The kaizen

The term Kaizen comes from the Japanese words "Kai" and "Zen" which together mean change action and continuous improvement, gradual and orderly. The kaizen is a quality tool for the continuous improvement used by the industrial engineers. As Lefcovich say it has its origins in Japan as a result of their pressing needs to outdo itself in a way to be able to catch up with the Western industrial powers and thus earn a living for a large population living in a country of limited size and resources. The goal of kaizen is to develop an enterprise-wide culture in which they are involved all employees, from top management to the cleaning staff. Implement the kaizen is to assume the culture of continuous improvement that focuses on eliminating waste and wastage of productive systems. It is a continuing challenge to improve standards and they should not spend a day without having done any kind of improvement.

The Gemba kaizen, which is like a root of the whole system, has some parts the first one is as What is Gemba Kaizen? said is the Muda that means any wasteful activity or any obstruction to smooth flow of an activity

Activity = Work + Muda

Expenditure = Cost + waste

That is, for each activity there is expenditure and every work there is a cost associated. Any expenditure on the Muda is a waste.

The second one is the Gemba, as the same author mentions, it is directly related with the Work place, Gemba is where Value Is Added. The Gemba is also recognized as a process of continuously identify, reduce and eliminate the waste.

The third one is the Muri, as the same author mentions, it is a Physical Strain

which involves:

•      Bend to work.
•      Push hard.
•      Lift weight.
•      Repeat tiring action.

The fourth one is Mura, as the same author mentions, it is when they find Inconsistencies in the system.

Gemba kaizen now is a process of continuously:

•      Identifying Muda, Mura , Muri (3 Mu)
•      Reducing Muda, Mura , Muri (3 Mu)
•      Eliminating Muda, Mura , Muri (3 Mu)

For Kaizen, other factor is the time that has a strategic importance because it is the only thing that is not recovered. Time is one of the scarcest resources in any organization and one of the most frequently wasted. Only exercising control over this valuable resource can implement other administrative tasks and provide the level of attention they deserve. It is the most critical and valuable resource of any company. Inefficient use of time results in stagnation. The materials, products, information and documents remain in a place without adding any value. All waste produced stagnation. In the Kaizen waste lead to the loss of time, so the site must be ordered. (Salmón, 2011)

To enable continuous improvement and achieve the highest levels the industry must implement the next five basic systems:

•      Total Quality Management: in which every member of the company MUST study, practice and participate in quality control.
•      A production system just in time: It is delivering raw materials or components to the production line "just in time" as they are needed.
•     Total Productive Maintenance: focuses on eliminating losses associated with downtime, quality and costs in industrial production processes.
•       Policy Deployment.
•       A suggestion system.
•       Small Group Activities.

Clear examples of the effect of the kaizen methodology are the high standards and Japanese companies such as Toyota, Hitachi and Sony, which since the 80's are a good example of continuous improvement (Salmón, 2011). All these companies apply the five basic tools mentioned above. Kaizen to succeed in business first you need to change the top management and extends to all staff.

Bibliography

Lefcovich, M. (n.d.). monografias. Retrieved from http://www.monografias.com/trabajos15/sistema-kaizen/sistema-kaizen.shtml

Salmón. ( 2011, marzo 30 ). elblogsalmon. Retrieved from El método Kaizen para el mejoramiento continuo: http://www.elblogsalmon.com/conceptos-de-economia/el-metodo-kaizen-para-el-mejoramiento-continuo

What is Gemba Kaizen? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://gembakaizenemailconsultancy.weebly.com/what-is-gemba-kaizen.html