Kaizen consultancy services in India

Know Kaizen and its three pillars for continuous improvement

In the current scenario where there is too much competition going on in the market, each striving to climb the ladder of success and have a flourishing business resulted in trying to produce more customer benefit products by companies so as to drive the customers towards them and hold them. This is happening not only in one industrial area but in every sector of it, this thus increases the demand for having means by which the companies can reach the ultimate goal. 

Because obviously without having a strategic and disciplined way of working and running the manufacturing system there will be causing so many varieties of waste which one might not notice but it will be the reason behind the company to have losses in the business for not being able to give in the market value added product which the customers demand and ultimately procuring less revenue. 

But interestingly, the manufactured goods are value added products or not and are decided not by the company but by the consumers, they demand a high-quality product at a competitive pricing and choose whether they would pay for it or not. The companies would have to comply with it and manufacture the product at the said pricing. But how will they do it? By cutting off several employees? By producing more products? There can be several speculations as such but the only way of doing it is by the incorporation of lean manufacturing. Of the various tools of lean, here we are going to dwell deep into one of the most effective tools that is Kaizen. 

What is Kaizen? 

Kaizen is one of the powerful tools of lean manufacturing by the help of which there can be radical development in the working of the company. Kaizen is a Japanese word which means "continuous improvement." The word Kaizen can be broken down into two parts, that is, "Kai" means change and "Zen" means good. Combining both of them we have the very thoughtful meaning of the word, that is a good change which is required to be done within the company for its development and continue to flourish in the long run. 

We have seen that the Japanese companies have the best work culture and they are a huge success and it is because they acknowledged and incorporated the principles of Kaizen where the mindset of the people have been made as such that each and every employee starting from the CEO to the lowest ranked clerical employee will put equal effort every day and engage in the everyday scrutinizing of their work and making changes wherever needed. 

Kaizen believes in slow and steady improvement to have a big and beneficial change is a far-reaching approach and does not believe in fast pace temporary growth. Kaizen creates a work culture where employees feel motivated, disciplined, feel connected to their work and continue to work together in the improvement of the company. 

What are the three pillars of Kaizen?

Here are the three pillars of Kaizen which can help in improving the productivity, performance and efficiency of the company to yield a very beneficial outcome to continue to have in the long run. 

Housekeeping

First and foremost, we have housekeeping, the very first pillar of Kaizen which is the process of managing the workplace also known as Gemba for the continuous improvement of the company. The word Gemba is a Japanese word which was first introduced by M. Imani, the meaning of which is 'the actual place'. This is the concept in which value is added to the product in each stage before it is passed to the next stage of manufacturing. The "5 S" of Kaizen plays its role here. The 5S is the methodology by which a proper disciplined step-up step way of working is set up for the improvement of the company. Firstly, the workplace has to be near and clean to create a good environment. Every file, tools and materials are to be kept in an organized way so that it remains safe and is easy to find which saves a lot of time. Also, it helps in reducing overproduction. The waste that is discovered needs to be removed. 

Elimination of waste

The second pillar of Kaizen consists of eliminating the waste, also called Muda, that has been generated. The main goal is to get value added products and remove everything that is not adding any value and is creating more waste. The waste needs to be removed so that the only thing remaining is the value-added product. The waste can be of various types such as over production, in the waiting queue, a number of people doing a small work, transportation, inventory, over usage of the machine or the employees working more than they should etc. All this generates waste which with the help of Kaizen is being removed. It also implements 'just in time' inventory management so that there will be no wastage and the manufacturing process will be streamlined. In this way the company would be able to provide what the customer demands and at a price point which they are willing to pay for without you running in loss or not able to gain profit from it.

Standardization

The third and last pillar of Kaizen is standardization which consists of the process where a standard is set which must be maintained in the production. A set specification is made ready complying to which the production must be done. This is a very effective way of eliminating the waste which are of 7 types. Standardization is also very helpful in lowering the cost, having a streamlined workflow and maximizing productivity. Setting a standard is effective in getting the job done in the most simplistic way saving a lot of time and also it is the safest means. Standards provide the ground for maintenance and continuous improvement. While encountering errors, it helps in minimising it by providing ways and also ascertains that there will be no further same error occurs. 

Kaizen should be implemented in every company to have a gradual and strong growth of the company and to improve its work culture. To get the best Kaizen service for your company, you may contact RIB Consulting, the well-known Kaizen consultancy services in India.