In: Accounting
1. What is Kaizen and how is it related with lean maufacturing?
2. What are the Kaizen practices that MARS had implemented in their plant and what are their results? Give as
many as possible as mentioned the article. Explain further your answers.
3. One of the Kaizen practices at Mars is people empowerment. It is mentioned in the article that every associate
has the authority to stop the line if they see a serious safety or quality issue. In your own opinion, what does
this mean? Explain your answer, you can cite examples if needed.
1.Kaizen is a philosophy that when fully adopted, creates a culture of continuous improvement |
To implement the lean manufacturing technique perfectly in your organization you need to get yourself familiar with some terms. |
The term Kaizen is one of them. It is one the key things of the lean manufacturing. The word or term ‘Kaizen’ refers to continuous improvement. |
Any kind of manufacturing processes needs continuous improvement. Kaizen can create a robust engine for expanding the limits of the manufacturing process through continuous improvement. Incremental improvements are essential to the manufacturing organization. |
If an organizations goals or scope of expansion is saturated then there will be various issues which are not desirable for the improvement of the company or organization. Kaizen creates the scope of regular improvements by getting to the root of the problem. |
2.While the Mars organization throughout its history has been as economical as it is private, the company has latched on to modern manufacturing concepts that fit the five principles of the Mars organization: Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom. |
“We take a lean manufacturing approach,” says Emberger. “We use ‘lean tools’ to maximize efficiency and create value.” |
Among those tools are Total Productive Maintenance principles; SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Dies) principles for quick changeover and reduced downtime; and Kaizen continuous improvement techniques. |