Kaizen Production

Implement a culture of continuous improvement for optimised manufacturing processes and management

  • What is Kaizen?

    Kaizen, meaning ‘good change’ or ‘continuous improvement’, is a lean management method that promotes the participation of everyone in the organisation getting involved in making small, yet effective periodic changes. The strategy utilises the knowledge and skills of employees in all areas of the organisation to get a better understanding of what could be improved. Kaizen is a methodology used heavily within lean manufacturing, helping to reduce waste and improve output.

    By implementing small incremental improvements to processes and procedures, which can also be thought of as improving by one percent each day, often you’ll have a much better and more sustainable impact compared to making just one large change. To be successful, Kaizen must be used on all levels, from juniors and apprentices to managers and CEOs.

    Kaizen plays an important role within lean, which uses a number of methodologies to streamline processes, reduce costs, and increase efficiency within a business. Other methods for lean manufacturing include visual management, 5S, and FiFo.

  • We're always happy to help

    If you want to implement a Kaizen culture within your organisation, why not get help from our team? We can offer advice and systems, perfectly tailored to your processes and procedures.

    Request a Visit

Explore Products For Kaizen Production

What Are the Advantages Of Kaizen Production? 

The Kaizen method is relatively easy and inexpensive to implement, when compared to methods like visual management. Kaizen comes with a number of advantages, which are particularly helpful for those in manufacturing, but can also be helpful for organisations within other industries too:

  • A culture of communication is encouraged between all employees
  • Makes everyone’s opinions feel valued and heard, helping boost morale
  • Processes are scrutinised, and steps that don’t add value are eliminated
  • Waste in all forms is reduced
  • Efficiency and output are increased

How is Kaizen Implemented in Manufacturing?

To implement Kaizen, you’ll need to follow a set of simple steps that are carried out by all members of the team, at all levels and areas of the production process. Kaizen is all about ‘continuous’ improvement, which suggests it can never be a process that is quite finished. The steps should be repeated periodically on a time scale that suits your way of working – this could be daily, weekly, monthly, etc. To implement Kaizen,  follow the steps outlined below:

Gather Your Team & Set Goals

Kaizen only works well when the whole team is involved, so arrange one large meeting involving people at all levels to start the process. Outline the point of the meeting beforehand so people have the opportunity to think about what areas could be improved within the business. Set dedicated time and outcomes so the meeting stays on track throughout. 

Review Your Current Performance

To review your current performance, ask yourself and the team the following questions: Where are the bottlenecks in production? Is there anything that slows down output or quality? What areas could be made more efficient? Take a look at what areas are underperforming within your business. Encourage your team to get involved with this section too, as they may have a unique viewpoint on something that hasn’t even crossed your mind yet. Mapping the flow of production, and looking at data from previous periods (eg sales, time in production etc) may come in useful here. 

Brainstorm!

Next, brainstorm ideas for improving the areas lacking in performance. Encourage active communication amongst team members so they feel like they can speak up and be heard. Make the most of each staff member’s expertise and experience in niche subject areas, as this makes for the most effective solutions. Be open minded and don’t forget to make note of each suggestion ready for the next stage. You could make use of visual boards and other visual management products during this step.

Implement Ideas

Once you’ve generated ideas for improvement, decide which are viable for your organisation right now and delegate the tasks for implementation. Start with quick wins, and changes that are going to have the biggest impact first. Encourage team members to take ownership of tasks so that everyone holds themselves accountable. This also helps to improve employee buy-in. 

Test, Measure, & Repeat

Once your changes have been implemented, measure the efficiency either on a weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly basis. What you measure will depend entirely on your industry, processes, and the product your customer sees. You could measure both quantitative and qualitative data:

  • Levels of waste eliminated
  • Production time either in total or per stage
  • Number of sales
  • Staff engagement or morale
  • Overall utilisation of everyone within the team

Lastly, don’t forget to repeat the process. Likely one of the most important values of Kaizen is it is continuous and doesn’t have a set finishing date. To keep your organisation moving forward, repeat these meetings periodically. 

Buy Products For Kaizen Production From Orgatex

Here at Orgatex UK, we stock and supply a number of products to help you implement lean methodologies into your warehouse. We have been developing high-quality products to improve work processes for more than 50 years across a wide range of industrial, manufacturing, and logistic sectors. With a range of specialist systems, such as Kanban boards and cards, or visual management tools, we can help you implement small, yet effective changes within your organisation. 

Explore our range of lean management products for Kaizen in the collections below. If you’re not sure where to start, please get in touch with our team who’ll be able to offer their best advice and bespoke solutions where needed.

Buy Products For Kaizen Manufacturing

Below, we’ve answered the most asked questions about the Kaizen methodology and how it is used within lean manufacturing. If you have a question which we haven’t answered below, please feel free to get in touch with our team – we’ll be happy to help.

Kaizen Manufacturing FAQs

How Do You Pronounce Kaizen and What Does Kaizen Stand For?

Kaizen is pronounced as it is spelt – kai-zen. The combination of the two Japanese words means ‘improvement’ or ‘good change’.

What Are the Five Main Kaizen Principles?

The five main principles of Kaizen include:

  • Teamwork
  • Discipline
  • Team Morale
  • Quality Circles
  • Suggestions for Continuous Improvement

Each of these elements works towards either reducing waste (this could include time, physical waste, wasted skills, etc), improving housekeeping (the 5S method is involved in this), and creating processes that everyone upholds.

Who Invented Kaizen?

Masaaki Imai, was the inventor of the Kaizen method, writing a book named ‘Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success’. Imai was a famous theorist and management consultant, and his method quickly became popular in America. 

How Does Kaizen Reduce Waste?

Kaizen works to improve every element of the business from sales, to production, to management, and more. By implementing small changes, you help to save time in the form of idle workers and stations, improve production time, and reduce non-essential movement. The Kaizen method also helps improve the overall efficiency within a warehouse, which in turn decreases the chances of a defective end product and helps you utilise your assets (including machinery and staff) in a more productive way.

What Companies Use Kaizen?

Famous car manufacturer, Toyota, was one of the first companies to adopt the Kaizen method, along with many others including FiFo and Kanban. Nestle, Ford, Unilever, Cadbury, and Nike are all known to use Kaizen in some way or another.

Are Kaizen and 5S the Same?

Not quite. The popular 5S methodology is actually derived from Kaizen as a way to methodically establish an orderly workflow and reduce waste a little at a time. The five step method can be used on a regular basis to optimise the flow and efficiency of your warehouse space by making small changes to the order, amount, and location of items. Both methods fit into lean manufacturing, which is also the overarching aim of FiFo, Visual Management, and Kanban. 

What Are the Three Pillars Of Kaizen?

The three main pillars on which the kaizen methodology is built are firstly the management of the business and the implementation of 5S within your processes. Secondly, the elimination of waste means getting rid of anything within your processes that does not add value to your production, and is therefore creating unnecessary waste. Lastly is standardisation which is where you set principles and standards for your employees and work, to ensure that everyone is working to the same high standards.

What Is the Difference Between Kaizen and Kanban?

Kaizen is viewed as more of an ideology to follow in your approach to the management of promoting active change in the workplace for better and more efficient production. Kanban lays out tactics and processes of visualising your workflow and any potential problems, to visualise how to maximise efficiency.

Why Is Kaizen So Important?

Kaizen promotes a lean management method that helps to promote positive change and action through the participation of all employees within the business. It’s important to implement this within your company because it creates a positive culture of communication between employees, not only getting valuable information on how to improve processes to create efficiency, but also ensuring that everyone’s opinions feel heard and valued.

Explore Further Lean Methods

Explore Further Lean Methods