Implementing Kaizen Principles in Manufacturing

The Japanese word Kaizen when translated into English means ‘Improvement’. It has been practised in Japan for more than 60 years, but it was only in 1986 when the Japanese business consultant Masaaki Imai introduced the term in his famous book ‘Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success’ that we too learnt about it. At Blowplast, we have deepened our understanding and use of Kaizen principles for almost 20 years. Looking at Kaizen as a business philosophy and the practice of continuous improvement has helped us in moving forward and always trying to find better ways and improved efficiency.

Kaizen is the principle of continuous learning to implement better processes and systems. We belief Kaizen is not only applicable to a manufacturing environment but is part of our daily life, which helps direct us to become leaders in our field.

Kaizen focuses on making small and continuous improvements and monitors these improvements daily. We first need to identify problems at their source because only by knowing the real “root cause” of a problem can we begin looking for ways to solve it. Thus, Kaizen aims to solve problems at their source. The “Root-Cause-Analysis” (RTA) is the systematic process of identifying “root causes” of problems and developing an approach for responding to them. It is more than merely ‘putting out fires’ for problems that can develop; it is about finding ways to prevent them.

Our Kaizen process involves every employee at Blowplast in making change – in most cases small, incremental changes. It can affect all areas in our manufacturing process. Kaizen has led to improvements in areas such as product quality, space utilization, production capacity and communication at Blowplast. Applying the principle and a systematic process has helped in reducing wastage in inventory, transportation, and waiting time if there are bottlenecks in the manufacturing process. We have structured our operational processes according to the industry which we service and have, therefore, been focused to improve the productivity and reduce manufacturing cost.

THERE IS NO SUCCESS WITHOUT ACTION. Our goal is not a 100% solution that solves all problems at one time, we are rather looking for a 70% solution that can be accomplished in a few days. Small changes over time can have a big impact. The improvement does not need to be perfect the first time, but it is better to start the process today in small steps and continue.

Kaizen is a simple, but effective and powerful approach to problem-solving, change, and team building. Applying the principle has accelerated workplace changes, improvements in productivity and has made our workplace safer.

Kaizen Dictionary:

Gemba – “the actual place” means the place where value is created, for us, this is the production floor

Muda – “wastefulness” means non-value adding and unnecessary activities which contribute to waste or hidden costs and should be eliminated