Quick and Easy Kaizen / Mini Kaizen

Benefits, the Process and the Key Characteristics

Source of Information: Japan Human Relations Association

The Japan Human Relations Association (JHRA) is leading the quick and easy kaizen efforts throughout Japan with its training programs, workshops, and publications. JHRA only promotes quick and easy kaizen. They dropped all of the other HR functions for they believe that quick and easy kaizen is the best way to develop human resources within a company.

Quick and Easy Kaizen, or Mini Kaizen, is aimed at increasing productivity, quality, and worker satisfaction, all from a very grassroots level.

Every company employee is encouraged to come up with ideas – however small – that could improve his/her particular job activity, job environment or any company process for that matter. The employees are also encouraged to implement their ideas as small changes can be done by the worker him or herself with very little investment of time.

Quick and easy Kaizen helps eliminate or reduce wastes, promotes personal growth of employees and the company, provides guidance for employees, and serves as a barometer of leadership. Each kaizen may be small, but the cumulative effect is tremendous.

Benefits

Quick and easy Kaizen empowers employees, enriches the work experience and brings out the best in every person. It improves quality, safety, cost structures, delivery, environments, throughput and customer service.

The Process

The quick and easy kaizen process works as follows:

1. The employee identifies a problem, waste, or an opportunity for improvement and writes it down.

2. The employee develops an improvement idea and discusses it with his or her supervisor.

3. The supervisor reviews the idea within 24 hours and encourages immediate action.

4. The employee implements the idea. If a larger improvement idea is approved, the employee should take leadership to implement the idea.

5. The idea is written up on a simple form in less than three minutes.

6. Supervisor posts the form to share with and stimulate others and recognizes the accomplishment.

Three Key Characteristics

1. Permanent method changes. Change the method. Once the change is made, you can’t go back to the old way of doing things.

2. Continuous flow of small ideas. The smaller ideas, the better. Kaizen is small ideas. Innovation takes time and is costly to implement, but kaizen is just day-to-day small improvements that when added together represent both enormous savings for the company and enormous self-esteem for the worker.

3. Immediate local implementation. Be realistic. Kaizen is done within realist or practical constraints.