Kaizen.

We see many examples of Westerners using the Japanese word Kaizen to imply some sort of structured company wide approach to Continuous Performance Improvement but this is attributing more meaning to the word than is implied if it were to be used by a Japanese in normal conversation. Translated it means nothing more and nothing less than simply 'improvement'. It implies no methodology, structure or philosophy any more than the word 'improvement' does when used in the English language. To imply a methodology it must have some qualifying words. Gemba is a popular one which actually means 'the place'. We often hear the term 'Gemba Kaizen'. In Japan, this is generally a euphemism for 'Quality Circles'. It came about originally in the early days of Quality Circles. These originated in 1962 when 32 leading companies began to use the concepts as originated by Professor Ishikawa. Toyota then adopted it a year later as a consequence of their leading supplier Asin Seiki having been one of the earlier pioneers. Nissan and some others also started but did not cherish the thought of appearing to copy their rival Toyota so they changed the name to Gemba Kaizen. Also, Professor Ishikawa was President of Tokyo University. They were in fierce competition with Kyoto University, a bit like Oxford and Cambridge. Kyoto did not want to look like they were following Tokyo University either so they also adopted the term Gemba Kaizen. Later, a smart Japanese entrepreneur saw an opportunity in this and when the term Quality Circles had gone past the novelty stage in the West, launched Gemba Kaizen as being a different concept and people fell for it but it is not. It is exactly the same. The terms 'Gemba Kaizen and Quality Circles are literally interchangeable. The philosophy behind one is exactly the same as the philosophy behind the other. In the case of those using the term Quality Circles, the Philosophy is usually referred to as Total Quality (Management) or (Control) and over-arched by Hoshin Kanri. More on this in my new book Quality behind Borders or our Diploma in Quality Leadership. See our website on www.dhiqc.co.uk