What is Kaizen?

Made famous by the enormously successful "Toyota Production System," kaizen is a business development system brought to Japan by an American statistician and quality control expert, W. Edwards Deming, after World War II. The Japanese word, "kaizen", translates "constant change for the better."

Following World War II, Deming was sent to Japan by the U.S. Government to help the war-torn country in its efforts to revive its economic base. While in Japan, his expertise in quality control techniques attracted the attention of Japanese business leaders and engineers. Eventually, Deming trained hundreds of engineers, managers, and scholars in statistical process control and concepts of quality. Deming's message to Japan's chief executives was that improving quality would reduce expenses while increasing productivity and market share.

A number of Japanese manufacturers applied his techniques widely and experienced theretofore unheard of levels of quality and productivity. The improved quality combined with the lowered cost created new international demand for Japanese products.

In 1960, the Prime Minister of Japan (Nobusuke Kishi), acting on behalf of Emperor Hirohito, awarded Dr. Deming Japan’s Order of the Sacred Treasures, Second Class. The citation on the medal recognizes Deming's contributions to Japan’s industrial rebirth and its worldwide success.

Later, in the mid-1980s, Deming was largely responsible for revitalizing Ford Motor Company by jump-starting its quality movement, helping it to generate record profits and restructuring its corporate culture.

While most succinctly embodied in the word "kaizen," the concept of constant, never-ending improvement is clearly embraced by the best in American business. Its roots are found in the record-breaking productivity of war-time and post-World War II America. But Deming, a Yale Ph.D., made it a science. He experimented and honed his methodologies in the board rooms and factories of Japan and the U.S.

Foundational to Kaizen is the scientific method. At its heart is the Deming Wheel pictured to the below:

Borrowing from his mentor, Walter A. Shewhart, Deming applied this wheel (or cycle) to every aspect of production. He believed what can be measured can be managed. Thus, in order to maximize the effectiveness of a change one must plan it, do it, check it, and then act in response to the findings. Often, the most prudent act is to plan; thus, the cycle is renewed.

Because of its focus on small measured changes, kaizen is sometimes mistaken as a gentle, slow-moving process. But small changes can create immediate, large-scale improvements in productivity and profitability. Companies which embrace it are often astounded at the instant and enormous impact on their bottom lines.

Properly structured, kaizen will allow an organization to get uniformly focussed on the big picture while allowing the rank and file to make daily improvements to their individual work environments to achieve company objectives. Allowing all participants to make their own measured improvements fosters the elimination of waste, reinforces big-picture thinking and creates a non-blaming (because blaming is wasteful) environment. The natural results are more efficient performance, higher quality, greater profitability and an improved company culture.