What is KAIZEN Lean?
First and foremost KAIZEN Lean is a way of thinking about how information, products and services move through your business processes. The traditional notion of producing and moving in large batches of products or services (information, goods, or paper), is becoming obsolete. The new ‘KAIZEN Lean way’ of thinking is to keep those work elements moving continually within your system, without stopping, from order to delivery – this is what KAIZEN Lean thinkers call flow. In order to achieve flow, waste must be eliminated from the end-to-end system. Nine wastes usually represent greater than 50% of the activities within a process. If we consider that most of these wastes consume some type of energy, then Energy is the 10th waste. The Ten Types of Waste • Over Production • Inventory • Waiting • Transportation • Motion • Over Processing • Quality Defects • Reprioritization • People’s Skills • Energy Energy Waste: The type of energy waste that can be associated directly with, or as a result o
