Kaizen is the Japanese word for a small change for the better. In lean, kaizen is the philosophy of process improvement. Many small changes add up to large improvements. Kaizen is an evolutionary not revolutionary way to improve. Evolution can lead to highly efficient organizations with sufficient complexity to meet any customer need. 5S is the start of kaizen. Kaizen is continuous involves all workers and is for the customer (reducing costs, shortening lead times, and improving quality).
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