Prof. de Albeniz lectured about Kaizen
or the English term: "continuous improvement" and
how it has greatly benefited Toyota and other Japanese automakers in today's lecture.
While I don't question the merits of Kaizen, I am
cynical about the way Kaizen is implemented at my company where I still
work on a part-time basis. In my humble opinion, there has been a divergence of perception and expectation on the execution of the Kaizen
program between management and the employees. It has become
apparent that the goal of the program has become nothing more than
posting fancy powerpoint slides on bulletin boards than to really use
the concepts of the program to solve problems or improve processes. To
most employees, the program has become just another fad and despite
enormous amount of resources that have been invested in the program. To
management, it serves no more than a public relations tool by window
dressing the program as the panacea of solving any of the company woes.
Sadly, the program that was designed to reduce Muda (Japanese for waste) has itself become muda.
| 7/18/2005 2:11:15 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) |
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