JASTECA promotes Kaizen through seminars

The JASTECA Institute of Management (JIM) will be promoting Kaizen - the Japanese philosophy of improvement - by conducting public seminars and workshops as well as company-based seminars.

While initially the demand for Kaizen training came from the manufacturing sector, the demand for Kaizen courses by the services sector as well as service units of manufacturing organisations is rapidly increasing. Today even retail shops and Government offices have implemented Kaizen with great benefits. It’s the biggest benefit in the improvement of the morale of the workforce, JIM said in a media release.

Earlier this year JASTECA organized a seminar on ‘Success of Kaizen and 5S’ conducted by Prof. Seiichi Fujita and another seminar on ‘Great Leaders of Japan Relied on 5S to drive their companies’ by Ms. Toshiko Kawanami. On September 27, it hosted a seminar on Kaizen and 5S conducted by Sunil G Wijesinha. In February 2020 Prof. Fujita will be here once again to conduct his popular Kaizen seminar.

Kaizen was popularised initially by Prof. Masaaki Imai who published a book titled “Kaizen; the Secret of Japan’s Competitive Success” and further popularized the concepts of Gemba, Genbutsu with his follow up book “Gemba Kaizen” which promotes more focus on improvement at the place where work actually happens.

Many management experts are convinced that while disruptive change is required in this fast changing world, the Kaizen type incremental change too is necessary. Lethargic organizations have been transformed through Kaizen, and provided a great enhancement to the quality of work life of employees.

Kaizen does not require capital expenditure to implement. It just requires a significant change in attitude of management and willingness to believe in the untapped potential of the brain power of employees.

JASTECA, which is an alumni society of the Association for Overseas Technical Cooperation for Sustainability, also organises training in Japan.