The tech industry is often defined as a collection of people who “move fast and break things.” It’s not always the best business model. The Kaizen process seeks incremental but continuous improvement as a means of maximizing productivity, efficiency, and profitability.
Inventory
Companies now rely on Kaizen throughout all levels to ensure maximum efficiency, productivity, and profitability. Much of the Japanese auto industry’s success is credited to its use of the “just-in-time” method, now primarily referred to as “lean manufacturing.” The method aims to reduce production time while minimizing waste, especially by only supplying needed materials that have been ordered, rather than jeopardizing productivity and revenue with excess inventory and waste.
Making Kaizen work
A key element of Kaizen is that it encourages workers to not just make suggestions but to participate in what’s known as a Deming cycle, or a Plan-Do-Study-Adjust (PDSA) cycle. The cycle involves identifying the problem, understanding it, testing solutions, evaluating results, and standardizing a solution.
Best practices for implementing Kaizen include:
- Focus on the process, not the goal. Kaizen is a gradual but continuous effort.
- Engage employees. They are closest to the process and know more about their job than management.
- Don’t be afraid to think small. Kaizen is incremental; small changes can add up to big results.
- Seek improvement. Things may work fine, but things can always work better.
- Get rid of waste. Eliminate unnecessary resources, processes, and interactions.
- Save money. Innovation and creativity are frequently the most cost-effective profit boosters.
- Gemba walk. Leaders should go to workplaces and learn from their employees.
- Follow the 5S model: Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. Keep a clean and well-organized workplace.
Kaizen’s bottom line is a simple idea that often is lost in large corporations: Think small to win big.
