It is almost year-end. At this time of the year, I have kept saying “Time flies!”. It is really very fast!!
The end of the year is the time to look back the year to finish and to think of the coming year. It is time to execute Check and Plan of P – D – C – A cycle. So, I’d like to try out the C – A – P – D cycle based on what have happened recently around me.
I was chatting with some managers in a meeting a few weeks ago. One person (A department manager Mr. A) said, “Our company has insufficient power to challenge new things.” Then I asked him, “What can’t you do in your company?”. He answered, “I do not have any concrete idea, though …”. “Our company” was also about “I”. I thought that all the managers which Mr. A belongs are saying the same. Such a company has a very small amount of Kaizen ideas and little improvement.
On the other hand, at the company D, we ran the KZ method by 10 people including the president a few days ago. Each person stack cards to things that are not used immediately, moved them outside, and everyone discussed and made a good conclusion on overall optimum Kaizen. The site became very refreshing! After the activity, all the 10 people spoke about the activities of next year clearly. The implementation plan for Kaizen in the early years was also concrete. I thought the company D was reliable.
The difference between Company A and Company D is whether they do Kaizen immediately or not. Nothing will happen no matter how much you analyze how difficult it is or how to take responsibility in case of failure. On the other hand, if improvement is carried out just by doing the KZ method by everyone in front of the actual thing and further ideas come out lot more immediately.
2019 is the year of action! Let ‘s do Kaizen enjoying with Waiwai Gayagaya.
Thank you very much for your great support this year and have a happy new year!!
-
2019.06.11
Yukio Kakiuchi’s Kaizen diary 9 As a consultant I can’t get sick once the consulting schedule is fixed with the customer. So I’m thinking about how I can always be healthy.
At that time, I heard that health is made by the three factors of mind, body and food. Therefore, I am doing something good I believe in those three. Let me introduce some of them. First, I would like to write about what I do for the mind.
Since the irritability of the mind is bad for health, I practice mindfulness by breathing slowly and deeply to calm myself every night. The tool I use is an electroencephalograph called “Muse”. It works in conjunction with a smartphone to visualize the state of brain waves with sounds and graphs. I am happy when my brain waves change to loose alpha waves from the beta waves and delta waves which come out when I’m in tension.
Muse
-
2019.03.13
The new management approach based on Kaizen by all 10 Spring has come. I am happy!
**********************************
If you are a member of the department other than manufacturing and join the KZ method, you may find many Kaizen items which you can be applied for your department. It is because you got a thought arising from discussions beyond division and position. And you got the ability of abstract conceptualization and your Kaizen power become stronger.
I regard this KZ method as “5S to change management”. When I start Kaizen first time for a client, I do this KZ method first and let them understand the meaning of total optimization.
***********************************
Question: Do you have opportunities to work with people from other departments?
-
2019.01.19
Yukio Kakiuchi’s Kaizen diary 8 The year 2019 has begun. The speed of change might increase further in various ways this year .
The Olympic Games Tokyo will be held a year and a half later and the preparations will take place much more. Incredible many people that none of us Japanese has experienced yet may come to Japan and stay from all the world only for one month.
So many people at one time from various countries, then, what is the accommodation? The transportation? the payment? There are a lot of problems under the present systems.
Therefore, accommodation and driving services using smartphones and AI, and digital cashless payment will spread all at once.
This year there is no doubt that the declining birthrate and aging population will continue and new technological advances like AI will accelerate. What will be required for manufacturing will also change drastically.
We can’t stop the change. But we can prepare. All we need to do is Kaizen without fear of failures, with all of us together. Means to cope with change is Kaizen. This is the keyword of this year.
It seems difficult….
-
2018.11.09
Yukio Kakiuchi’s Kaizen diary 6 I cannot proceed my job with my own pace. Once the consulting schedule is fixed with the client, I must visit the factory on the day because many people are waiting for me. Therefore, it is necessary for me to keep the condition always good.
In this way, I have written about masks and breathing method. And I received a mail from a reader, “Consulting is a hard job …”, but it is not true. It is because I am a health geek.
Then let me keep writing in this line.
I believe that continuous exercise is good for health. So, I walk much every day. I want to walk at least 10,000 steps a day. The number of walk steps is large because my workplace is factory shop-floors. But just walking on shop-floors is not enough to walk 10000 steps. So, I do light jogging about 3,000 steps in the morning. I do not jog on a rainy day, so I do not necessarily make 10,000 steps every day but achieve 70,000 steps in a week.
-
2018.10.30
The new management approach based on Kaizen by all 6 Big typhoons are hitting Japan one after another. I am sorry for those who suffered from the these.
*************************************
When Japanese manufacturing was remarkably strong in the world, both cars and electric appliances were outstanding in their functional quality. Speaking of functional quality, “No breaking down” was the most important factor. Next factor, if it is a mobile phone, was that the other party’s voice could be heard well even in the shadow of the building or a long mail was possible. Speaking of cars, running well, turning well, stopping well, they were the representative of functional quality.
Japanese products were outstanding in functional quality, and as a result, the manufacturing industry lead the economy of Japan. However, I have written in recent lectures that today’s markets are not so simple as before, and we need to understand what the customers want in addition to function.
The other day, J.D. Power of the United States announced “1018 U.S. Initial Quality Study”. There are only 2 Japanese car companies in the top ten, 8th Lexus and 10th Nissan. Considering that there were six Japanese companies in “2011 edition”, 1st Lexus, 2nd Honda, 3rd Acura (Honda), 5th Mazda, 7th Toyota, 8th Infinity (Nissan), Japanese cars are not evaluated so high as before. Functional quality of Japanese cars is still good as before, but in other quality field as usability of car navigation system and IT information systems are not evaluated as other high ranked cars. You can see that the market evaluation has changed.
The change in the world is fast and we need to change ourselves at the same speed. The attitude of “User in” is required.
*************************************
Question: What do you think about changes in the car evaluation?
-
2018.10.19
Improvement diary of consultant 5 I cannot proceed my job with my own pace. Once the consulting schedule is fixed with the client, I must visit the factory on the day because many people are waiting for me. Therefore, it is necessary for me to keep the condition always good.
I mentioned that I am a health geek before. The health item which is the oldest among the otaku items of mine is the “breath control”.
There are various breathing methods in the world, but the breathing method that I practice is a very simple one. I breathe out slowly and quietly and breathe in again slowly and quietly. That’s all.
After today’s work is finished, I will start the breathing on the Shinkansen train by which I move to the workshop tomorrow. I repeat fifteen round trip breathing in about 10 minutes (one trip is 40seconds). I will do it slowly and quietly so as not to be thought that I am a strange man by the person aside me.
after having calmed down by breath control, I start enjoying the trip with tea and sweets (episode 94).
References: “Ki’s Breathing Method” by Koichi Tohei, Gentosha
http://amzn.asia/d/9Yn1i9X