Definition
Kaizen is a company wide philosophy oriented toward continuous improvement. The literal definition extends to personal life, home life, and social life. In business it applies to continuing improvement of everyone both managers and employees. The main idea is to maintain and improve work standards, with responsibility delegated to the worker.
Kaizen strategy is one of the most important concepts in Japanese management and is credited with being key to Japanese competitive success. One important aspect of Kaizen is its emphasis on process, complemented with management acknowledgement. This contrasts with results-oriented management which is ingrained in western thinking. Most Kaizen focus is on implementation.
Regarded as a conceptual "umbrella" consisting of a collection of Japanese practices, Kaizen includes the following:
The Issues
Kaizen employs small group activities and suggestion systems for initiating improvements. It is an excellent tool for involving the workforce in a Lean Manufacturing initiative. However, it is no substitute for skilled plant design, and workers should never be expected to produce what a skilled plant designer can produce. When this mistake is made, it produces superficial results. This results in improvement usually in small increments over a longer period of time. Western managers are too impatient for this approach. They often expect large results and are eventually disappointed.
Just like anything else, Kaizen is no panacea, nor should it be embraced as a religion. It is an operational strategy that, if implemented properly, will provide a new dimension to competing: quickly introducing new customerized high quality products and delivering them with unprecedented lead times, swift decisions, and manufacturing products with high velocity.
Pragmatic Applications
Kaizen
is oriented toward progressing in small steps. Given that any company
is likely to find results in this approach, a manager can't usually go
wrong by employing the techniques. However, western managers and
stockholders tend to be impatient and want larger results sooner. This
creates a conflict of objectives and managers eager to implement Kaizen
must recognize that it does not represent radical transformation. If
companies are in need of radical change, Kaizen is not for them, and
might be employed later following large scale changes.
Our Approach: Tools from a Toolchest
Rockford Consulting Group applies concepts and technologies as the situation warrants, that will result in the ultimate benefit to our clients. We treat strategies, technologies, and methodologies as tools in a toolchest, and use them when they offer practical solutions and achievable results. We believe that each client situation is unique, with its own unique set of solutions.
Why Us?
Rockford Consulting Group, Ltd. can provide long-term assistance to many companies in a variety of industries. The firm has a cadre of the best supply chain consultants in the world today, providing high quality professionalism through the use of experience and innovation.
We subscribe to the Institute of Management Consultants Code of Professional Conduct. All consultants engaged on projects adhere to its principles. Whenever possible we will use consultants certified in their particular specialty area. Certification assures that consultants have substantial prior experience in their specialty, and their competencies have been tested by the IMC, and verified by a number of clients. This assures our clients that we are assigning the highest qualified consultants in the profession.
We provide technical expertise, team facilitation, leadership, and direction in deciding how you will meet the challenge. We refer you to our Qualification Statement for further details on our background, areas of specialization, concepts and technologies applied, staffing, operating policy, approach, companies and industries served, case studies and references. Equally as important, we train our clients to sustain new methods of manufacturing and the consequential benefits over time. Your company will benefit directly from this training.
We have achieved an efficiency in our approach to assignments that allows us to provide high quality technical and managerial advice in a much shorter amount of time than could be accomplished years ago. We are able to do this because of the extensive consulting experience that each of our specialists has.
©1999 Rockford Consulting Group, Ltd.