It is a Japanese term that suggests continuous improvement where “Kai” means continuous and “Zen” means improvement. Others translation predicts “Kai” means change and “Zen” means for the better. Basically, it is a Japanese philosophy that aims at continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life.
Kaizen activities lead to continuous improvement across all business functions including manufacturing to management. It eliminates waste by improving standardized activities and processes. As per the modern usage, a “kaizen blitz” or “kaizen event” is a set of activities that is designed to address a particular issue over the course of a week. It is limited in scope.
Kaizen is a process that humanizes the workplace, eliminates overly hard work and focuses on applying the scientific method while performing experiments and aims at identifying and eliminating waste in business processes. The philosophy suggests that daily activities of business procedures should effectively implement kaizen principles.
The cycle of kaizen activity comprises of following activities:
(1) Standardizing an operation
(2) Measuring the standardized operation (find cycle time and amount of in-process inventory)
(3) Gauging measurements against requirements
(4) Displaying creativity to meet requirements and increase productivity
(5) Standardizing the new, improved operations
(6) Continuing the cycle ad infinitum.
Integration of Six Sigma, Lean and Kaizen in a business project leads to breakthrough improvement. Leadership, creativity, and innovation are the chief drivers of growth in any organization. Every strategic improvement initiative requires the following elements
Leadership, Creativity, and Innovation: This element drives the cultural change, mentors the organization and leads to the alignment of the strategy and deployment. By integrating the Six Sigma, Lean, and Kaizen, leadership team can provide clearer focus on improving profitability and competitiveness.
Teaming and Employee Involvement: This element suggests that people need to be equipped with the right tools and they should be empowered to take responsible actions to drive the growth.
Closed-Loop Performance: This element includes real time performance measurement that allows the people to understand the cause-and-effect relationship between their actions and the improvement goals.
Total Quality Management is a concept that focuses on continuous improvement of work in all areas by high level strategic planning, decision making and executing the details. It results in improvement in people, processes and technology. It is evolved in the 1950’s and popularized in 1980’s.
In order to grow and exceed bottom lines expectations consistently, companies are required to learn the basics of Lean Six Sigma thoroughly. In a global competitive manufacturing environment, companies are spending thousands of dollars in pursuing the Materials Required Planning and Enterprise Resource Planning, however they still face decline in growth and profits.
A Six Sigma metric is a standard measure for assessing the project performance in a particular area. Metrics are applied rigorously in any customer-focused process management system and any program targeted at continuous improvement.
Process mapping is a renowned technique for the creation of a common vision and shared language which leads to the improvements in business results. It is usually the first step in the implementation of Six Sigma project. Process Maps and Flow Charts displays the activities in a process in a sequential manner.
Six Sigma apples a wide variety of statistics for the determination of best practices for deployment of Six Sigma projects. Statisticians and Six Sigma consultants devise new methods which are based on the studies and experimentations of existed processes.
The benefits of implementing the Six Sigma projects can be seen in various areas of business such as finance, operations, organization , Information Technology etc. These benefits justify the focus on devoting the resources, modifying the processes and identifying and eliminating the defects in the system.
The implementation of Six Sigma requires investment in training, culture evolution and organizational infrastructure. Reduction in the costs and increase in sales can be achieved by applying the Six Sigma Methodology.
While implementing quality within the organizations, professionals feel they should have the power to bring about the desired change themselves. However when one does not have proper idea to proceed then it’s better to take help from the experts outside the organization because change is essential to survive and stay competitive in the prevailing market.
Companies which implement the Six Sigma initiatives in one way or another are called as Six Sigma Companies. Each company implements Six Sigma within its unique scope. One of the aspects of Six Sigma is that it can be adjusted and tailored to meet the needs of the individuals and strategy of a company. This feature has led to various levels of implementation and deployment.