10 Principles of Kaizen to Maximize Productivity

An essential element in Lean thinking is Kaizen. Kaizen is the Japanese name for continuous improvement. While Kaizen is really about improvement involving everyone everyday it is often associated with a structured event. It is the technique that improves quality, productivity, safety, and workplace culture. Kaizen focuses on applying small, daily changes that result in major improvements over time. They are essential to get cross-functional and multi-level teams involved in a Lean transformation.  In that respect, kaizen events have a dual role – to make improvements but also to teach and communicate.

Based on my experiences, here are ten principles for optimizing processes and implementing kaizen to maximize productivity within your continuous improvement efforts:

Principle 1. Improve Everything Continuously

This is the core tenet of the Kaizen method. With their commitment to improving everything continuously, adopters of the Kaizen method question the best practices of their organization to uncover areas for potential improvement. The improvement never ends. After improving one element, others can become not compatible or induce defects. Create a list of elements that require improvement and improve them one by one.

Principle 2. Say No to Status Quo

Old managers teach: if something works, don't touch it. In Kaizen we assume that everything can work better. There is no place for methods that cannot be changed. Every aspect of every process can be a subject of improving actions.

Principle 3. Aim for Small Improvements Rather Than Perfection

As the saying goes Rome was not built in a day, neither is performance excellence. By improving the way small tasks are regularly performed, you will yield greater results rather than attempting to perfect the workings of a whole department at once. Aim for small, continuous changes, and results will come slowly, but steadily.

Principle 4. Empower Every Team Member to Provide Solutions to Problems

Not only does giving everyone a say provide them with a sense of belongingness, but it also provides the organization with fresh ideas and innovative concepts by which certain issues may be avoided altogether.

Principle 5. Use Creativity Before Capital

Save money through small improvements and spend the saved money on further improvements. In western culture changes have to be substantial in order to be visible. In eastern culture changes sometimes are substantial. But in most cases, those are small improvements that lead to small savings. But after many small improvements you'll earn a considerable sum of money.

Principle 6. Tacit Learning, Learn by Taking Action

Kaizen promotes the philosophy of action, learning through experience and reduces procrastination. In Japan, professionals associate another term with Kaizen: 'genchi genbutsu'. This literally means 'real location, real thing'. This common saying encompasses the same core meaning: taking action, experiencing the real thing and not just the theory, is what leads to development.

Principle 7. If Something is Wrong, Fix It

Mistakes are human. It is natural and acceptable to make them. What is unacceptable is to attempt to finish a task without rectifying the error. Own up to the mistake if you are held accountable, correct it, and attempt to find a solution to avoid the same mistake later on.

Principle 8. Use Data Over Opinions

Using data to influence your decision-making process is a powerful way to reduce errors and constantly improve. Data provides us with information that is backed with proof, while opinions reflect a person’s or group’s beliefs. Establishing metrics before you action any changes enables you to define success and failure and to act accordingly. Using data can help to eliminate the risk of human bias and assumptions, creating an efficient and goal-oriented decision-making process. Companies that invest in, gather, collate and interpret data prior to decision-making will have an edge over others who are solely experience or opinion-driven.

Principle 9. Ask Why to Get to Root Cause

Due to the lack of time and the pressure to meet deadlines, we often overlook the root cause of errors, which leads to the repetition of the same mistakes. Always encourage your staff to get to the root cause of problems. Use a 5-Whys Analysis and keep asking “why” until you get to the root cause of the problem. Share the possible solutions so that everyone in the team can benefit from the findings.

Principle 10. Improvement has No limits. Never Stop Trying to Improve.

Never say to your employees: ok, we've done it, now we can do it another ten years without any changes. There is entropy in each process. Customers’ needs change constantly. New technologies are being implemented. Your competitors still try to make better product. The improvement program is a never-ending story.

The initial benefits that are implemented will lead to further improvement opportunities down the road. When done properly, Kaizen just keeps going through the cycle of identifying improvement opportunities, coming up with solutions to those opportunities, implementing the solutions and finally testing them. If the solutions are positive, the cycle starts over with new improvement opportunities. This will continue forever, leading to an optimized facility that is never satisfied with the status quo.