of commitment is only one of several common reasons why kaizen implementation fails. Kaizen will never succeed in an organization bogged down by a bureaucratic mind-set, filled with rules and procedures with people who would resist any sort of change. Another type is where change is punished and blocked, whether formally or socially, decimating any incentive to improve. Government organizations are often guilty of this, along with many Asian companies where efficiency and financial indicators plays back burner to personal relationships.

4) Management pays lip service to kaizen

The failure of kaizen is also often seen in companies which implement kaizen in wolfs clothing. For example, a university I once came across implemented a suggestion box which was rarely checked, and called it kaizen. No training was given on how to analyse a problem to the root cause using 5-why analysis, nor any of the other kaizen concepts such as PDCA or the use of mieruka (visual controls) given. As a result none of the suggestions that came in were actually considered, nor were they actionable or could fix the problems at hand.

Worse yet, on the odd chance they did check the box and found suggestions, the top management simply ridiculed the suggestion, and would come up with excuses why the status quo was superior to what was suggested in public. As a

result the feedback dried up as quickly as the paint on the box, and the project failed.

5) Where training on kaizen isnt provided

Kaizen will never work if people do not implement its full suite of tools and concepts, with sufficient training given to take advantage of them. All the tools, especially the 5-why analysis and the mindset that everything can be improved, is an essential part

6) Where management does not support kaizen initiatives

The importance of support cannot be over emphasized: it is essential that management isnt just fully on board, but essential that they want to fully embrace the long-term commitment of kaizen to the organization. They need to pass on their enthusiasm and demonstrate that even they are continually looking for new and better ways of doing things.

Kaizen is about everyone improving everything, not just a group doing all the work. Kaizen is all about making things better in the long run, and improving your profits and processes. It is a strategy that needs to be implemented now, for the future.