ABSTRACT
Masayasu Tanaka tells the following story in his book, VE (published in Japan by Management). It describes the plant of a manufacturer of steamed dumplings, called manju in Japanese. All the steps required to make the dumplings have been automated, except one final step — making a twist on top of the dumpling. After thorough investigation, engineers discovered that the twist was added to distinguish meat dumplings from sweet dumplings. When we focus on the ultimate purpose of an activity, we can come up with a number of ways to accomplish that purpose. Of the many principles of kaizen, these three are the most important: Eliminate the whole activity, Reduce the steps of the activity, Change the activity. These three rules represent a formula that applies to all kaizen activity. Always consider whether the first principle can be followed before proceeding to the other two.
