What Are Continuous Improvement Tools?

The Kaizen method was originally a Japanese management concept, which refers to a gradual and continuous increase in improvement. It was proposed by Masaaki Imai, the father of continuous improvement in Japan, in "ImprovementThe Key to the Success of Japanese Enterprises". Kaizen means improvement, involving continuous improvement of everyone and every link: from the highest management department, management Personnel to workers. The "continuous improvement" strategy is the most important concept in Japanese management, and it is the key to Japanese success in competition. Kaizen is actually a lifestyle philosophy. It assumes that every aspect of our lives should be constantly improved.

Continuous improvement

The key factors for continuous improvement are: quality, effort from all employees, involvement, voluntary change and communication.

Continuous improvement is applied and improved as part of the system level. Through mobile and pull systems to improve delivery time, process flexibility and responsiveness to customers, improvement activities improve the company's process from start to finish.

1, long-term, continuous, peaceful, but not significant

2.Many small margins

3.Continuous and incremental

4.Stepwise and stable

5. Involving everyone

Collectivism, teamwork and

Continuous improvement refers to "continuous improvement and improvement in different areas or work positions of the enterprise", which originated from TWI (Training Within Industries) and MT (Management Training).

TWI is

If a company wants to use Kaizen strategy to succeed, it must introduce the following systems:

1. Lost the rigid view of the original process

2. Think about how you can do things, not find out why not

3. Make no excuses and question existing methods

4. Don't pursue perfection, put it into practice immediately, even if it only reaches 5% of the agreed target

5.Correct errors immediately

6. Kaizen activities don't necessarily cost money

7. Remove obstacles and find solutions

8. Ask "Why?" Five times and look for the real reason

9.Gather everyone's opinions, not just individual ideas

10.The possibilities of Kaizen are endless

1.Choose work tasks

The reasons for choosing this project or task should be explained first. These tasks are usually determined based on the company's development goals, but sometimes the status quo of the company also affects this choice-based on its importance, urgency or economics.

2. Understand the current situation

Before the start of the project, it is necessary to understand the nature of the current situation of the project and analyze it. This requires people to go to the scene to understand the situation, apply KAIZEN's five "golden" principles, or collect data.

3. An in-depth analysis of the collected data should be conducted in order to understand the true background and cause of the matter.

4. Research countermeasures on the basis of analysis.

5. Import and execute countermeasures.

6. Observe and record the impact after adopting countermeasures.

7. Modify or reformulate standards to avoid recurrence of similar problems.

8. Examine the entire process from steps 1 to 7, so as to introduce the next action.

This procedure also works

Recognize and reward small progress

Keep track of what employees are doing correctly

(Leader) adopt an open attitude to problems

Creating a "Dare To Speak" Culture

Open the process to further refine the standard

to evaluate

Get customers involved

Establish rationalization proposals

Establish a quality assurance team

Establish a reward mechanism

Make employees understand (leader's) expectations

Regularly check the process

Give feedback on test results

Creating an atmosphere of cooperation

Issue specific instructions

(Leader) Participate in the formulation of standards

Explain why

For example, to convince people with facts

Training, how to do it, why to do it

Visualizing progress made

Remove obstacles

Requires positive, serious thinking

Create a relaxed environment (no threat)

The purpose of visual management is to make leaders and employees understand and familiarize themselves with the elements used to achieve QCD (quality, cost, delivery) control goals with the help of graphics, tables and performance data-from the company's overall strategy to production Data and the latest rationalization recommendations.

Introduce

1. Select key processes that need to be improved;

2. Draw a value flow chart;

3. Conduct continuous improvement seminars;

4. Build corporate culture;

5. Promote to the entire enterprise.

Today, many enterprises have introduced some standards such as ISO9000 or QS9000 due to the fierce competition of the market economy and the need to win the trust of customers. These standards place great emphasis on critical processes

The representative case of an automobile manufacturing company is used to discuss the working methods and benefits of introducing Kaizen.

Case 1: Kaizen, the final assembly of alternate logistics, continued to improve. The steps for improvement are as follows:

1. The first step, environmental review

By 2006, TQM, TPM, JIT, PD, Proposal, and QC management systems have been successfully introduced in this field and have been continuously applied in practice. The introduction of Kaizen has an environmental foundation.

2. The second step is to determine the task and grasp the status quo.

In 2006, the logistics sector implemented the "APOLO" improvement action with the theme of improving logistics distribution methods and optimizing the layout of final assembly stations. The logistics distribution mode of the assembly line realized the change of "alternate logistics", with an annual income of 80,000 yuan. However, the improvement of the layout of the assembly station has not yet been fully implemented.

3. The third step is data analysis

Through economic analysis, when the assembly station is improved and implemented, it will bring annual income of 280,000. Through the integrated improvement of the assembly station and logistics distribution, the payback period of investment will be shortened to 0.9 years.

Adopted the

1.Standardization

In order to achieve the QCD goals of the enterprise, the enterprise must make reasonable use of all available resources. It must make daily plans for the use of personnel, information, equipment and raw materials. The use of standards on the use of these resources can help improve the efficiency of the plan. If there is a problem or deviation in the implementation of the company, the leader of the enterprise should find out the real cause of the problem in time, and modify or improve the existing standards to avoid the recurrence of the problems. Standards are a fixed part of KAIZEN, which provides the basis for further improvement. The meaning of work area standardization is to translate the engineer's process or design requirements into work instructions that workers must follow every day.

2, 5S

5S stands for 5 Japanese words, which means clean and orderly. For any processing company, if it is a responsible producer and wants to become a world-class company, then 5S should be implemented as a foundation. For each position and individual, the 5S rules must be individually determined, and relevant 5S standards formulated and followed.

3. Eliminate

The first is an improvement proposal system with full participation. You may be familiar at first glance, saying we have it, we have a proposal system. But the improvement proposal here is different from the proposal improvement. The improvement proposal is to improve first and then propose, that is to say, do it first, improve it first, and then propose it. Our original proposal system is completely different.

The improvement proposal system is the basis for all employees to participate in continuous improvement. Start with reducing waste for all employees.

The second is the improvement system for middle and high-level issues. Every leader and every cadre needs to lead a subject. This subject is called a large subject, a focal subject, and it often involves major improvements such as process improvement.

The third is the presentation system for all employees. Regardless of improvement proposals or major issues, the release of results should be used as the result of appraisal results. This announcement or the result is not only in the conference room, but also in the actual improvement on the site, such as the improvement of tooling is easier to use than before, how much time and money is saved; a manufacturing process or business Improved the process, how much time was saved, how much money; etc.

The fourth is the expert diagnosis and general manager / chairman diagnosis system. What else is wrong? Where do I go next? This requires external experts and general manager / chairman guidance. At the same time, the process of diagnosis is also a process of examining the improvement effect at the previous stage.

Fifth, the training of all related improvement tools is the basis. You can't improve without mastering the improvement tools, and even if you can't improve, you can't start. Therefore, training for improving tools is a required course. This includes training and learning at all levels, from newcomers to veteran employees, from grassroots to leadership.

The above five aspects: improvement proposals, improvement of major issues, publication and release, expert diagnosis and tool training constitute a continuous improvement cycle, thereby creating a continuous improvement atmosphere and culture for enterprises.