Kaizen: a way to improve efficiency and productivity

Welcome back to our series on Japanese Business Philosophies. We previously introduced Sanpo Yoshi, a concept that emphasizes the importance of creating mutually beneficial outcomes for all stakeholders. This month, we focus on another key Japanese business philosophy: Kaizen.

Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy that emphasizes continuous improvements through incremental changes to processes, products, and services in order to drive ongoing improvement over time. The concept of Kaizen was popularized by Toyota and other Japanese companies as part of their efforts to improve efficiency and productivity, and it has since been adopted by many businesses around the world.

At Nipro, we have incorporated Kaizen into our operational excellence program, which was launched in 2021. We invited our senior leadership team to a multi-day workshop to learn about the principles of operational excellence and to discuss how we could incorporate them into our manufacturing plants. Following the workshop, we launched the operational excellence program, which has become a living thing in our individual manufacturing plants.

As part of this program, we have embraced Kaizen and lean management principles which have helped us to identify and eliminate waste in our operations, streamline our processes, reduce lead times, and improve our product quality. By applying a data-driven approach and fostering cross-functional collaboration, we have been able to drive ongoing improvements in our operations and processes.

Our Kaizen and lean management approaches at Nipro also emphasize a culture of continuous learning and experimentation. By encouraging our teams to try new approaches and test new ideas, we can continuously improve our processes and products.

Overall, the importance of Kaizen and lean management as business philosophies lies in their ability to drive ongoing improvements, creating a culture of continuous learning and improvement. By adopting these approaches and putting them into practice at Nipro, we can continuously improve our operations and processes, driving better outcomes for everyone involved. Nipro is here to improve patient outcomes and quality of life for everyone, with our slogan "Live Longer. Live Better." Our operational excellence program has allowed us to implement these philosophies throughout our organization, leading to significant improvements in efficiency, quality, and innovation - all in the service of our mission to improve lives.

Then join us on our mission to improve lives and become our colleague.
We are constantly looking for new colleagues.  Have a look at our current job opening and apply now.
See you soon!