kaizan


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Related to kaizan: Six Sigma, Lean manufacturing

kaizan

a Japanese term meaning ‘continuous improvement’. Based on the ‘philosophy’ that QUALITY begins with the customer and that it is always possible to improve a product and a process. As customer requirements are always changing and because product standards are continually improving then the perception is that to stay in the market continual improvement is a necessary requirement for an organization. There are a number of guiding principals underpinning kaizan: these include, eliminating the task (in a similar way to BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING), reducing or changing activities and questioning the rules. Kaizan can be considered to be a part of LEAN MANUFACTURING. See JAPANIZATION, QUALITY COUNCIL, QUALITY CIRCLE, JUST-IN-TIME (JIT) SYSTEM.
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References in periodicals archive ?
Critical to your lean journey's success is knowing how and when to use improvement tools such as Six Sigma, value-stream mapping, standard work, Kanban systems, Kaizan events and others.
Successful lean implementations--and why some fail
En el primer caso encontramos aspectos como el rayo laser, la fibra optica, la robotica, el home banking, las comunicaciones via satelite; mientras que en el segundo caso encontramos la calidad total, la reingenieria, el kaizan y el bench marking para citar algunos.
Dinamicas de los procesos de transformacion organizacional en el sector financiero colombiano
Post-Americana gigs at the Gateshead venue include Tuesday night's percussion master-class with Japanese Taiko drumming from Joji Hirota, John Kaizan Neptune (on Japanese bamboo flute) and Kenny Endo.
Uncle Sam music feast
According to Tony Bradley, KMA's Kaizan lead person, it is not simply about making improvements until an 'acceptable' level is achieved, but continually making improvements in an organized fashion over a relatively long time period.
Unex Span-Track Bays help tractor manufacturer increase efficiency
Sir, - I would like to congratulate Keith Chadwick of Radshape Sheet Metals in Aston for rediscovering traditional British quality disciplines via O & M, which the Japanese call Kaizan (Post, January 23).
Letter: Let's get back to British basics
The revival of interest in job rotation came with the interest in Japanese management practices in the late 1980s, in which job rotation was a part of a set of practices that included teamwork and continuous improvement, or Kaizan.
DO "HIGH-PERFORMANCE" WORK PRACTICES IMPROVE ESTABLISHMENT-LEVEL OUTCOMES?
It started in 1993 after it became clear to me that the Kaizan [a term Sudanese use to refer to the Islamacists were not leaving power in my lifetime.
MIGRATION WITH A FEMININE FACE: BREAKING THE CULTURAL MOLD
Cell manufacturing and Kaizan (a Japanese concept for continuous improvement) go hand-in-hand," Kaupan says, "and have so far been used predominantly in the Southeast.
Throughput Improvements Shorten Delivery Times
Problem is, in the corporate world, people don't yearn - except in a kaizan kind of way (a striving for perfection) - and people certainly don't fail, at least not in print.
Putting humanity in your newsletter - it's not worth it (or is it?)
The aim is to strive for continuous improvement, witnessed to by Kaizan groups and quality circles, for instance.
The revitalization of the UK automobile industry
Florence's focus on progress and teamwork was bolstered by the Japanese corporate culture of kaizan, or continuous improvement.
From star to team player: how Jerry Florence made the switch from General Motors to Nissan

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