Rajesh Narayan

Kaizen, Kaikaku Kakushin are the 3K of used in the Quality world to denote the degree of change and is closely associated with Lean . While all three originates from Japanese philosophy it means.. Kai(change) zen(better), changing for better and it involves making small, evolutionary and continuous improvement in specific areas, functions, departments, applications for the betterment of the production. One of the key component is 5S (sort, set-in-order, sanitation, standardise, sustain). Kai(change) kaku(balance) is associated with revolutionary and radical change. Since this involves a significant change in the employee activities dealing in production it involves the management and also the methodology adopted is via assignment or projects headed by a Project Manager. Since the outcome of such radical change measures between 30%-50% there are meticulous steps taken to ensure smooth transition. This current initiative as the method of learning in my opinion comes under Kaikaku. Kakushin is all about making the innovation which involved making an entire product change and this involves Top Executive and Top Management. In this some of the functions or department could be cut out of they are redundant or a liability to the efficiency/cost/production of the product. All these 3K compliment each other in an organization by making small continuous improvement and transforming their brand, culture by being innovative. This way they cut a way ahead of competitors and survive.