Application of Kaizen philosophy for enhancing manufacturing industries’ performance: exploratory study of Ethiopian chemical industries

Abstract

PurposeKaizen is an umbrella concept for a management philosophy based on a set of principles and values with different tools and techniques that form part of Company-Wide Quality Control. The purpose of this study to explore the empirical evidence of Kaizen philosophy practice and its effect on Ethiopian manufacturing industries, chemical companies in particular.Design/methodology/approachAfter the literature review, an exploratory empirical research, supported on a company observation, was adopted. The eight companies visit giveaway collecting annual technical reports and Kaizen award presentations. The review structure encompassed four major approaches. The first approach is conducting extensive literature review and adopting methodologies. The second approach is examining secondary data and developing SWOT analysis. The third is exploring Kaizen practices, developing framework, identifying drivers and barriers using charts, diagrams and graphs. The final approach is proposing way forward and implications based on the findings from the investigative study to emphasize the link between Kaizen practice and its effect on manufacturing industries’ performance.FindingsThe findings indicate practice of Kaizen brought in achieving monetary, nonmonetary and qualitative results. However, results vary from company to company. The average attained improvements of productivity, production volume, machine productivity and sales volume are 2.77%, 28.69%, 10.14% and 31.53% respectively. Moreover, a total of 71,932,472.19 ETB is saved by following structured framework and practice of social and technical factors. However, companies could not sustain Kaizen activities and unable to maintain the attained substantial improvements due to less effort made on some of the Kaizen practices identified as barriers on the cause and effect diagram of this exploratory study.Research limitations/implications:A sample size of eight companies is not adequate to generalize key findings of this study. This will be put right by carrying out further surveys in the future using questionnaire and semistructured interviews.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study underlined that practice of Kaizen philosophy on chemical companies supported by structured implementation framework, full practice of drivers, eradicating barriers, sustaining practices and maintaining improvements enable in enhancing chemical companies performance through achieving quantitative (monetary and nonmonetary) and qualitative results.Originality/valueAlthough there are a number of studies published on Kaizen, currently it is found that there is lack of literature on practice and effect of Kaizen philosophy. Based on this exploratory study and assessment, the framework and circumstance of Kaizen philosophy practices are providing valuable insights for chemical companies, other manufacturing industries and organizations, which will be on board on this voyage including Ethiopian Kaizen Institute, practitioners and academicians.

A relationship between bias, lean tools, and waste

“…The identification of biases would aid in understanding the reasons behind lean tool barriers that aid waste elimination. For example, Kaizen and VSM barriers such as lack of staff involvement, understanding, lack of clarity, commitment, support (Alvarado-Ramírez et al, 2018) , less effort made, awareness, attitude, attitude, and resistance to change (Berhe, 2021) could be addressed by understanding the biases.…”

Quality Management Practices in Manufacturing Enterprises in the Context of Their Performance

“…However, the aim of these studies was to highlight the nature and advantages of TQM in various industries without a comprehensive view of the entire industry sector and their impact on performance. The continuous improvement techniques applied in quality management have their origins in the Japanese Kaizen philosophy, which Deming described as "Improving initiatives that increase success and reduce mistakes" (Berhe, 2021). Kaizen is characterized by an effort to constantly improve the processes, activities of employees and their cooperation.…”

“…The basis of the philosophy is dissatisfaction with the current state, constant search and elimination of waste. Studies about the use of Kaizen in the industrial sector (Berhe, 2021;Janjic et al, 2019) are again focused on pointing out the advantages in specific conditions of industries without a more view of use in combination with other QMPs. ISO 9001 is a certifiable international standard issued by ISO (International Organization for Standardization, 2015), focused on continuous improvement (Ribeiro et al, 2019).…”

Conceptual Framework of Kaizen Practices on Organizational Performance

“…There are many aspects of waste elimination can be achieved through the implementation of Kaizen. Elimination of waste in terms of resources, time, and energy such as excessive files and paper consumption can be abolished to reduce costs (Chen, 2018;Omotayo et al, 2018;Berhe, 2022). This means that Kaizen practice prioritizes tasks that have an important impact and ends tasks that may not need to be done.…”