The Kaizen State of Mind

From the fact that every problem is a source of progress, Kaizen or the Continuous Improvement seeks to :

Make participate every person of the company in the progress achievement
{mosimage}Focus in the involvement of people
Control the current situation
Challenge and Improve continuously the way of doing things

Kaizen and Innovation to increase the gap!

Kaizen is an Continuous Improvement Approach which is completed with Innovation (TRIZ) :

Kaizen

Innovation

Progress by "Small Steps "
The usual known how (savoir faire)
Actions involving the whole staff
Reflection, perseverance, and rigor
Directed to the people

Progress by "Big Steps"
New Technological Means

Actions reserved to Experts
Important Investments
Directed to technology

Abstract of the 12 Principles, the essence of the Continuous - Improvement - State of Mind (Kaizen)

The 12 Principles of Kaizen that have been identified by AL-Consulting, make part of the course of action and state of mind that should be adopted by every person who participates in a continuous improvement process. Here are the first steps :

Abandon fixed ideas, rejecting how things are today
Rather than explain why things can not be done, think of ways to do them
Implement immediately the good proposals for improvement.

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The PDCA as a mean to concretize and carry on the Kaizen State of Mind

The PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) is a process that allows to create an Improvement Plan and ensures the permanent improvement of your companys processes. It is an Indispensable tool for achieving the continuous improvement.

Establish an improvement target,
Define the Action Plan,
Choose the measuring indicators for success.

Is on this basic phase that the whole project depends.
A bad preparation can only bring complications and a waste of time and money.

D = DO (Apply, Carry on)

To carry on the Action Plan defined during the Phase P.

C = CHECK (Control)

Check that all the actions were accomplished and that they gave the expected results,
Evaluate the differences (compare P and D).

A = ACT (Act, React)

Find out the root causes of the measured differences and apply the corrective actions,
Standardize the best practice to ensure continuity,
Define objectives to obtain new improvements.