Japan is the home of the Kaizen philosophy and practices that many manufacturers uphold today. Kaizen was popularized by Toyota founder Sakichi Toyoda in the 1940s and has since become a common practice in companies throughout Japan. Now, as foreign businesses look to integrate Kaizen, many have considered making the long trek to Japan to
Continue reading »Supply chains are vital to the success of any manufacturing company. The transfer of goods – whether parts between different factories or finished products to retailers – is a crucial part in the manufacturing process as it impacts every step along the way, from product conception to customer sales. A company with an ineffective supply
Continue reading »Kaizen embodies a variety of practices and philosophies. This enables a multitude of companies to achieve goals that are unique to them and their individual situations. That means two businesses looking to integrate Kaizen and Lean practices could be using them for entirely different purposes. The News-Journal Online writer Fatima Hussein recently observed the versatility
Continue reading »There are a number of factors that determine the happiness and satisfaction of your workers. Pay rates, workload, stress at home and other factors can directly impact your employees' mental state, and by extension, their productivity. It's important to realize that there are many factors you can't control. For instance, you can't change the fact
Continue reading »For many manufacturers, there is an ever-persistent dilemma between balancing efficiency with quality. The economy has forced many businesses to focus on doing more with limited resources, which has placed efficiency at a premium. At the same time, companies feel as if productivity has to come at the expense of quality, and they simply can't
Continue reading »The internet is as much a tool as it is a distraction. Employers struggle with this dichotomy all the time – the web is often pivotal in terms of communication and streamlining processes and operations. At the same time, many are concerned the internet may invite employees to slack off by browsing websites that aren't
Continue reading »What makes for a successful company? Some entrepreneurs might say innovation, others the ability to make consistent profits. Others still may suggest cut-throat leadership. While any one of those could be true, Sustainable Plant suggests a new standard for success may be sustainability. As the news source notes, sustainable initiatives have been linked to outstanding
Continue reading »The Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, a sugar industry company started in the 1950s by foreign investors and the Ethiopian government, recently decided to deploy Kaizen methodologies and practices. The organization hopes to take the philosophy of continuous improvement and apply this to its processes and technology to bolster product quality and productivity. Additionally, the Ethiopian Sugar
Continue reading »Government agencies in Bangladesh are taking advantage of the Japanese concept of Kaizen to improve the quality of services by civil servants and other activities in the region. Since the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) integrated Kaizen and total quality management (TQM) five years ago, there have been several notable changes in the way
Continue reading »Lean manufacturing is a very old set of philosophies and mindsets, dating back to World War II-era Japan. However, it has traditionally been relegated to manufacturing-related businesses, such as automakers or furniture factories. It wasn't until more recently that business leaders began deploying these practices in other fields, which gave rise to approaches such as
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