Continuous improvement
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So far, productivity improvement action has been prompted by cardinal measure alarm bells ringing
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However, managers should not wait for this to happen – they should be forever looking for different ways to improve
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‘Kaizen’ is the Japanese word for continuous improvement – kai is change, zen is good – it’s the Japanese way of doing business
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There’s no special improvement projects involved
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CI involves everyone in an organisation, all managers and employees, working in small teams to come up with ways to make small improvements ‘day in, day out’
Aims of CI:
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To make lots of minor improvements to products, services or processes
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To extend product and service ranges
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To offer the same product or service at a lower price (or higher margin)
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To provide a new or better product or service – at a higher price even
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To incorporate a new convenience (add more value)
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To create a new (customer) want
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To find new uses for old products
Peter Drucker
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Every small contribution to productivity improvement is deemed to be useful
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As Dr Deming noted: “The big gain is not the £500 per year that the men saved, it’s that the men can take pride in the improvement”
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But when thousands of small, incremental improvements are made, the big gain can also be enormous financially for the organisation
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Just as it was for David Brailsford, UK ‘Team Sky’ coach, when winning the Tour de France – he put it all down to “the aggregation of marginal gains”
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