Imagine what the world would be like if everyone used Kaizen as part of their daily routine. That means absolutely everyone would practice continuous improvement every single day.The concept was originally created by W. Edward Deming, and put it into practice while working with Japanese manufacturers after World War ll.
The word Kaizen essentially breaks down like this: “kai” means change, and “zen” means good, so good change or improvement. What is not included in the name is that it is continuous; meaning it doesn’t happen just one time, it is small little improvements continuously.
In Kaizen, everyone in the company is involved, from the management on down. Everyone works as a team; in other words, success depends on everyone.
With this mindset, a Toyota facility in the United States had over 75,000 suggestions from their team in just one year. They estimated approximately 7,000 employees gave their input, and 99% of their suggestions were implemented. They used the PDCA cycle, or Deming Cycle.
Plan-Do-Check-Act
Plan: Use data or develop a hypothesis to identify issues that need improvement as a team, and decide which one has the priority. Also determine the end result or goal and possible ways of getting there.
Do: Test on a small scale a suggestion from a team member for a promising solution and measure the results.
Check: Study the results and see if the level of effectiveness matches your goal or hypotheses.
Act: If the results were successful, then implement the solution.
The mindset of the team is very important. When the team is included in the success of the company, their intention becomes the secret sauce to your company’s success. This could be akin to the fans at a ballgame; it has been said that the fans are just as important as the actual players, or perhaps they are even more important, for the fans give the impetus to the players. The inclusiveness and appreciation gives the employees the impetus for the company to succeed.
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