Warehouse slotting – the practice of placing inventory items with the highest turnover near the picking/packing/shipping station – is a tried-and-true method to improve picking efficiency, save time, and reduce labor costs. Up to 50% of warehouse picking is travel time, and effective slotting can save over 90 minutes during a single 8-hour shift. The challenge is that rearranging inventory locations isn’t easy. You must make a…
CSS Editorial Staff | May 29, 2026 | 5S, Kaizen, Kanban, Lean
The strategy of Kaizen can be used in a workplace or even in the home. This is a great post for the beginner or the advanced Lean user. I would recommend checking out the article and exploring how Lean can help your company. “A Japanese management strategy called Kaizen roughly translates to “continuous slow improvement.” In the corporate world, it’s an efficiency and defect-proofing system often used on factory…
CSS Editorial Staff | June 19, 2018 | Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese term for improvement, and is commonly uses as the basis for a methodology that is focused on continuous improvement for businesses. It is most commonly used in warehouse and manufacturing facilities where the goals of eliminating waste and improving efficiency are very important. While Kaizen as a whole is a very high level concept, there are many strategies that are used under the…
Tony Ferraro | June 10, 2016 | Kaizen | 3 G Prinicples, Facility Efficiency, Gemba, Kaizen
Kaizen Methodology When looking for ways to improve a facility most managers will discover the concept of Kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese term that means ‘a change for better’ or more commonly said, ‘continuous improvement.’ This is an ideology that has been growing in popularity since it first started back in the 1980’s when Japanese car manufacturers started pushing it forward. Facilities that use the Kaizen methodology…
Tony Ferraro | April 1, 2016 | Kaizen | Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing
Implementing Kaizen from My Experience Continuous improvement in the way a facility or entire company works is the heart of Kaizen. While the concept is fairly simple, the implementation can be extremely difficult. Even when companies begin using Kaizen strategies for a time, they often end up losing momentum and falling back into old habits. With years of both direct and indirect experience using the Kaizen philosophy…
Tony Ferraro | October 30, 2015 | Kaizen | Kaizen
Ten Tips to Help You with Your Kaizen Continuous Improvement Strategy The Kaizen methodology encourages ongoing efforts to ensure continuous improvement throughout a facility. This improvement can come in many forms including waste elimination, improved efficiency, safer work environments, and much more. Simply say that a facility is employing Kaizen strategies, is essentially meaningless if you don’t have any concrete action items you are following. Whether you’re…
Tony Ferraro | September 21, 2015 | Kaizen | 5S, 6S, Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Kaizen, Six Sigma
The True Difference Between Kaizen and Kaizen by Inspiration When most companies today talk about Kaizen, they assume that this is just any effort that the company makes to help streamline processes, eliminate waste and hopefully improve profit margins. While that may be accurate in some sense, it is not a complete picture. When Kaizen was first developed within the Toyota Production System, The Kaizen idea was…
Tony Ferraro | June 5, 2014 | Kaizen | Kaizen
I was recently brought in to assist in a Lean event for a large manufacturing facility, with the goal of eliminating waste, and completing the implementation of Lean strategies. The facility had already begun the process over the past 18 months, and had done quite an impressive job. When they consulted with me, I was asked to put the ‘finishing touches’ on an already effective Lean system,…
Tony Ferraro | January 2, 2014 | Kaizen | Facility Efficiency, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing
Mark Hamel In this week’s interview, we are highlighting the expertise of Mark Hamel, a leader in lean and six sigma implementation, as well as an established author and blogger. He authored a book entitled, “Kaizen Event Fieldbook” and is an avid blogger for kaizenfieldbook.com. In this interview he answers questions related to Kaizen and Lean in the field of Healthcare. In addition, he also discusses the key…
Tony Ferraro | August 12, 2013 | Kaizen | Continuous Improvement, Healthcare, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma
Kaizen continues to gain momentum as an exceptional tool for continuous improvement within many different employment sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, business management, etc. However, despite a positive track record the Japanese derived term “Kaizen” still comes under harsh criticism from many employees and managers alike. Many people just don’t believe such radical changes can be made in such short amounts of time, with many Kaizen events…
Tony Ferraro | June 24, 2013 | Kaizen | Kaizen
Kaizen philosophy can be introduced to improve your personal life, public life and workplace. It can be effectively implemented in education as well to get great benefits in the overall development of the student and the school as well. Kaizen is the most important strategy that was adapted by Japanese in every walk of life. The strategy revolves around the continuous improvement measures. Let us describe how…
Mike Wilson | November 12, 2012 | Kaizen | Continuous Improvement, Kaizen
Quality and productivity in an ideal situation should always go hand in hand. However, where there is a pressure to perform they are always pitted against each other. Business managers are always under a lot of pressure to hit targets and increase their output; this has a resultant effect of compromised productivity. Customers, due to low prices may not complain but this situation prevails as long as…
Mike Wilson | October 29, 2012 | Kaizen | Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing
Kaizen refers to betterment and continuous improvement in any area of process like manufacturing, business, nursing, management, etc. There are two elements of Kaizen: improvement and continuity. Successful implementation of this technique requires the contribution of all the workers in an organization. Every member has to be the asset of the organization. The use of Kaizen techniques leads an organization to sustain in this globalized world, improve…
Mike Wilson | September 20, 2012 | Kaizen | Continuous Improvement, Kaizen
Ever dream about reaching an efficiency of 95%?! Think that is a crazy goal for your company? It’s not! That is what lean and kaizen help you achieve. It can also help you get rid of employees. Well, that’s how an article in Business Today titled “How Toyota Uses Kaizen for Efficiency” would have you think. The article reports the following: Toyota benchmarks itself on efficiency. It…
Mike Wilson | July 26, 2012 | Kaizen, Lean | Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing
Understanding Kaizen and Continuous Improvement Kaizen, often described as “change for the better,” is a core idea behind continuous improvement and Kaizen events. The concept plays an important role in Lean manufacturing and other process-focused environments. To understand kaizen more clearly, James A. Bruce explains in his article What Is Kaizen? The term represents an ongoing effort to improve processes, solve problems, and eliminate waste. What Kaizen…
Mike Wilson | July 13, 2012 | Kaizen, Lean | Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing
