Also called continuous improvement, kaizen event, kaizen blitz
What is kaizen?
Small improvements made constantly by the people doing the work, rather than big changes made occasionally by managers.
What else it is called
- Other names
- continuous improvement, kaizen event, kaizen blitz
- In French
- amélioration continue
Related entries
Understanding kaizen
Improvement as a daily habit rather than an annual project. The idea is that the person running the machine knows where the time goes, and that a hundred small changes made by them over a year will beat two large changes made by a consultant.
North American plants usually meet it as the kaizen event: a cross-functional team takes one cell or one changeover for three to five days, measures it, rebuilds it and leaves a standard behind. That works, and it is not quite the original idea, which was about what happens in the other fifty-one weeks.
The thing that kills it is a suggestion system with no reply. Once people have watched three ideas disappear, they stop having them, and getting that back takes years rather than months.
In practice
Track how long it takes for a floor suggestion to get an answer, even a no. Under a week and the ideas keep coming. Over a month and the programme is already finished, whatever the board on the wall says.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between kaizen and a kaizen event?
Kaizen is the ongoing habit of small improvements. A kaizen event is a concentrated few days on one problem with a team pulled off their normal work. Events are useful for breaking something open; they are not a substitute for the habit.
Should we pay people for suggestions?
Small recognition works better than cash. Paying per idea reliably produces a flood of low-value suggestions and arguments about who thought of what. Answering quickly and implementing visibly is what keeps the flow going.