“Kaizen Means Continually ‘Tweaking’ Your
Value Analysis Process Through Small Incremental Changes, So Your VA
Program Can Evolve And flourish.”
Kaizen
is the Japanese word meaning gradual, orderly, continuous improvement
first introduced by Masaski Imai in his book, “Kaizen, The Key To Japan’s
Competitive Success”, in 1985. Its core concepts, which are closely
aligned with the value analysis process, are to:
Discard
Conventional Fixed Ideas
Traditional (we have always done it that way) or
conventional fixed ideas won’t generate breakthrough savings with your
value analysis program. Only when you encourage your value teams to spawn
unconventional ideas will your savings start flowing.
Think
Of How To Do It, Not Why It Can’t be done
It is easy to think of a hundred ways of why something
can’t be done, but it takes true grit and perseverance for value teams to
find just one “pearl of wisdom” to make savings happen.
Do
Not Make Excuses
An old Yiddish saying tells us that, “If you don’t want to
do something, one excuse is as good as another.” Value teams need to start
by questioning the current conventional wisdom and practices to find a
better way to do things.
Do
Not Seek Perfection
If we all waited for perfection with our value teams work,
we would still be using the glass syringes and rubber reusable gloves of
times past. A better way to try to reach perfection is to get it 50%
right the first time and refine our ideas over time with the goal of near
perfection.
Correct
Mistakes Right Away
Correct value team mistakes right away without denial or
recrimination, then adjust your team’s decisions accordingly acknowledging
that mistakes happen on the road to success.
Wisdom
Comes When Faced With Hardship
A successful value team’s performance is the fruit of hard
work, disappointments and tremendous challenges that bring with it
tremendous opportunities.
Ask
“Why?” Five Times
Asking the question “Why?” at least five times is extremely
powerful concept, so that we can discover the WHO, WHAT, WHEN AND HOW to
implement dynamic savings and quality gains at our healthcare
organization.
Seek
The Wisdom Of 10 People
Value teams who make all of their decisions on their
products, services and technology purchases without the input of at least
10 customers, stakeholders and experts are missing the power of numbers in
making good decisions.
As Masaski Imai would tell us if he was speaking to us
today, by continually ‘tweaking’ your value analysis process though small
incremental changes known as Kaizen, your value teams will create
the necessary evolution in value analysis practices that will eliminate
all waste and inefficiency in your supply/value chain one step at a time.
Robert T. Yokl - President - The
HCP Group, Ltd.