KAIZEN certification

---

Course Summary

To help manage the cost of change within any organization it makes sense to acquire in-house knowledge and skills to be used where and when the organization needs it, for a fraction of the cost of third-party trainers.  

Kaizen Certification is designed to teach in-house Lean Coordinators the art of reading a Current State Map, determining what improvements are needed to achieve the Future State and how and where to use the tool of Kaizen to accomplish this task. 

This course is designed to do just that.  Designed around the “tell, show, do” model of adult learning, your in-house individuals will be taught, shown how to and actually facilitate a series of Kaizen events to build their knowledge, skills and confidence to maintain their own continuous improvement program within your organization.  Upon completion of the course they will be completely competent as Kaizen Facilitators and well on their way to becoming recognized as Lean Experts in your company.

Course Key Deliverables:

• Working knowledge of the Five Principles of Lean.
• Current State Map analysis.
• Proper event selection.
• Basic Lean teaching skills.
• Kaizen team facilitation skills.
• Ability to calculate ROI of Kaizen improvements.
• Effective application of the various Kaizen tools.
• Ability to deliver management presentations.
• Understanding of the interface between Kaizen and Six Sigma.

Kaizen (Japanese for "change for the better" or "improvement"; the English translation is "continuous improvement" or "continual improvement").

In the context of this article, Kaizen refers to a workplace 'quality' strategy and is often associated with the Toyota Production System and related to various quality-control systems, including methods of W. Edwards Deming.

Kaizen aims to eliminate waste (as defined by Joshua Isaac Walters "activities that add cost but do not add value").  It is often the case that this means "to take it apart and put back together in a better way."  This is then followed by standardization of this 'better way' with others, through standardized work.

Introduction:

Kaizen is a daily activity whose purpose goes beyond simple productivity improvement.  It is also a process that, when done correctly, humanizes the workplace, eliminates overly hard work (both mental and physical) "muri", and teaches people how to perform experiments on their work using the scientific method and how to learn to spot and eliminate waste in business processes.

To be most effective Kaizen must operate with three principles in place:

• Consider the process and the results (not results-only).
• Systemic thinking of the whole process and not just that immediately in view (i.e. big picture, not solely the narrow view).
• A learning, non-judgmental, non-blaming (because blaming is wasteful) approach and intent.

People at all levels of an organization participate in Kaizen, from the CEO down, as well as external stakeholders when applicable.  The format for Kaizen can be individual, suggestion system, small group, or large group.  In Toyota it is usually a local improvement within a workstation or local area and involves a small group in improving their own work environment and productivity.  This group is often guided through the Kaizen process by a line supervisor, indeed, sometimes this is the line supervisors key role.

Whilst Kaizen (in Toyota) usually delivers small improvements, the culture of continual aligned small improvements and standardization yields large results in the form of compound productivity improvement.  Hence the English translation of Kaizen can be: "continuous improvement", or "continual improvement."

This philosophy differs from the "command-and-control" improvement programs of the mid-twentieth century.  Kaizen methodology includes making changes and monitoring results, then adjusting.  Large-scale pre-planning and extensive project scheduling are replaced by smaller experiments, which can be rapidly adapted as new improvements are suggested.

Translation:

The original kanji characters for this word are:

• Kai means 'change' or 'the action to correct' or 'big water' - 'the ocean'
• Zen means 'good'

In Chinese this is pronounced 'gai shan':

• Gai shàn means 'change for the better' or 'improve'.
• Gai means 'change' or 'the action to correct'.
• Shàn means 'good' or 'benefit'. 'Benefit' is more related to the Taoist or Buddhist philosophy, which gives the definition as the action that 'benefits' the society but not one particular individual (i.e. multilateral improvement).  In other words, one cannot benefit at another's expense.  The quality of benefit that is involved here should be sustained forever, in other words the 'shan' is an act that truly benefits others.
  

History:

In Japan, after World War II, American occupation forces brought in American experts in statistical control methods and who were familiar with the War Department's Training Within Industry (TWI) training programs to restore a war-torn nation.  TWI programs included Job Instruction (standard work) and Job Methods (process improvement).  In conjunction with the Shewhart cycle taught by W. Edwards Deming, and other statistics-based methods taught by Joseph M. Juran, these became the basis of the Kaizen revolution in Japan[1] that took place in the 1950s.

Implementation:

The Toyota Production System is known for Kaizen, where all line personnel are expected to stop their moving production line in case of any abnormality and, along with their supervisor, suggest an improvement to resolve the abnormality which may initiate a Kaizen.

The cycle of Kaizen activity can be defined as: standardize an operation -> measure the standardized operation (find cycle time and amount of in-process inventory) -> gauge measurements against requirements -> innovate to meet requirements and increase productivity -> standardize the new, improved operations -> continue cycle ad infinitum. This is also known as the Shewhart cycle, Deming cycle, or PDCA.
Masaaki Imai made the term famous in his book, Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success.

References:

• The Roots of Lean: Training within Industry - the origin of Kaizen, Jim Huntzinger, AME, Target Volume 18 No 1, First Quarter 2002, p 13
• Dinero, Donald (2005), Training Within Industry: The Foundation of Lean", Productivity Press, ISBN 1-56327-307-1
• Emiliani, B., with Stec, D., Grasso, L. and Stodder, J. (2007), Better Thinking, Better Results: Case Study and Analysis of an Enterprise Wide Lean Transformation, second edition, The CLBM, LLC Kensington, Conn., ISBN 978-0-9722591-2-5
• Imai, Masaaki (1986), Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, ISBN 0-07-554332-X
• Imai, Masaaki, Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 1, 1997) ISBN 0-07-031446-2

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
 

Contact us today if Speed to Solution is important to you!