To Study the Implementation of Kaizen in Northern Indian Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

AbstractPurpose In a competitive environment, lean manufacturing is one of the important factors in every industry. This lean manufacturing system is known as the Toyota production system. Kaizen is one of the lean manufacturing techniques which means “continuous improvement”. This technique can be used at any place like home, industry, etc. Its small improvements which lead us to get maximum output (Bellgran et al. in Cost driven Green Kaizen in pharmaceutical production—creating positive engagement for environmental improvements, pp 1219–1214, 2019). It is a zero investment or minimum investment tool. The approach of the research includes a literature review about lean manufacturing techniques specially kaizen. This tool can be used in various manufacturing industries. Design methodology In this study, a qualitative survey of 38 North Indian manufacturing industries is collected and analysed using Cronbach, co-variance, correlation, regression, and t-test are conducted for developing relationships between input and output parameters. Findings The outcome of this study indicates that the implementation of kaizen is useful in eliminating MURA, 3M-MUDA, and MURI which means inconsistency, inconvenience, and wastage (Kumar in Int J Math Eng Manag Sci 4:452–459, 2019). There are some hardware and software enablers for kaizen. Hardware enablers include policies, essential rules, and institutional management. Software enablers include training, incentives, etc. Proper implementation of kaizen can improve quality reduce complaints, etc. The industries implemented kaizen more than 2 years gets the best outcomes with better productivity, waste elimination, cost reduction, better quality. Research limitation The chosen approach for this research study was limited to only the manufacturing organizations in North India. Practical implications This study will help the manufacturers to enhance the performance of their particular firms using kaizen implementation, especially in the countries which are developing. From the findings of study, academicians and practitioners would easily focus on the various issues related to continuous improvement of firm apart from operational measures.KeywordsLean manufacturing systemKaizenFunctions of kaizenPDCA and SDCA kaizenInnovation