Kaizen

Jeffrey B. Cloutier
Internship - Avery Dennison Office Products Co.
Project Kaizen
Spring 2003




Kaizen


Many observers consider kaizen-a philosophy of ongoing improvement involving everyone, from top managers to the lowest level worker-to be the single most important element in Japan's competitive success in manufacturing. One commentator's characterization of kaizen distinguishes Japan's process-oriented view of thinking from the West's innovation-and results-oriented view. In practice, kaizen is a system for communicating ideas up and down the company hierarchy; everyone is encouraged to seek out and exploit new opportunities, and institutional barriers to the information flow are dismantled.

The kaizen attitude helps to explain why Japanese firms are so adept at exploiting new technology, even when they are not its originator. Kaizen-driven firms do not suffer from "not invented here" syndrome. Ideas are not the exclusive preserve of R&D, corporate planning, or...