The Kaizen mindset uses employee’s personal creativity and ingenuity to identify problems and then develop and implement ideas to solve those problems. The key piece of the Kaizen mindset is acknowledging that everything can be improved and everything can perform better or more efficiently.
Kaizen-type improvements can be as small as a single employee identifying and fixing a problem, or it could be many employees working together to solve a problem that affects each of them in a different manner. A Kaizen event is a collection of resources (dedicated people, money, and time resources) that are pulled together to collectively build on the Kaizen mindset, typically with a targeted problem project in mind.
Lean manufacturing, as a management philosophy, is focused on improving process speed and quality of manufacturing through reduction of process wastes. The Lean lists various wastes or mudas which consume unnecessary energy, money, and time thus, adds no value to the customer. By reducing activities that drive up cycle times or cost money unnecessarily, processes can become more efficient and more predictable. While Lean is identified as a problem solving tool, it is itself a series of tools that help to reduce the process wastes.
The main premise of Kaizen is about all employees performing task and being knowledgeable about that task, by involving them and giving ownership of the process. The responsibility and team effort encourages innovation and change by involving all levels of employees for productive improvements. Hence, Kaizen is the right approach for achieving a higher manufacturing competitiveness. Kaizen emphasizes making jobs easier by taking them apart, studying them, and making improvements.
Kaizen encompasses different continuous improvement activities to address improvements at every processing step if applicable thus, creating a corporate attitude for continuous improvement. Improvements by Kaizen have a process focus as Kaizen generates process-oriented thinking, is people-oriented and is directed at people’s efforts. Instead of identifying employees as the problem, Kaizen targets the process and involves employees who provide improvements by understanding how their jobs fit into the process and changing it.
