2. 1
What is Kaizen?
Kaizen is a Japanese word for "improvement", or "change for the better” and refers to philosophy or practices that
focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, and business management.
1. TPM Themes:
Productivity, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Safety & Morale of Employees i.e. PQCDSM
Quality would mean more accurate.
Cost would mean cheaper, lesser value.
Delivery would mean lesser cycle time or lead time, faster and more quantity.
Safety would mean safer, easier & comfortable working.
Morale would boost morale of Employees.
Productivity is a derivative or a combination of any of the above QCDSM. However, there could be
Kaizen, which is implemented primarily to improve productivity. Such a productivity improvement kaizen
may also indirectly affect cost and/or quality and/or safety etc. Hence, the categorization of a kaizen should
be done based on what it was originally intended for and not based on what all could be the eventual spin-
off or side benefits.
Kaizen would always involve a change in the method of doing. It could be design change, procedure change etc.
Based on above choose the Theme, which you are trying to address.
3. 2
2. Kaizan Types: ECRS
What is ECRS?
ECRS stands for: Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, Simplify
1. Eliminate: In this step, it’s important to identify the steps that can be quickly eliminated. Where possible,
eliminate the details of work.
2. Combine: When work cannot be eliminated, then seek to combine them. In this step, the Combine phase
addresses the Who, Where, and When.
3. Rearrange: Work can also be rearranged.
4. Simplify: And, a good rule of thumb regardless of the situation is to simplify anyway.
Of course, we want to eliminate first but, if not, then Combine, Rearrange, and Simplify will be helpful.
3. Background
This includes background behind selecting the Kaizen process.
4. Current Condition
This includes “As is” process.
What about the system is NOT IDEAL? – Think about an ideal scenario here, which is not being offered by the
current process.
- Extent of the problem(s) i.e. measures - What are the losses and challenges in the current process?
5. Root Cause Analysis
The 5 Whys is a question-asking technique used to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular
problem. The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem.
By repeating why five times, the nature of the problem as well as its solution becomes clear.
For example: The vehicle will not start. (The problem).
Why? - The battery is dead. (First why)
Why? - The alternator is not functioning. (Second why)
Why? - The alternator belt has broken. (Third why)
Why? - The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and not replaced. (Fourth why)
Why? - The vehicle was not maintained according to the recommended service schedule. (Fifth why, a root cause)
6. Counter Measure
This includes the counter measure taken to resolve the problem.
4. 3
7. Target Condition
This includes “To be” process.
Method Used:
Which method you have used to resolve the problem? Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, Simplify.
On which processes the selected method was applied to?
8. Cost Vs. Benefit Analysis
The Cost has two components:
One time cost (OTC): This includes Software, Hardware and Service expenses.
Monthly Recurring cost (MRC): Sustenance, HW Rent, Maintenance, Support etc.
The Benefits could be either tangible or intangible.
Here we include:
The benefit that we have gained by implementing new measures.
The TPM theme under which the benefit falls.
The beneficial difference between before and after state.
9. Implementation Plan
Here we use 5W+2H model to make an implementation plan: Who, What, When, Where, Why (the strategic
objectives), How, How much
10. Follow up
We use RAID (Risk, Issue, Assumption and Dependency) logs and accordingly plan activities.
