ABSTRACT

There are two main approaches to eliminating waste in an organization. One approach is the top–down approach, which comes from the upper leadership/management team, based on achieving an ultimate organizational goal or objective. The other is the bottom–up approach, with full participation from the employees in an organization. This approach encourages an execution of each small idea to get closer and closer to realizing an organizational goal. The goal of true Kaizen is to cycle, essentially connecting top–down strategy with bottom–up daily actions. Kaizen is the mechanism to connect everything, like gears in a watch. Kaizen provides the ability for the organization to close the strategic gap, while showing every employee how his or her contribution allows the organization to meet the challenges of the economy and business environment. We call this The Kaizen Cycle.