As many organizations are focusing on performance improvement to do more with less, better. I wanted to take a moment to talk about Kanban and Kaizen. I have seen hundreds of posts and articles around methodologies and principles. Such as: LEAN, Six Sigma, A3, Adaptive Design, SCRUM, SMART and so many more. Not to mention all the material being posted on "how to's": 3 ways to do this, 7 ways to do that. In a world of increasing complexity, the desire to keep things simple or comprehensible is becoming increasingly more important. Unfortunately, some things are complex and require a team of dedicated and diverse individuals to collectively discover, measure, analyse, design, and verify. Then break down into digestible chunks for others to tweak, then start over again until applied. Then sustain, and follow up. Then adjust and redeploy. Thus comes the term continuous improvement. Rinse and repeat.
Kanban and Kaizen are two rarely talked about principles that are very powerful if used properly. For fun, if you Google Kanban you get several different results and definitions. Wikipedia actually has the best summary:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban
Kanban (かんばん(看板)?) (literally signboard or billboard in Japanese) is a scheduling system for lean and just-in-time (JIT) production.[2]Kanban is a system to control the logistical chain from a production point of view, and is an inventory control system. Kanban was developed by Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota, as a system to improve and maintain a high level of production.
There are other sites that relate Kanban to software development and credit David J. Anderson, this is not accurate. Though Kanban can be used as a guide to software development, it is not its core intent. Kanban also can be compared to SCRUM. Again, not really a good fit.
Kanban helps manage process improvement, it’s that simple. It is not a series of steps, it is a mold to shape outcomes and achieve them.
Next up - Kaizen
http://www.kaizen.com/about-us/definition-of-kaizen.html
Kaizen is the practice of continuous improvement. Kaizen was originally introduced to the West by Masaaki Imai in his book Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success in 1986. Today Kaizen is recognized worldwide as an important pillar of an organization’s long-term competitive strategy. Kaizen is continuous improvement that is based on certain guiding principles:
Good processes bring good results
Go see for yourself to grasp the current situation
Speak with data, manage by facts
Take action to contain and correct root causes of problems
Work as a team
Kaizen is everybody’s business
"One of the most notable features of Kaizen is that big results come from many small changes accumulated over time." - I want to focus on this line for a moment. I consult with companies across the country and so many want the silver bullet. The one thing that will fix their issues and bring efficiency and profit. There is no such thing. "...change comes in excruciating increments to those who want it." - President Bartlet, The West Wing. Love that show.
Performance improvement takes time, it is a marathon, not a sprint.
Kanban and Kaizen are referenced in Six Sigma as part of VSM (Value Stream Mapping), but are so much more. Together these principles allow organizations to truly achieve performance improvement goals. They work because they are organic, and can adapt to the needs of the organizations employing them. In addition, they require the collaboration of the users to achieve the desired outcomes of the organization. This creates buy-in by those most affected by change. Greasing the skids.
Every consumer wants things to cost less, be faster, work better and last longer. Companies need to stay competitive and keep the supply and demand equilibrium in their favor. This comes from constant innovation and continuous improvement.
It’s a good time to be a performance improvement professional.
An essay by TREVOR DALE.More writing →