In the context of increasingly fierce competition, to quickly launch new products and services to the market and gain a competitive edge, businesses focus on understanding consumer needs through a series of questions such as: What makes this product/service unique compared to others?
Is this product/service more convenient to use compared to the previous one? Is the price of this product/service better? Thus, creating a product/service with reasonable pricing is essential, but continuously adding elements to satisfy users is even more crucial. At the same time, it is necessary to balance the benefits of the business with those of the users.
Therefore, the solution is for businesses to aim at comprehensively optimizing production and business processes, continuously improving through innovative and creative ideas to shorten the time to market while ensuring the best quality and the most appropriate cost.
Context
Through collaboration and working with over 100 businesses across various fields and industries in Vietnam, FPT Digital has observed that most enterprises have established a methodology or philosophy to optimize and promote improvement ideas, particularly in manufacturing-related sectors. However, many limitations result in outcomes that do not meet expectations, such as:
- Efforts to optimize processes and contribute improvement ideas are often fragmented and localized, lacking a comprehensive approach and primarily focused on factories and technical departments.
- There is no specialized department to fully assess the effectiveness of improvements across the entire value chain (for example, a minor improvement in a mixing formula can significantly impact subsequent steps, but evaluations and assessments are often limited to the production phase).
- There is a lack of digital tools to support employees at all levels in tracking and managing improvement programs and optimizing processes.
It can be observed that the above limitations of businesses stem from two main issues:
- The philosophy for optimizing processes and promoting improvement activities is either incomplete or not fully implemented.
- The lack of digital tools to manage, track, and evaluate activities in the actual operations of the business.
Addressing these two issues effectively would ensure that production and business processes operate in the most optimal manner, saving time and increasing productivity with the support of digital tools. Based on our observations, selecting a suitable philosophy for process optimization and improvement activities, followed by implementing the necessary digital tools to comprehensively digitize these processes, is the most viable solution.
There are numerous philosophies and methods for optimizing processes and promoting improvement activities in businesses that have been proposed and adopted, such as 5S, Hansei, Kaikaku, Kanban, Kaizen, Six Sigma, and others. Among these, we find that the Kaizen philosophy aligns well with the characteristics of businesses in Vietnam.
What is “Kaizen”?
The word Kaizen in Japanese means “change for the better.” It refers to any improvement, whether implemented once or continuously, whether large or small. In English, the term translates to “improvement.” However, after Kaizen was widely adopted in business and industrial improvement methods in Japan, particularly by Toyota as part of the “Toyota Way,” the term gradually took on the meaning of continuous improvement, especially in organizations operating under “Japanese philosophy.”
The Philosophy of Kaizen
Characteristics of Kaizen
Which businesses are encouraged to apply Kaizen?
Kaizen is a renowned philosophy that has been successfully adopted by numerous businesses across various sectors. It offers an innovative approach applicable to all entities within an organization. Businesses with the following characteristics are highly suitable for implementing Kaizen and are encouraged to do so as soon as possible:
Businesses engaged in mass or continuous production processes. Since the cost of implementing Kaizen is not insignificant, applying it on a large production scale helps reduce the cost per unit of product.
Businesses with cross-functional collaboration among departments in various areas. Departments must work and coordinate as a unified team because the essence of Kaizen lies in continuous improvement, including even the smallest changes in the daily tasks of every employee within the organization.
Businesses prioritizing the mission of ensuring quality above all else.
Kaizen aims for comprehensive improvement of all processes and components that constitute a business.
Digital tools supporting the implementation of Kaizen in practice
To maximize the advantages and benefits of the Kaizen philosophy for businesses, it is essential to have tools that support management, evaluation, and monitoring of processes. These tools facilitate all employees to easily access and implement continuous improvement initiatives. The tools are not the same for every business; they depend on factors such as the company’s current status, operational methods, development direction, current level of digitization, and employees’ ability to access and interact with information.
Therefore, the best approach to implementing these digital tools is to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the business, select feasible solutions, and customize the tools’ features to ensure the most suitable fit with the company’s operations and circumstances. In cases where businesses lack the capacity to execute this process, they may consider hiring consulting firms with the appropriate expertise to ensure successful implementation.
