KAIZEN vs INNOVATION

KAIZEN Vs INNOVATION Originally a Buddhist term, KAIZEN came from the words, “Renew the heart and make it good”.

Therefore, adaptation of the KAIZEN concept also requires changes in “the heart of the business”, corporate culture and structure, since KAIZEN enables companies to translate the corporate vision in every aspect of a company’s operational practice. KAIZEN is often translated in the west as ongoing continuous improvement.

There are two types of focus in production processes that are opposing: one of them is the gradual improvement and the other is innovation; the Japanese enterprises favor the gradual improvement and the western enterprises favor on the large jumps with invention. In spite of Kaizen not demanding great investment for its implementation, it demands continuous efforts and commitment. In ideal conditions, Kaizen can be compared to a ramp, since the progress is gradual, and the innovation to a step. Improvement can be broken down into KAIZEN and Innovation). Kaizen signifies small improvements as a result of ongoing efforts. Innovation involves a drastic improvement as a result of a large investment of resources in new technology or equipment. In the context of KAIZEN, management has two major functions: maintenance and improvement. Maintenance refers to activities directed towards maintaining current technologies, managerial and operating standards, and upholding such standards through training and discipline. Under its maintenance function, management performs its assigned tasks so that everybody can follow standard operating procedure. Improvement, meanwhile, refers to activities directed towards elevating current standards as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Improvement broken down into KAIZEN and Innovation

KAIZEN creativity

INNOVATION ability to adaptation

individualism

team work

orientation towards the specialists

orientation towards person having no specialized qualifications attaching great value to the details

attaching great value to the general matters orientation towards techniques information directed to the chosen persons orientation to the individual section searching for the new technology limited feedback short-time effect participation of several chosen “leaders” adaptation to the fast growth rate economy big investment needed results in the aspect of profit as the estimation criterion Continuous and incremental Collective team efforts , System focus Maintenance and Improvement Know-how and conventional updating Persons Demand less investment, however, greater effort to maintain

orientation towards human free-for-all information, generalized interdepartmental orientation basing on the existing technologies strong feedback long-time effect participation of every worker adaptation to the slow growth rate economy small investment needed processing estimation criterion Intermittent and not incremental Strong individuality, individual ideas and efforts Rejection and rework Technological advances, new inventions and new theories Technology Demand large investment, however, less effort to maintain

Table 1.1 Comparison of KAIZEN and Innovation

KAIZEN may facilitate innovation, but the innovation refers to incremental innovation or smallscale innovation conducted by blue-collar workers and not disruptive innovation such as value innovation. However, the KAIZEN strategy does call for continuous efforts and commitment from all level of management. Thus, Kaizen calls for a substantial management commitment of time and effort. Innovation, which is implemented by abrupt changes, and Kaizen, which is a gradual process, are alternative means of introducing improvement. Kaizen means small improvements made as a result of continuing effort. Innovation involves a drastic improvement made as a result of large improvements in new equipment or technology.