KAIZEN® Institute New Zealand is the leading provider of KAIZEN® and LEAN consultancy, training and coaching in New Zealand.
Our team of consultants have practical experience in the application of Lean Thinking and are experts in applying the Toyota Production System (TPS). Our team is trained in the use of our advanced Lean techniques, incorporating the latest research and case studies, providing a holistic approach to implementing Kaizen Lean in many different industries.
We at the KAIZEN® Institute support companies of all sizes and industrial segments as well as private and public service organisations seeking to embark on their Lean journey.
What are the most important developments that you've observed since you first started working with KAIZEN?
I think I can talk in general terms about what happened in the latter half of the 20th century. When the Second World War was over, a great deal of consumer demand had arisen in the West. One of the urgent tasks for many managers was how to keep up with the increasing appetite of customers. Increasing productivity was the main concern.
When they talked about productivity, however, it mostly referred to the productivity of machines. In order to keep up with this increasing demand of customers, companies were increasing mass production capabilities by deploying very fast-moving, efficient, and expensive equipment.
"We never stop learning and neither should you."
KAIZEN® College is the training and development arm of the KAIZEN® Institute. The College’s primary function is to provide continuing professional development to KAIZEN® professionals at every level of an organization.
It provides students with lean knowledge and information about new and innovative improvement tools for the workplace.
KAIZEN® College courses are attended by people who are new to the key concepts of lean and need an introductory course; by people who have a grasp of lean but who feel they need a refresher course; by experienced practitioners who want to take their knowledge of KAIZEN® to the next level; and by lean experts who want to take our ‘master classes’.
We have launched an informative training and networking event to show case our award-winning office where we apply the Lean thinking and principles in our own office and administration processes.
Our June event attracted a diverse group from various service industries, participating in this inaugural event. Please find the slides from the introduction for your reference.
Download Introduction Slides (1MB)
Join us and other interested organisations for a short information session followed by a tour of our showcase offices. During the tour we’ll demonstrate how to make use of Lean principles to improve efficiency and productivity and to engage and motivate team members to continuously improve.
We’ll wrap up the event over nibbles and a glass of wine while there be a chance to ask in depth questions and to network with others interested in embarking on the Lean journey.
Price $29 per person including GST
Time: 3:00pm-5:00pm
Date: 21 September 2010 Register now
This month we are pleased to announce celebrations of the Kaizen Institute's Silver anniversary. Masaaki Imai, who first brought Kaizen to the western world, formally, established what is today one of the largest Kaizen Lean consulting and training organisations in Switzerland on the 13 June 1985.
We respectfully recognize Imai San’s vision and efforts in bringing Kaizen and Lean Thinking to many millions throughout the world. He has been a visionary to others and an inspiration to many others that have chosen the same path, to continue the KAIZEN Lean Journey and help achieve a better way through Continuously Improving, every body, every day, everywhere!
NZ Herald - KAIZEN and the art of subtle Change
The Kaizen Institute NZ is please to announce new “Kaizen Practitioner” graduates from its internationally accredited Kaizen College. Kaizen College is the training delivery arm of the Kaizen Institute, and specialises in delivering Kaizen Lean Training combined with “on the job” project coaching.
In May we saw two graduations which were recognised by the team at the Lean Supply Chain – Total Flow Management seminar, held in Auckland.
The Kaizen Institute NZ is able to deliver and support Lean transformation and professional development to all organisations, using its global methodology, utilised in some of the top companies across the globe.
For further information regarding our world class lean training, coaching and benchmarking, please contact rsteel@spam.kaizen.com
We at the Kaizen Institute often have the opportunity to travel with our work, and recently I spent two weeks in Bangkok delivering a number of Lean training workshops on behalf of one our global clients.
As usual, I found myself at a bit of a loose end during the weekend and decided to head into one of Bangkok’s splendid shopping malls, in the central city.
Every once in a while the Kaizen Institute NZ team get a chance to take a day off from their hectic schedules for a spot of professional development…Well on Friday 30th April Richard, Danie and Junet were invited by the Toyota team at Thames to come and have a chat and take a tour of their Signature Class operation.
Mr Imai was asked on several occasions to comment on Toyota’s much publicised quality issues during a recent visit to New Zealand and the March 2010 Japan study tour.
He highlighted the following main points regarding Toyota’s widely published quality issues:
1. This serves as a lesson that when it comes to quality, any company can fail – even Toyota.
Ideally quality issues are identified and resolved during the manufacturing process – defects are not passed on to the next process. These issues are seen as opportunities to improve continuously (Kaizen). When a quality issue occurs in the design stage it is not so easy to pick it up during production.
Masaaki Imai’s KAIZEN Lean journey started in 1950 at age 26, taking Japanese managers on tours of American plants looking for the secrets of high productivity and efficiency. In 1961, he returned to Japan and became the first corporate headhunter and consultant to major corporations striving for a competitive advantage. Twenty years later, the situation was reversed, with Mr. Imai receiving visitors from all over the world intent on seeking out the secrets of their Japanese trading partners- via KAIZEN Lean Study Tours.
This October I was fortunate enough to attend my second Japanese Study Tour, travelling with a small NZ contingent, to see more of how Japanese companies apply themselves to maximising productivity and efficiency in everything they do.
The new Kiwi Toyota “Believe” ad campaign does not only succeed to capture that special KAIZEN attitude of Continuous Improvement. It’s also adding a good dose of that “never give up – make it work” Kiwi culture. A clever and perfect mix!
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