The role of Kaizen (continuous improvement) in improving companies' performance: A case study

Kaizen refers to the philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering and business management. The improvements are usually accomplished at little or no expense and without sophisticated techniques. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of implementing the Kaizen principles at Port Installed Options Center in Toyota Saudi Arabia. Using relevant Kaizen tools including Toyota Production System (TPS), 5S and the seven Muda enabled us to understand the system and identify the most critical problem areas. The Kaizen target was set after analyzing the problems and identifying the gap between the existing system and the TPS. The main results of the study can be summarized as: using the same facilities it was possible to be more efficient by reducing the manpower needed by 26.9% (from 349 to 275 installers) and more effective by increasing the annual output by 13% (from 188000 to 212400 vehicles); improve the Associates Engagement Index (Q12) by 6.4% (from 2.91 to 3.11); potential for inventory reduction due to the use of Kanban system with just-in-time production; avoid investing in new facilities needed to meet the increase in the demand in the market. All these resulted in improving the production line productivity which were appreciated and acknowledged by Toyota Motor Corporation.