Kaizen Questions and Answers

Kaizen is a methodology and philosophy that originated from Japan and has been successfully used in workplaces around the world for decades. The methodology is at the core of both the Toyota Production System and Lean manufacturing as it spurs continuously identifying areas of improvement while involving front line workers all the way up to the CEO. The practice of Kaizen focuses on small incremental changes that can be made relatively quickly and eventually leads to large and noticeable improvements over time.

Topics covered:
Kaizen works with teamwork and communication at the forefront of its strategy to eliminate wastes and deliver high quality products while continuously looking for process improvement. Some of the topics included in this Q&A section are:

• Principles and tools: Kaizen is associated with numerous tools that can be used to improve workplace safety by working to eliminate the eight wastes of Lean. Some of these include Gemba, value stream mapping, and the PDCA cycle.
• Eliminating waste: The eight wastes of Lean include defects, overproduction, waiting, excess processing, inventory, transportation, motion, and un-utilized talent. Various strategies on eliminating those wastes will be covered.
• The history of Kaizen: Kaizen is the foundation of Lean manufacturing, learn how it came to be and how the two are related.

Whether you want to practice daily Kaizen or set up a series of Kaizen events, we’re here to help with these free resources!