A minha weltanschauung "Will to Improve" e o "Kaizen" japonês

Descobri há poucos dias que há no Japão uma filosofia de vida e cultura empresarial que se baseia na contínua e interminável melhoria. É aplicada em muitas empresas japonesas, como a Toyota e a Canon, e é em grande parte responsável pelo sucesso dos japoneses depois da 2ª guerra mundial.

 

O Kaizen está em perfeita harmonia com a minha ideia de uma "Will to Improve" universal.
 

"Kaizen is a Japanese word for the philosophy or ideal of “Continuing and Never Ending Improvement”. The actual translation of “Kaizen” is as follows. “Kai (“change”) Zen” (“good”) is “improvement” and it has been made famous by the book “Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success” by Masaaki Imai. Kaizen is reflected in the Japanese “Total Quality Management” approach that helped Japan and their economy become a modern superpower."

 

"Kaizen in Japan is a system of improvement that includes both home and business life. Kaizen even includes social activities. It is a concept that is applied in every aspect of a person's life.

In business Kaizen encompasses many of the components of Japanese businesses that have been seen as a part of their success. Quality circles, automation, suggestion systems, just-in-time delivery, Kanban and 5S are all included within the Kaizen system of running a business.

Kaizen involves setting standards and then continually improving those standards. To support the higher standards Kaizen also involves providing the training, materials and supervision that is needed for employees to achieve the higher standards and maintain their ability to meet those standards on an on-going basis."

 

 

"Kaizen is a system that involves every employee - from upper management to the cleaning crew. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a month or once a year activity. It is continuous. Japanese companies, such as Toyota and Canon, a total of 60 to 70 suggestions per employee per year are written down, shared and implemented.

In most cases these are not ideas for major changes. Kaizen is based on making little changes on a regular basis: always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness while reducing waste.

 

Suggestions are not limited to a specific area such as production or marketing. Kaizen is based on making changes anywhere that improvements can be made. Western philosophy may be summarized as, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The Kaizen philosophy is to "do it better, make it better, improve it even if it isn't broken, because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do."