Creating a Kaizen Culture: Align the Organization, Achieve Breakthrough Results, and Sustain the Gains

WINNER of the 2015 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award!

FOREWORD BY JOHN TOUSSANT, CEO OF THEDACARE

Transforming a culture is far more about emotional growth than technical maturity. Co-written by leaders at the Kaizen Institute, Creating a Kaizen Culture explains how to enable an adaptive, excellent, and sustainable organization by leveraging core kaizen values and the behaviors they generate.

The proven methods presented in this book will dramatically increase your chances of success in implementing a kaizen culture by closing the biggest gaps in the correct understanding of:

• WHAT KAIZEN CULTURE IS AND WHY WE NEED IT
• HOW EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE CAN PRACTICE KAIZEN EVERY DAY
• THE LEADER'S ROLE IN TURNING KAIZEN CULTURE INTO COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Based on more than 50 years of combined experience from experts who have successfully used kaizen to lead real transformation in a wide variety of industries, Creating a Kaizen Culture reveals how to propel rapid and sustainable performance improvement. It provides a detailed and illustrated road map to organized kaizen implementation through kaizen events. Real-world examples demonstrate kaizen culture in action at Toyota, Zappos, Wiremold, and many other companies. Featuring valuable insights from Kaizen Institute leaders, this practical resource covers:

• WHY WE NEED A KAIZEN CULTURE
• THE TRUE MEANING OF KAIZEN
• THE ORIGIN OF THE KAIZEN EVENT
• KAIZEN AS A STRATEGY IN PRACTICE
• DAILY KAIZEN
• SUSTAINING A KAIZEN CULTURE
• ORGANIZATIONAL READINESS FOR KAIZEN TRANSFORMATION
• FACING UP TO THE CULTURE MONSTER
• CASE STUDIES OF REAL-WORLD KAIZEN IMPLEMENTATION IN ORGANIZATIONS OF VARIOUS SIZES AND INDUSTRIES

JON MILLER has 20 years of experience in the field of kaizen. He is the CEO of the Kaizen Institute Consulting Group. He was co-founder and CEO of Gemba Research before merging it with the Kaizen Institute. Jon is the author of numerous articles, and translated and edited Taiichi Ohno's Workplace Management as well as contributing to other McGraw-Hill Professional books, including Gemba Kaizen, Second Edition, and Kaizen in Logistics and Supply Chains.

MIKE WROBLEWSKI has more than 25 years of experience in industrial engineering, manufacturing management, and kaizen. He is a Director of the Kaizen Institute USA. Mike is a popular keynote speaker at national conferences, sharing his insights and experiences leading kaizen.

JAIME VILLAFUERTE has 20 years of experience in the strategic and tactical deployment of continuous improvement. He is a Lean Six Sigma Director at Jabil, Inc., where he leads the development and deployment of Lean Six Sigma transformation, reaching 165,000] employees in 33 countries. Jaime is the author of The Lean 6 Sigma Deployment Memory Jogger.