The 7 Kata

Chapter 2

Improvement Kata: Kaizen

2.1 Means to an End—Kata and Kaizen

Kaizen has always been the enigmatic soul of Lean. There are as many different definitions of kaizen as there are Lean practitioners. If, for the sake of argument, we define kaizen as continuous improvement, we know most organizations don’t require the workforce to perform improvement activities continuously—on a daily basis. So, even though the Lean community has bandied kaizen about for almost 30 years, it is more often than not an unachieved aspiration.

Two similar and equally ...