Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning Continuous Improvement (literally 'Transforming Value') and is applied to improvement processes which involve teams or individuals in the continual small scale improvement of their work area.

As a philosophy, the key to Kaizen is employee involvement and commitment to improvement.  This is sometimes done through Suggestion Schemes (Kaizen Teian) or through small groups (originallly Quality Circles).  In the 1990's, one of our Japanese teachers or Sensei, Shigehiro Nakamura of the Japan Management Association was commissioned with re-invigorating Japanese Kaizen activities.  The result was the Go-Go Tools (a terrible Japanese pun), a revamped Kaizen approach with some new tools and some old.

Productivity Europe translated these tools into English, including The Pocket Matrix, Principles Diagram and Pantomime Simulation techniques, and now use these alongside classic Kaizen approaches such as CEDAC (Cause and Effect Diagram with Addition of Cards) and 5Why  Analysis.

We can help you introduce Kaizen into your organisation, and work with your teams to utilise the most appropriate techniques for their situation.  For more details, see our Kaizen Implementation page