Lean process improvement methodologies are finding their place not just in manufacturing but in the clinical setting, where removing inefficiencies benefits not only the hospital but the patients ...

IN A GOOD YEAR, THE U.S. manufacturing sector might chalkup a 4% overallincrease in productivity. At the plant level, some top-flight produc-tion operations have achieved gains of 20% or more in a 12- ...

Kaizen, a Japanese term that means “change for the better,” has been adapted by organizations as a business strategy aimed at establishing an environment of continuous improvement. The goal of Kaizen ...

According to kaizen philosophy, the improvement of systems, programs and people is a continuous, ongoing process. The kaizen method originated as a Japanese business approach and the word translates ...

Unfortunately there seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding of kaizen, viewing it only as small incremental improvements. Therefore a new term was introduced into the lean vocabulary: kaikaku.