The Kaizen method is continuous and continuous improvement. Introduction to Kaizen. Kaizen system and philosophy

The Japanese are always consistent. They consider it honorable to complete a task to perfection. Even if you are a janitor, do not complain about fate, but polish your skills. The Japanese do not change jobs in search of the ideal; they can make their dreams come true anywhere. It's all about the approach. And it's called kaizen.

Why not learn from the Japanese and try their management method? We have adapted the information so that you can apply the knowledge outside the office.

Analyze your activities by making changes to the process. This way you will constantly improve your working methods. This is the right path because the goal of kaizen is continuous improvement.

Life

The Kaizen principle is suitable for any area. For example, you want to start leading healthy image life.

1. Accuracy

Set aside half an hour when you will not be distracted. Sit down, divide the piece of paper into two parts and write down everything that bothers you in one column, and everything that helps you in the second.

2. Order

Make a list that includes everything useful: a walk at lunch, Nordic walking in the park, cycling. You can also simply make a list of the things you need to pay attention to. For example, create a schedule for avoiding junk food and including healthy products. This must be done gradually, otherwise the body will rebel, demanding a dose simple carbohydrates, to which he is accustomed.

3. Cleanliness

Maintaining cleanliness is very important, no matter what goals you set for yourself. In a cluttered room, a person loses the desired mood. In addition, cleaning can be turned into a preparatory stage physical activity. Or make it a meditative process, when you need to focus exclusively on physical actions and completely clear your head of thoughts.

4. Standardization

Now it's time to turn all the changes into a system. Just stick to a schedule and it will become the basis of your lifestyle.

5. Discipline

Look after yourself and get rid of cravings for old habits. It’s not easy at first: there are so many temptations around that it’s hard to resist. Improve yourself by finding new ways to make your reality better.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the main problem in adopting the Gemba Kaizen approach in Russia is to overcome the stereotype of thinking, according to which management is primary, and “the place where products and services are actually created is secondary”, serves to realize its goals. A deep understanding that the consumer is the main source of money is not yet characteristic of many Russian companies. And the closest thing to the consumer is the “gemba” - those jobs in the company where products are actually created and services are provided. Serving the gemba is the main purpose of management, which will not be easy for Russian managers to accept and get used to.

Much will need to be rethought. Even such a seemingly common concept as loss has a familiar meaning for us, hidden behind the term “muda”. Our traditional view of this issue allows the existence of such a concept as “technologically inevitable losses.” Muda, like any action that adds value, cannot and should not be inevitable, which means they must be continuously eliminated. Overcoming the current tolerance for personnel losses throughout the company is only a simple task at first glance. “Higher quality means higher costs, which means higher prices” - this point of view still dominates the minds of managers. Dr. E. Deming in his famous " chain reaction"and Japanese companies have proven that this is not so. It is possible to achieve improved quality at low costs, you just have to do it.

• Edwards Deming's 14 Principles
• 1. Constancy of purpose. Maintain consistency of goals for sustainable improvement of processes for producing goods and providing services.
• 2. New philosophy. Accept new philosophy. We live in a new economic era, the foundations of which were laid in Japan.
• 3. Reduce dependence on inspection. Eliminate the need for large amounts of inspection as a way to achieve quality.
• 4. Stop the practice of awarding contracts at the lowest prices. Don't conduct business based solely on price.
• 5. Improve all processes in the organization. Continuously improve every process in terms of planning, production and service.
• 6. Introduce on-the-job training.
• 7. Establish a supportive leadership style. Adopt a leadership style that focuses on helping people do their jobs better.
• 8. Encourage effective two-way communication and other ways to eliminate fear in the organization.
• 9. Break down barriers between departments and people.
• 10. Eliminate the use of slogans, posters and appeals.
• 11. Eliminate the numbers used to make judgments. Abandon work performance standards that require workers to achieve certain standards in numerical terms and management personnel - numerical indicators. Offer support and guidance from mentors instead.
• 12. Take pride in craftsmanship.
• 13. Encourage education.
• 14. Top management commitment. Create a clear commitment from senior management to continually improve quality and productivity.

Product quality management is a purposeful process of influencing control objects, carried out during the creation and use of products, in order to establish, ensure and maintain the required level of quality that meets consumer requirements.

Another difficult problem to solve is related to the role of standards in the life of an enterprise. It is difficult to improve something that is not standardized - this statement lies at the heart of "kaizen". In most Russian companies, as a rule, corporate standards do not describe existing actual work practices. They are more often developed as a model of “ideal” activity, regardless of the possibility of its implementation. Is it possible to improve the ideal? In such cases, the usual practice is to directly or indirectly force personnel to comply with “ideal” standards. Therefore, they do not change for years or even decades, and the consequence is negligible progress in involving staff in the process of continuous improvement. In order to fully understand the operating principles of the Japanese concept of quality, we will need to consider and analyze the basic postulates and systems on which the Gemba Kaizen model was built.

Management must use the following basic tenets of the concept to fully implement the Kaizen strategy:

• ? Concept of Management in the Kaizen system.
• ? Concentration of management and production forces on the process rather than on the result.
• ? Production cycles PDCA/SDCA.
• ? "Quality comes first."
• ? “Speak with data.”
• ? Kaizen axiom: “Each subsequent process is a consumer of the previous one.”

We must clearly understand what management is and its functions in the Kaizen system. In the context of kaizen, management has two main functions: maintenance and improvement (see Fig. 1)

Rice. 1.

Maintenance is the act of ensuring existing technological, organizational and operational standards and maintaining such standards through training and discipline. As part of the maintenance function, management performs its tasks in such a way that everyone can follow the requirements of the standard operating procedure (SOP). Improvement is everything that is aimed at improving existing standards. The Japanese idea of ​​management thus boils down to one precept: maintain and improve standards.

As shown in Fig. 2, improvement can be classified as kaizen or as "innovation".

Rice. 2.

Kaizen is small improvements resulting from continuous effort. Innovation involves dramatic improvement resulting from significant investment in new technology or equipment. (If money is for you - key factor, note: innovation is more expensive.) Due to their addiction to innovation, Western managers miss out on the long-term benefits of kaizen. This strategy emphasizes human effort, morale, communication, training, teamwork, involvement, and self-discipline—a common-sense, low-cost approach to improvement. Which is a fundamental difference from the Western approach to the formation of a quality system.

An important element of Kaizen is the concentration of management and production forces on the process, and not on the result. Kaizen emphasizes process-oriented thinking because processes must be improved to improve results.

Failure to achieve planned results indicates a failure in the process. Management must identify and correct such process errors. Kaizen focuses on human effort, which contrasts sharply with the results-oriented way of thinking in the West.

A process-oriented approach should also be used when implementing various kaizen tools: the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle; cycle “standardize-do-check-act”, “total quality management” (TQM); "just in time", "total equipment maintenance" (TPM).

Kaizen tools have failed in many companies simply because they ignored the process.

The most critical element in the kaizen process is the commitment and involvement of top management.

To ensure success, this attitude must be demonstrated immediately and consistently followed.

The first thing to do in the kaizen process is to introduce the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle as a mechanism that ensures the continuity of kaizen in achieving the policy of maintaining and improving standards.

This is one of the most important points process (see Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle

The PDCA cycle is constantly renewed: once improvement occurs, the outcome of the process becomes the object of further improvement.

Implementing PDCA means never being satisfied with the status quo. Since people prefer to maintain the status quo and often shy away from initiating improvements, management must push them by constantly setting incentive goals.

Any new workflow is initially unstable. Before PDCA can be applied, each ongoing process must be stabilized using the Standardize-Do-Check-Act (SDCA) cycle (see Figure 4.)

Rice. 4. Standardize-Do-Check-Act (SDCA) Cycle

Whenever deviations appear in the current process, the following questions must be asked:

Only after the standard has been established and its requirements are met, it is worthwhile, stabilizing the current process, to move on to the use of PDCA.

SDCA standardizes and stabilizes current processes, while PDCA improves them. SDCA refers to maintenance and PDCA refers to improvement, and together they become the two main objectives of management.

Among the primary objectives (quality, cost, delivery), in the interpretation of the Japanese concept, quality should always be given the highest priority. No matter how attractive the price and delivery terms offered to the consumer, a company will not be able to compete if the product or service is not of sufficient quality. The "quality first" credo requires management commitment because managers, seeking to meet delivery or cost-cutting demands, are often prone to compromise. In doing so, they can sacrifice not only quality, but also the viability of the entire business.

Kaizen is a problem solving process. To be properly understood and resolved, they must be identified and then the relevant data must be collected and analyzed. Trying to solve a problem without verified facts is tantamount to living with guesses and feelings - i.e. take a less than scientific or objective approach. Gathering information about the current situation will help you understand what you need to focus on; this serves as a starting point for improvement. So speak with data!

Any work is a chain of processes, and each of them has both its own supplier and consumer. The material or piece of information received by process A (supplier) is processed and improved by process B and then sent to process C. The subsequent process is always considered as a consumer of the previous one. The axiom according to which the subsequent process is the consumer operates at the level of two types of consumers: internal (within the company) and external (in the market).

Most people working in an organization deal with internal customers. Implementation of the axiom should result in a commitment to never pass on defective parts or inaccurate information to a downstream process. Provided that each employee follows this rule, the external consumer in the market receives a high-quality product or service. Real system Quality assurance requires that everyone in the organization commits to this axiom and puts it into practice.

Kaizen is a Japanese word that means “continuous improvement.” The word "KAI" is translated as change, and the word "ZEN" is translated as "for the better." Kaiden is a popular management system and philosophy that helped enterprises in post-war Japan take leading positions in world markets in many technological areas.

The Kaizen philosophy is closely related to Japanese traditions and approach to work. For example, in Japan it is not customary to change jobs frequently. You've probably heard that the Japanese can work for the same company all their lives. Their approach to work can be called more profound. In the land of the rising sun, it is considered honorable to become a master of your craft and bring your skills to perfection. Even if you work in a non-prestigious job, you must become a professional in your field. In addition, it is not customary there to whine and complain about fate. The Japanese mentality is significantly different from us.

Kaizen technology is aimed at continuous improvement of business processes in business. In addition, kaizen is used not only at work, but also to restore order in life.

5 main principles of kaidzen

The essence of the kaizen method comes down to five elements:

1. Accuracy and selectivity;
2. Order;
3. Purity;
4. Standardization;
5. Discipline.

The idea of ​​kaizen is widely known among managers. And, apparently, it was thanks to the ideas of kaijzen that many Japanese companies such as Toyota were able to achieve enormous success in the post-war era. In Russian you can find several books about kaizen. In particular:

• Kaizen: the key to success of Japanese companies (Masaaki Imai)
• Gemba Kaizen: the path to reducing costs and improving quality (Masaaki Imai)

I also saw books on sale about the Toyota way, as well as about lean manufacturing. Surely Kaidzen was mentioned there.

Kaizen system and philosophy

List of changes. According to kaizen, you must first determine what needs to be done to improve your performance. A list is compiled of what can reduce financial, time and other costs. To the point that tools in the workplace must be arranged in a certain order. Exactly in such a way that it helps to work quickly. Changes can be made not only to the jobs and business processes themselves, but also to your habits. For example, if you are used to checking your email 20 times a day, then it is unlikely that you will be able to achieve high results this way. You can, for example, set a rule for yourself - check your email 2 or 3 times a day at a certain time. Some tasks are worth getting rid of altogether. Big changes can start with small things. We talked about this just yesterday in an article about.

Setting priorities and order. It would seem that rearranging the positions of the terms does not change the sum. But in reality, the order of work matters. For example, people are much more refreshed and able to work in the first hours after they wake up. Based on this, you should set yourself the most difficult tasks in the first working hours. And you can completely abandon other tasks. In addition, it is worth thinking about optimizing tasks. What to do first and what to do second. For example, you went on business to the other side of the city. It would be wise to schedule several work tasks there at once, so as not to go back and forth 10 times. After all, this is a waste of time, effort and money on gasoline. In order to organize your affairs, it is recommended to use the timekeeping technique. When you write down what you do and when you do it, it may turn out that the bulk of your time is spent on secondary tasks, and priority tasks take up relatively little time.

Putting things in order, “polishing”. In Kaizen methodology Special attention is also paid to order. For example, after finishing work, they advise you to spend some time and put things in order in your workplace. Order will give you a boost of energy for the next working day, because... coming to workplace you will already think about important matters, and not about the fact that there is some kind of incomprehensible chaos of papers on the table.

Implementation of working standards. When the optimal balance in work is found, this should become the company standard. High standards make it possible to achieve outstanding quality, and hence all the success of Japanese companies. Japanese quality is usually put on par with the products of German companies. When they say that a product is made in Japan, it means impeccable quality.

Discipline is necessary in order to adhere to the practice of constant improvements in work processes and not to return to the previous chaotic management methods customary in Russia, when within the same company there is “some in the forest, some out for firewood.”

Kaizen methods in life

Although kaizen is usually viewed as a system for improving individual business processes within a company, this philosophy can also be applied in everyday life. Each of us has areas of our lives that require improvement and our attention. And here we can use the same practices, but in relation to our personal tasks.

In Russia, it is customary to bring things to a critical state, and then, through heroic efforts, make a revolution in the industry. There are even books that analyze the Russian management model. So, kaizen is different in that it involves many small but constant improvements. The point is that your business will improve through gradual evolution, and not through revolutionary upheavals.

In order for kaizen ideas to work, it must be supported by all employees of the company, from top management to line executives. Kaizen focuses the company on maximizing the quality of work. At the same time, special attention is paid to improving the business processes themselves, developing personnel at all levels and implementing improvements every day.

Kaizen goals in business

Kaizen is characterized by the following points, which are also called the “Kaizen Umbrella”:

• focus on the end user;
• end-to-end quality control (total quality control, TQC);
• introduction of robotics, automation;
• quality circles;
• proposal system;
• end-to-end equipment maintenance (maintenance, TPM);
• Kanban - Japanese just-in-time production technology;
• quality growth;
• zero defects;
• focus on work in small groups;
• implementation of kaizen;

In essence, kaizen applies to almost all aspects of a company's operations. Therefore, this methodology is readily used not only in production, but also for development software. Kaizen focuses on improvement as a process. You need to constantly improve all aspects of your business in order to be one step ahead of your competitors.

Improvement cycle PDCA, SDCA

Each iteration assumes the following sequence:

• Plan (plan) / Standard (standardize);
• Do (execute);
• Check (check);
• Act (improve);

Instead of planning, standardization (SDCA) is sometimes implied. But in essence, standardization and planning are related concepts. Planning is needed to improve a business process, and standardization is needed to maintain it.

This cycle has something in common with the classical management scheme: planning, motivation, organization and control in the classical school of management.

Kaizen people management

Japanese culture has a special attitude towards subordinates. So, a person cannot be punished or given orders. At the same time, they are encouraged and supported, and their opinions are taken into account. That is, here we see positive motivation. In fact, it is this approach to management that is more effective, because increases the employee's interest in work, his involvement and interest in the business. At the same time, independence is encouraged.

In kaizen ideas, mistakes are not prohibited, because... Employees learn from mistakes. A proactive approach is encouraged. In this case, it is assumed that the employee has intelligence and must use it in his daily work. At the same time, it is better to start doing something than to be afraid of making a mistake and not doing anything.

Important ideas of Kaizen:

• the client must be satisfied;
• constant changes in all areas of the company’s work;
• recognizing problems completely;
• openness policy within the company;
• small working groups-teams are created;
• rotation of personnel to different departments of the company to broaden their horizons;
• focus on high employee involvement in the work process;
• employees should share their experience with colleagues;
• the development of self-discipline on the ground is encouraged;
• self-development and responsibility for one’s work;
• informing people about the affairs of the company;
• delegation of authority is widely used;
• management includes begins with planning and ends with control;
• analysis of business processes based on evidence;
• solving problems by eliminating the root cause rather than dealing with the consequences;
• quality should be controlled not at the stage of delivery of work, but during the business process itself;
• application of standardization methods.

What is zero loss

Everything that happens within the organization is conditionally divided into those actions that bring value and those that do not. They add value and don't. For example, an employee smoking at work clearly does not add any value to work, but rather may even interfere. These types of costs or losses must be excluded.

In kaiden there is a list of such costs or losses (they are also called muda - which sounds like a Russian swear word):

• overproduction and warehouse overflow;
• idleness, waiting;
• transportation losses;
• losses from useless actions;
• losses from defective products;
• and others.

What is Gemba in Kaizen?

In kaizen, it is customary for the top manager to have a good understanding of what is happening at the lowest levels of his business. For example, the head of a bank should imagine how employees of his Call Center or cashiers work in a bank branch. And the plant director must know and see what is happening in his workshops. Advanced work is also called “Gemba”.

The point is that the head of the company should be maximally involved in the work and then he will be able to make effective management decisions. The manager must thoughtfully listen to complaints and study the causes of all problems.

The classical management system is in some ways similar to kaizen, but there are also some differences.

Business in Russia

At the same time, Kaizen differs significantly from the classical Soviet management system, when Soviet Russia it was customary to achieve goals at any cost, regardless of losses, to launch sometimes irrational projects like turning a river into reverse side or confront the United States, and at the same time, all of Western Europe combined. Kaizen is a completely different philosophy, where even small things are considered important. Kaizen philosophers say that small defects will eventually lead to big problems.

However, many large Russian companies They now understand that to be competitive they need to improve their efficiency. Indeed, many companies began to introduce certain elements of the Kaizen philosophy. For example, before my eyes is KamAZ, which has long been interested in ideas lean manufacturing. Many other large companies in Russia gradually began to use Kaizen developments. By the way, other Western countries also willingly apply Japanese ideas of continuous growth in quality. For example, Siemens willingly implements these ideas in its work. In particular, it is accepted there:

• solve problems as a team;
• fix all the mistakes at once;
• look for the root causes of the problem;
• find the most cost-effective solutions;
• make decisions quickly;
• question familiar things;
• think about tasks that can actually be done and do them;

Kaizen ideas have good potential for implementation in Russia. If we combine our breadth of views and the scale of the tasks that we set for ourselves and apply this breadth of Russian character to the ideas of modern management (including the philosophy of kaizen and Western achievements in management), then we can get a leading world economy.

Japanese companies are very different from European ones in that they tend to offer a large number of innovation proposals. And these proposals come not “from the top”, but “from the bottom”.

Kaizen assumes that any organization always has problems. And problems in this sense are good, since they provide an incentive for further development. Kaizen is not only a concept that pursues economic goals, but there are also social goals, such as smoothing the management hierarchy within the company, maximum staff involvement in work, maximum satisfied consumers, and so on.

Kaizen is not only about business and money, kaizen is about the essence of work, skill and perfection.

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Kaizen (Japanese for "change" and "good") is a Japanese philosophy or practice that focuses on continuous improvement in manufacturing, development, supporting business and management processes, and all aspects of life. In simple words, this is continuous improvement. Most often, kaizen is associated with, but part of it can be transferred to the area of ​​self-development, which we will discuss separately.

The concept itself became very popular in Japan in the 1950s. And later, thanks to the works of Masaaki Imai, kaizen gained popularity all over the world. Some modern researchers consider him the ideological inspirer of Henry Ford, who wrote in his autobiography that the goal of production is to constantly reduce costs, invent new technologies and at the same time reduce prices for goods.

Kaizen in production

The history of kaizen began after World War II, when Toyota first introduced the quality cycle into its production process. This was partly influenced by American business and management gurus who were then consulting and working in Japan. At that time, the land of the rising sun was going through difficult times; its goods were considered low-grade and were not in demand. But after a few decades the situation changed dramatically. And many believe that the reason is precisely the implementation of kaizen.

The main essence of the approach is continuous improvement of the production process. Kaizen principles:

Improve each process gradually

Business consists of different processes: production, accounting, service, relations with suppliers. If you do not pay due attention to some areas, you will not achieve an optimal production cycle, as you will constantly encounter problems, costs and losses in different areas of your business. There are no small things in business, so everything needs to be improved.

In order to improve the process, you first need to understand how many stages it consists of. Then you need to analyze each of them and identify those that can be removed.

For example, you are analyzing one process that consists of three stages:

• Stage A lasts 5 minutes.
• Stage B lasts 8 minutes.
• Stage B lasts 10 minutes.

This adds up to 23 minutes. Is it possible to combine something or get rid of something? Remember that production costs money, and an extra minute is worth its weight in gold.

If we talk about production, then there should be nothing superfluous in it. Workers should not stand idle (but this does not mean that they should be given any work so as not to rest), and the goods should be sold immediately.

Discuss problems openly

Bureaucratic organizations are ineffective because everything is hidden in them, decisions are made by a select few, there is no discussion, the flow of information occurs with delays, distortions, or does not occur at all.

There are always problems, so it is necessary not to hide them, but to bring them up for discussion. Improvements are impossible without finding solutions.

Get rid of unnecessary expenses

Spending means:

• Movement: In a factory, workers make unnecessary movements, and the material is too far away.
• Time: Every process in production takes time. Anyone who can significantly reduce it will receive benefits.
• Defects: the more defects are detected on early stages, the more time and money you can save.
• Overproduction: If you produce more goods than needed, it will sit in warehouses, which will lead to additional waste.

Accept ideas from employees

Employees are our greatest asset. Henry Ford proudly wrote about how ordinary workers came up with improvements almost every day that saved the plant tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Of course, they knew that they would be rewarded.

Staff should be motivated to come up with improvements. But even today this is often not the case. Workers come to the office or factory in the morning and leave in the evening, without being emotionally involved in the affairs of the company for which they work.

Therefore, it is important to create a system in which everyone can offer an improvement, no matter how small. Moreover, not only to offer it, but also to get the opportunity to implement it and distribute it throughout the company. And get rewarded for it.

Fix what doesn't work

An obvious principle that not everyone adheres to. If you think about it, you yourself probably know cases when something doesn’t work in production or doesn’t work right, but no one cares. As a result, as time goes on, the company learns to live with the shortcomings, but not eliminate them.

Three basic rules following from this principle:

• If you can run a business without something broken, throw it away.
• If you can't, fix it.
• If something can work better, improve it.

Laziness and unwillingness to improve are qualities of people who will soon have no place in business.

Be frugal

It is a mistake to believe that being frugal means saving on the salaries of your employees. This is the most wrong way to reduce costs, which is rejected in every possible way in kaizen. Savings are achieved through small improvements in all areas.

Just remember that new technologies do not solve old problems. They replace them with new, but still unknown ones.

Focus on clients

It's easy to forget about clients when there is so much work and problems. But without a focus on the client, improving quality, and reducing prices, the business will be doomed.

Create work teams

Each employee must be a member of the work team and the quality circle. This approach helps create a sense of belonging to something larger. But the main thing is that employees will have no doubts about whether they need to adhere to high quality. They will take it by default.

Standardize

We need to create quality standards and stick to them. Solutions to possible problems should be described in a special document so that anyone can access it. This way you can consolidate your success and always meet your standards.

Draw conclusions based on facts

Analyze what is happening based on facts and reliable information.

The concept of kaizen would be incomplete without mentioning. In fact, it is this that is the main one, and kaizen is only one of the components.

Lean

Lean manufacturing is a manufacturing enterprise management concept based on the constant effort to eliminate all types of waste.

It is also based on several principles.

Continuous improvement

This concept is called kaizen. This principle is fundamental to lean manufacturing.

Without continuous improvement, progress will be stunted: costs will rise, prices will rise, competitors will dominate.

The point is to make continuous improvement a condition that you create in your company. This is not something that needs to be imposed, and something that needs to be called upon from time to time: such a principle should be built into the business by default.

Respect for humanity

Lean manufacturing is closely related to people. Many company owners believe that the main goal is to make as much money as possible. more money. However, in the long run they lose both financially and reputationally.

You should pay attention to both your subordinates and your clients and society as a whole. Every employee, even if they don’t admit it, wants to feel important. It is important for him to understand that he is making a contribution, not only to the development of the company, but also to benefit humanity.

Clients must feel that they are taken care of. It is important for society that companies share their values ​​and care about the planet and the future.

Leveled production

The basis of this principle is that the workload should be the same every day. Most manufacturing companies are at the mercy of their customers when receiving orders. Production stands idle and this leads to serious costs and waste.

Henry Ford repeatedly stated that every manufacturer needed to get rid of its dependence on orders. How? Lowering prices by cutting costs. Every one of his new car usually cost less than the previous one. Thus, he knew for sure that there would be buyers. Only for this you need to implement the principles of lean production.

You can make a forecast of how many people will buy your product for $100 based on the previous period. But if you can sell it for $80 and improve the quality, you'll be able to sell a lot more and you'll end up winning in the end.

Just-in-time products

If you create a product that sits in a warehouse, this is fraught with huge costs. If you can't create a product because the supplier didn't deliver the right components, the result will be exactly the same.

That is why modern companies use a production and supply organization system that allows them to implement the “just in time” principle.

Built-in quality

Quality must be built into:

• manufacturing process
• design of parts
• packaging
• delivery

This principle allows you to notice defects in the early stages and correct them immediately. Which, of course, leads to cost minimization and continuous production.

Waste disposal and use

One of the main principles of lean manufacturing is the elimination or use of waste.

Lean manufacturing is a very broad term and it is simply impossible to fully disclose it within the narrow confines of our article. But we definitely need to talk about the tools.

Hoshin Kanri (HoshinKanri)

This is the combination of the company's goals (strategy) with the plans of middle management (tactics) and the work performed in the plant (actions). It ensures consistent progress towards strategic goals, eliminating waste that occurs due to poor communication.

Andon (Andon)

It's a visual system feedback, which notifies all employees of the production status and allows operators to stop the production process.

Acts as a real-time communication tool in the plant that immediately draws attention to problems.

Waste (Waste)

Anything that happens during the production process that does not add value from the customer's point of view.

Eliminating waste is a core focus of lean manufacturing.

Poka-Yoke (Poka-Yoke)

Error detection and prevention in production processes with the goal of achieving zero defects.

This tool helps to save a lot of money because detecting defects during production is much cheaper.

Another lean manufacturing tool is gemba kaizen, which we will discuss separately.

Gemba Kaizen

Gemba is a Japanese term that literally means "real place". In business, this could be a construction site or floor where production occurs or where the service provider directly interacts with the customer.

The point of gemba kaizen is to make improvements to the gemba (that is, the place where the real work happens). These improvements will have a big impact on the organization.

Five golden rules of gemba kaizen:

1. When a problem arises, you must first go to the gemba. This will give you a clear idea of ​​the problem and help you find a suitable solution. The Japanese principle differs from the American one, where all problems are usually solved remotely.
2. Check objects and find possible reason Problems. Causes can be classified according to 5 principles: man, machine, material, methods and measurement.
3. You must take temporary measures on the spot to avoid further deterioration.
4. Find the root cause. Use, for example, the Pareto principle.
5. To prevent the problem from arising again, document it in standards and instructions.

Implementing gemba kaizen principles in the workplace has many benefits for companies. This not only saves money, but also creates a business atmosphere where there is no place for stress and stress. The problem is resolved very quickly, which also helps save time.

More details about.

What is anti-kaizen

Anti-kaizen is a toxic behavior that includes all the limiting beliefs that prevent any improvement and progress.

There are 13 toxic behavior beliefs that hinder progress and improvement. This applies not only to companies, but also to people. Here they are:

1. Lying to yourself: appearing rich and successful when in fact you are not.
2. Consider yourself a victim of circumstances: whine, moan and blame the world around you.
3. Think in the style of “there is no need for improvement”: allow yourself to be sucked into routine, repeating the same actions.
4. Believing that there is never enough time: an excuse for not developing yourself or your company.
5. Strive to react to problems rather than prevent them: such people always fail to complete work by the deadline, resulting in a fair amount of stress.
6. Lack of self-confidence and courage: this is what is needed in order to face problems, failures and mistakes.
7. Passionately desire to change others, not themselves: such people do not understand that change begins with them.
8. Consider problems as something unbearable, and not a means for gaining experience: instead of progress, they get stress and spoil their nerves.
9. Don't create new ideas: because it's difficult, painful and time consuming.
10. Give up quickly: change is a very long process, so starting but not finishing = not starting.
11. Solve problems with additional administration and money, rather than with the help of your brain and creative thinking.
12. hope for better times without doing anything: the problems will not be solved by themselves.
13. Make decisions too quickly: without sufficient information, it is easy to make mistakes.

Books

The topic of kaizen and lean leadership is a very broad one, so it is likely that you will want to delve deeper into it. The following books are suitable for this:

• "My Life, My Achievements" Henry Ford.
• “Kaizen. The key to the success of Japanese companies" Masaaki Imai.
• “Gemba Kaizen. The Path to Reducing Costs and Improving Quality” by Masaaki Imai.
• “5S for workers. How to Improve Your Workplace by Hiroyuki Hirano.
• “Practice the Toyota Way. A Guide to Implementing Toyota Management Principles by Jeffrey Liker and David Mayer.
• “Step by step to achieve your goal. Kaizen method" Robert Maurer.
• “The Tao of Toyota. 14 management principles for the world's leading company" Jeffrey Liker.
• "Lean. How to get rid of waste and make your company prosper" James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones.
• “Lean Manufacturing Tools II. A Pocket Guide to Lean Practices by Michael Thomas Vader.
• Kanban and Just-in-Time at Toyota. Management begins at the workplace” Yuri Adler (editor).
• “Lean office. Eliminating Waste Time and Money" by Don Tapping and Anne Dunn.

We hope that this substantial number of books will be enough to fully study the essence of kaizen and begin to implement it in your company.

We wish you good luck!

When 100 units per hour were produced due to the invention, 10% of the employees were sent to another area of ​​​​work and again set a goal of 100 units per hour. Accordingly, at the next iteration the production process was again optimized by 10%. How to learn to work and run a business using kaizen? A range of books specializing in different aspects of Kaizen philosophy and methodology: About the author: Artem Polyansky, works at Zillion. Professionally interested in human-centered marketing and design thinking. Expert in the field of webinar technology and online learning. He is the curator of a program of webinars and courses on business practices, marketing, project management and innovation.

Kaizen - a system of continuous improvement

In business, the kaizen philosophy began to spread during the recovery of the Japanese economy after World War II, gained enormous popularity in the 50s, and as a result became fundamental in Toyota, Canon, Honda, Nissan and other large Japanese companies. Interestingly, the positive experience of using kaizen has been spreading around the world since the 80s. Thus, over several decades, the kaizen business methodology has developed authentically.

In 1986, the practice of kaizen was described in Masaaki Imai's book Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success. Only Kaizen Jedi will survive. The remarkable property of kaizen is that the implementation and maintenance of this practice in a company does not require special funding. Kaizen is applicable to companies of any size and for any industry.

Absolutely everyone is involved in the process of continuous improvement.

Kaizen is a long-term strategy of Japanese management

Info

Developing Self-Discipline The most obvious evidence that kaizen has its roots in Japanese culture and religion is the self-discipline of employees. Self-discipline is a requirement of Kaizen not only because belonging to a team and independent control of one’s own behavior are considered the norm, but also because respect for oneself and the company shows inner strength and integrity; ability to interact harmoniously with colleagues and clients. This Kaizen principle is most alien to representatives Western culture, who, on average, are less willing to consistently sacrifice personal time that they could spend with family or friends for the sake of their company.

It is quite obvious that the more employees have a sense of self-discipline and enthusiasm, the better it will be for the organization.

Kaizen

• Managing Projects with Cross-Functional Teams - No team will work effectively if it only operates within one functional group. The rotation inherent in Japanese management is closely related to this principle.
• Formation of “supportive relationships” - not only and not so much financial results are important for the organization, but the involvement of employees in its activities and good relationships between employees, since this is inevitable (even if not in this reporting period) will lead the organization to high results.
• Horizontal development – Personal experience should become the property of the entire company.
• Development of self-discipline - the ability to control oneself and respect both oneself and other employees and the organization as a whole.
• Self improvement.

Attention

The pace gradually increases: five minutes, ten minutes, half an hour and already an hour... Five “whys” If any problem or malfunction arises, you need to ask yourself the question “Why did this happen?” not once, but five times. The results will amaze you. If, for example, one part broke and therefore the machine stopped, the question “Why did the machine suddenly stop?” is quite obvious. the answer is “Because the part broke.” The solution will be either repair or replacement of the part. However, the second and then third answers to the same question may also reveal the presence of a whole batch of low-quality parts, which were purchased at a low price.

As a result, lead to a review of the work of the entire procurement department.

Continuous improvement system kaizen kaizen kaizen

By doing this, you have created a potential precondition for your defeat. During this time, your competitors can get ahead and gain an advantage. If you tried to make your relationship with your girlfriend good, and then stopped paying attention to it, absorbed in other things, one day you will experience a shock when you meet your friend with someone else.

That's how it works human consciousness, that a sharp, radical change in life inspires anxiety and fear in him. It is easier for us to take small steps forward than to move in big leaps. The Kaizen principle best suits the nature of our consciousness.

And this is not without reason. The desire for improvement is inherent in us by nature itself. Its evolution is nothing less than constant improvement. Without this, life on Earth would have stopped at the simplest single-celled organisms. And, most likely, it would not have come to them either.

Kaizen: how to continuously improve the company, product and yourself?

Continuous change should no longer be perceived as stressful - in modern world This is a normal lifestyle for both the company and the individual. And for the Kaizen philosophy to really be implemented, constant psychological and organizational work with employees, managers and top executives is necessary. People must realize that changing for the better is not stress, but personal and professional passion that will allow them to develop.

What is required here is not a defensive position or a desire for stability, but psychological flexibility and dynamism - and this needs to be developed. It is interesting that the Kaizen philosophy is manifested in one way or another in many trending phenomena and areas. For example, kaizen is actually a way of existence for online media.
The influence of this philosophy can be seen in Growth Hacking, where marketers and growth hackers are constantly looking for new promotion mechanisms that work.

Kaizen system

Goals of Kaizen The main goal of the Kaizen system can be defined as continuous improvement and a continuous process of improvement. This is achieved by implementing the following goals:

• improvement of logistics
• corporate management style
• team building
• improving product quality
• reducing waste
• increasing employee responsibility
• increasing the readiness of production assets
• inventory reduction
• productivity increase
• smoothing hierarchy
• motivation of participants
• continuous improvement of the qualification level of all employees.

Kaizen strategy for continuous improvement

And so every day the load, at least slightly, should increase. But this alone is not enough. It is necessary that one more condition be fulfilled - the constancy of progress. The thing to be most afraid of is stagnation, because stagnation means degradation.

As soon as development stops, inevitable degradation begins. This is the law of any system, the basis of life itself. Everything that exists either develops or dies; there are no compromise outcomes. There is a very important feature here. Regardless of the initial state of your affairs, noticing success in them makes you happy.

Dissatisfaction most often arises not from the fact that our situation is bad in absolute terms, but from the fact that there is no progress in it. Good news improves your mood, and if you notice an improvement in your situation, this is the most best news. It brings joy and increases motivation.
You need to ask yourself, with full awareness of the seriousness of the decision being made, do you want to get everything that is possible in this life, and if so, are you ready to start moving? Step 2 Make the word “kaizen” your main life principle, your religion. Fall asleep and wake up with it. It must be trigger, switching you into a state of readiness to improve and improve your life. Step 3 Think about and write down what you would like to change in your life.

There should be five of these goals - one in each of the 5 areas of life mentioned above. Step 4 Take time to think about and write down all the things that are holding you back on your path to a new life. Recognize and be determined to replace old standards with new ones.

Step 5 Live 30 days according to the kaizen principle, encouraging yourself every day to learn and improve yourself.