What Does Kaizen and Emptying a Dishwasher Have in Common?

Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement, which emphasizes small, incremental changes to improve processes and efficiency. The idea is that by constantly looking for ways to improve, an organization can achieve significant progress over time.

Emptying a dishwasher is a simple task that can be improved through the application of Kaizen. The dishwasher is an example of a process that is done repeatedly. By continuously looking for ways to improve the process of unloading the dishwasher, small changes such as creating a more efficient layout, using different tools to unload or even creating a routine, can be made to improve the process.

So, the commonality between Kaizen and emptying a dishwasher is that both are focused on making small, incremental improvements to a process in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness over time. Both approaches are based on the idea that small changes can lead to big improvements in the long run, if applied consistently and with a focus on continuous improvement.

Process Improvement and Lean Blogs

• Intro to Lean: What are the 7 Wastes of Lean?
• Kanban explained in 60 seconds. 
• Lean Kaizen DMAIC Six Sigma.
• Lean Manufacturing – Lean Factory Tour.
• Mapping a Value Stream to a Kanban Board. 
• MIT 16.660 Introduction to Lean Six Sigma Methods. Hour video.
• Process Improvement: Six Sigma & Kaizen Methodologies.
• The Toyota Way To Lean Leadership – Keynote talk by Jeffrey Liker. 60 min video.