SS005

Kaizen: Move a mountain beginning with small

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stones

February 2011

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The summary of discussions at QualityGurus.com
us
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lit
ua
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 SS005

Kaizen: Move a mountain beginning with small stones

The summary of discussions at QualityGurus.com

February 2011

What is Kaizen? • Use data, not theories

E • Use wisdom not money
Move a mountain beginning with small stones. 1 • Work smarter not harder

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There is always room • Set high standards
for improvement
E • Correct failures immediately - 70% now is better
than 100% never
• Lead by example
Definitions2 • A team is better than 1 expert involve people

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• It is derived from the Japanese words “kai” which
means “change” or “to correct” and “zen” which • Identify the root cause
means “good”), E
• Kaizen is a Japanese word means change for the
better.
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• Kaizen is a participative and democratic approach Kaizen vs Six Sigma 3
that involves every employee - from upper man- • Six Sigma and Kaizen are both process improve-
agement to lower staff.
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ment methodologies. Kaizen is used for sim-
• Kaizen is a culture aimed at sustainable contin- ple improvements/quick wins/low hanging fruits
uous improvement focusing on elimination of while Six Sigma methodology is applicable to
waste in all system and process. complex problems and those which needs further
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• Kaizen means “working together” to make large analysis and evaluation.

and significant improvement with small invest- • Both are effective tools. You just have to assess
ment in time and money. which one is applicable for your project (i.e.,
Kaizen for simple improvements, Six Sigma for
Continuous
more complex problems).
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improvement is better
E
than delayed E
perfection. ~ Mark
ua

Twain
Benefits
• Reduces waste in areas such as inventory,waiting
times,transportation,worker motion,employee
skills, etc
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• Improves space utilization,product qual-

ity,production capacity and employee retention.
• Provides immediate results

Ground rules of Kaizen,

• Don’t try to justify the past challenge fixed ideas.
• Be positive think how things CAN be done not
why they CAN’T be done.
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