Kaizen Flashcards
what is a Kaizen?
Kaizen is a Japanese term for the philosophy of continuous improvement in
performance via small, incremental steps.
Characteristics
Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually improving these
standards to achieve long-term sustainable improvements.
* The focus is on eliminating waste, improving processes and systems and
improving productivity.
* Kaizen involves all areas of the business.
* Employees often work in teams and are empowered to make changes.
Rather than viewing employees as the source of high costs, Kaizen views
the employees as a source of ideas on how to reduce costs. A change of
culture will be required, encouraging employees to suggest ideas to
reduce costs.
* Kaizen allows the organisation to respond quickly to changes in the
competitive environment.
six sigma
Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually improving these
standards to achieve long-term sustainable improvements.
* The focus is on eliminating waste, improving processes and systems and
improving productivity.
* Kaizen involves all areas of the business.
* Employees often work in teams and are empowered to make changes.
Rather than viewing employees as the source of high costs, Kaizen views
the employees as a source of ideas on how to reduce costs. A change of
culture will be required, encouraging employees to suggest ideas to
reduce costs.
* Kaizen allows the organisation to respond quickly to changes in the
competitive environment.
Key requirements for successful six sigma implementation
Six sigma should be focused on the customer and based on the
level of performance acceptable to the customer.
* Six sigma targets for a process should be related to the main
drivers of performance.
Senior managers within the organisation have a key role in driving
the process.
* Training and education about the process throughout the
organisation are essential for success.
* Six sigma sets a tight target, but accepts some failure – the target
is not zero defects.
Some criticisms and limitations of six sigma
Six sigma has been criticised for its focus on current processes
and reliance on data. It is suggested that this could become too
rigid and limit process innovation.
* Six sigma is based on the use of models which are by their nature
simplifications of real life. Judgement needs to be used in
applying the models in the context of business objectives.
* The approach can be very time consuming and expensive.
Organisations need to be prepared to put time and effort into its
implementation.
* The culture of the organisation must be supportive – not all
organisations are ready for such a scientific process.
* The process is heavily data-driven. This can be a strength but can
become over-bureaucratic
LeanThinking
As the name suggests, lean is a philosophy that aims to systematically
eliminate waste through the identification and elimination of all non-value
adding activities.
wastes to be elimintated include:
Inventory – holding or purchasing unnecessary raw materials, work-inprogress and finished goods
* Waiting – time delays/idle time when value is not added to the product
* Defective units – production of a part that is scrapped or requires rework
* Effort or motion – actions of people/equipment that do not add value
* Transportation – delays in transportation or unnecessary handling due to
poor planning or factory layout
* Over-processing – unnecessary steps that do not add value
* Over-production – produce more than customers have ordered.
Characteristics of lean
Improved production scheduling – production is initiated by customer demand rather than ability and capacity to produce,
* Small batch production or continuous production –
production is based on customer demand, resulting in highly flexible and responsive processes.
* Economies of scope – lean production is only achieved where economies of scope’ make it economical to produce small
batches of a variety of products with the same machines.
* Continuous improvement – the company continually finds ways to reduce process times:
– A multi-skilled, trained workforce provides flexibility.
Employees should be involved in and engaged with the lean philosophy.
– The machines, tools, and people used to make an item are close.
– Quality at source reduces re-working.
– A clean and orderly workplace.
* Zero inventory – just-in-time purchasing (this is discussed below)
eliminates waste.
* Zero waiting time – JIT production (this is discussed below) means that the work performed at each stage of the process is dictated solely by the demand for materials for the next stage,
thus reducing lead time.
The lean supply chain
is to completely remove
waste in order to achieve competitive advantage through a reduction in
costs and an improvement in quality
Benefits of lean supply chain
benefits are:
* reduced inventories (and thus increased cash flows and profits)
* shorter lead times, and thus faster deliveries to customers
* few bottlenecks, so better utilisation of resources, and further
improvements in profit
* few quality problems, so less re-work, lower costs of quality
failures, and happier customers.
disadvantages of lean manufacturing
potential for large, powerful
customers to dominate the supply chain and an over-emphasis on cost
reduction rather than quality improvement.
Criticisms and limitations of lean manufacturing
High initial outlay
-Requires a change in culture
* Part adoption
* Cost may exceed benefit –
Lean synchronisation
aims to meet demand instantaneously with perfect
quality and no waste.
Just-in-time
is a system whose objective it is to produce or procure
products or components as they are required by the customer or for use,
rather than for inventory
JIT purchasing
is a method of purchasing that involves ordering
materials only when customers place an order
