Every industry whether it is a service industry or a manufacturing are continually striving for process excellence, to embed process excellence in existing work process or to make the excellence as a habit of process, several process improvement methodologies are available. KAIZEN is one of them, this approach of process improvement is a part of Lean methodology and it is well known that lean methodology works on waste reduction in existing process by tracing out & reduction of different kind of wastes i.e. Muda (7 waste of any production system), Mura (inconsistency in production system due to variation) & Muri (unreasonable activities in a production system).
What is KAIZEN:-
A systematic work approach to achieve continual improvement in any process by reducing waste. The word KAIZEN is originated from Japanese language is combination of two words one is KAI (stands for change) & another one is ZEN (stands for good) combine it would give the translation as “Change for Good”. Basic theme of KAIZEN activity in any process system is to find out some small opportunities of process improvement and to achieve those improvements by doing some good changes.
KAIZEN Program can be divided in two categories.
Flow KAIZEN Process KAIZEN
Flow KAIZEN Program works for flow of information or flow of material for an entire process or even entire organization process system. The second type is Process KAIZEN which works for improvement in a small processor in sub-processes of the system.
How kaizen is implemented : -
In KAIZEN implementation we use PDCA cycle of Deming. In Deming cycle of PDCA we first plan the activity as in KAIZEN implementation activity we first select the area i.e. either we select the process or the sub-process. In PLAN phase of Kaizen implementation, first current state of the process is observed and all the observation is documented in as-is form. By observing the as-is state of the process it becomes easy to trace out the existing wastes in the process. The second phase of PDCA cycle is DO phase in this step of KAIZEN Program of implementation all necessary knowledge is provided to the team through Kaizen Training to fill the basic gaps among team members. In this step, we also characterise the future state of the process. What necessary change is required in as-is process situation. Ground team collaboratively prepares the improvement plan and same improvement plan is then implemented in the process. The third phase of PDCA cycle is CHECK this step is all about the checking of adherence of all planned activity for potential improvement.
Once improvement idea has been implemented it is necessary for a continual improvement that this activity should have adhered strictly and for a strict adherence an audit plan is prepared & process is observed with the same audit plan on define periodicity. The fourth & last phase of PDCA cycle is the ACT in this step of kaizen implementation. If any gap or gaps found during audits, we work upon them and to fix these gaps completely, one should have to revise the complete PDCA cycle. Once the desired improvement or goal achieved by the Kaizen implementation team, the final report on all activities carried out and achievements.
About the Author
Advance Innovation Group provides several levels of online Six Sigma like Kaizen training and certification program, PMP training, ISO training, AGILE, SCRUM, Lean, ITIL across India.. Advance Innovation Group also provides corporate consulting to different organizations. In today’s world “e-commerce” is very successful because it is an easy and effective way to connect with people, sharing your thoughts, enhance the knowledge, find opportunities and spread the business. In the fast-growing technology-oriented market, the internet is the platform where we can effortlessly reach out to people and share the thoughts and ideas. Due to the internet is very easily accessible nowadays, you can connect with the audience anytime and from anywhere.