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Acquainting organisations regarding the concepts of Total Quality Management (TQM) and its implementation is one measure that effectively improves their global position and performance. Kaizen is one of the concepts of TQM, which focuses on low-cost organisational transformational methods and often saves consuming significant resources (time, capital, etc.). Using Kaizen in organisational transformation sets efficient guidelines to improve processes agility and leanness and increase manufacturing productivity. Hence, this study aims to identify the key success factors in Kaizen projects and presents a score function that measures the readiness level of organisations to implement Kaizen projects.

A literature review first extracts the key success factors in Kaizen projects. Afterwards, the selected factors are screened via the fuzzy Delphi method using expert opinions from the manufacturing sector of an emerging economy. Subsequently, their importance is cross-examined by the Bayesian best–worst Method (BBWM). The BBWM is one of the most recent multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods that lead to stable, dynamic and robust pairwise comparisons. After analysing the weights of the key factors, a score function is designed so that organisations can understand how much they are ready to launch Kaizen projects.

According to the findings, “Training and education” and “Employee attitude” played an important role in the success of Kaizen projects. The literature extracted 22 success factors of Kaizen projects, and 10 factors were eliminated through the fuzzy Delphi method. Twelve success factors in Kaizen projects were evaluated and investigated through the BBWM. Matching to this method, “Training and education” and “Employee attitude” weighed 0.119 and 0.112, relatively. Furthermore, “Support from senior management” was the least important factor.

To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first research in which the success factors of Kaizen projects have been identified and analysed through an integrated multi-layer decision-making framework. Although some studies have investigated the key success factors of Kaizen projects and analysed them through statistical approaches, research that examines the success factors of Kaizen projects through MCDM methods is yet to be reported. Moreover, the score function that measures the level of readiness of each organisation for the successful implementation of Kaizen projects is a unique contribution to this research.

This paper seeks to understand kaizen in practice as it travels through time and space in the organisational setting.

A qualitative case study was carried out at a multinational company using mainly interviews for the data collection that were analysed from an actor-network theory (ANT) perspective.

This paper finds that the company deals with a series of paradoxes while managing the kaizen process. Efficiency and quality paradoxes are the basis for starting kaizen projects. Furthermore, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation, emerge in these processes, and paradoxes relate to how spontaneous ideas emerge in a deliberated context of cost-saving objectives. The supply chain finance team coordinates kaizen projects with the collaboration of plant managers, promoting the paradox of autonomy and control. In addition, as kaizen mobilises and enrols the actors, some trials of strength emerge, showing actors who oppose the kaizen network and create competing networks that mutually exist in the firm.

This study presents valuable insights for professionals to successfully implement kaizen methodologies that take advantage of developing a network for problem-solving in organizations.

This study highlights the supply chain finance team's role in enrolling the actors within a network built by practitioners engaged in kaizen projects. Usually, engineers, quality, or manufacturing teams lead kaizen projects, and only occasionally, accounting and financial teams participate, including multidisciplinary teams.

Despite the abundant literature in the private sector, a significant gap was detected in the public sector where there were only a few academic efforts to appraise or assess the implementation of the Japanese approach. The likely reason for this lack of literature is the low implementation of Kaizen that has been evidenced over the years in the public sector. Public organizations have a large number of recommendations at their disposal which are vague, abstract and even contradictory. Accordingly, the assessment of the implementation of Kaizen represents a theoretical gap, the filling of which is both necessary and vital to the body of knowledge that represents the application of continuous improvement in a public setting. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the design, management and implementation of Kaizen projects in local governments through the analysis and comparison of empirical data with regard to a theoretical conceptual scheme found in the literature.

A qualitative study was conducted using a case study strategy. The case studies were conducted in three Town Halls (two in Spain and one in Mexico) with active and sustained implementation of Kaizen projects. It was verified throughout that the selected cases applied Kaizen projects for at least five years in their work processes and public services.

As a result of the empirical work the authors proposed a new specific and individualized framework for the public sector called: “Kaizen projects conceptual schemes (KPCS), based on the cycle Plan-Do-Check-Act in order to form a theoretical and practical guide that can serve as a base for local governments seeking to implement Kaizen in their management.

The study focussed on three Town Halls (two Spanish and one Mexican), so is not possible to generalize the results.

El KPCS may represent an instrument of evaluation, management, development and improvement to any Kaizen effort initiated in the public sector.

The study focussed on public service.

As far as the authors are aware, this is one of the first paper to propose a framework of Kaizen in public organizations within both academic and practitioner ambits.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the results of implementing the Kaizen approach in a caravan repairing project near the Jordanian–Syrian border in the Zaatari camp.

The study is based on the exploratory qualitative research approach. The data were collected through interviews and on-site observation with employees who were involved with the caravan maintenance project and have adequate knowledge and information about this project. In this process, a fishbone diagram, a quality control tool, is used to recognize and explain a causal-effect relationship under the selected Kaizen theme.

The findings suggest that the Kaizen approach was economical in terms of both money and time. Also, waste elimination can be achieved through a variety of tools and easily combined with the Kaizen approach. Implementing the Kaizen approach is an effective and reliable system that allows for the tackling of all types of inefficiencies in the caravan repairing project.

The findings of this study will help policy makers and managers put together suitable and effective policies that will assist those firms in overcoming the demands of customers and competitors to deliver high quality, inexpensive products in less time through the application of the Kaizen approach. This, in turn, will lead to improved quality, efficiency and productivity in the most cost-effective way. However, these results should not be generalized since they are only confined to the context of caravan repairing project.

Very little research has been done that takes into account the contexts of developing countries. Additionally, most literature presents the use of Kaizen applications only in the manufacturing or production sectors. This study is the first to implement Kaizen as a continuous improvement technique in a caravan repairing project – a job shop industry different from the repetitive batch work environment that is usually associated with implementation of Kaizen. The current research should be of great interest to researchers, managers and professionals who wish to apply Kaizen approach as it is sustainable over time in similar projects.

Kaizen in construction is a new paradigm stemming out of lean production systems. Construction companies in developing economies, such as Nigeria, have a task to innovate to liquidate in certain cases. With the aid of kaizen, which encompasses the benefit of stakeholder relationship improvement and management, profitability enhancement and delivery of projects to satisfied clients, construction companies can realise expected growth. An exploration of the critical success factors (CSF) and associated drivers within the limits of the scope is essential. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Exploratory factor analysis statistical tests categorised the CSF identified in the literature review section. A detailed sampling approach extracted 135 questionnaires under the five-point Likert scale format from a larger population in Nigeria. An exploration of important drivers and iteration of eigenvalues combined with asymptotic significance of the drivers provided the CSF and significant drivers.

Construction management function, operational efficiency, construction business ethics and construction cost management were the CSF established from the exploratory factor analysis tests. It was confirmed that kaizen can be adopted in Nigerian construction companies with reflections on the principal drivers for the CSF.

The exploration of the CSF and drivers associated with kaizen implementation can be applied to other developing countries with considerations of implementation in terms of cost and time.

The identification of CSF provides ample opportunity for consideration of kaizen in construction companies. The findings of this study are a basis for investigations into cost and time implications of kaizen adoption in construction companies.

Kaizen or continuous improvement is a renowned Japanese management philosophy implemented in many industries all over the world. It is geared towards the everyday worker and management, and aims to continually improve the workplace, even on a small scale. The extent of implementation in China is unknown. This paper seeks to discuss this issue.

This study has the objective of filling a gap by addressing the implementation issues facing kaizen in a project setting, and employs qualitative methods to investigate the application of kaizen within large Chinese construction firms. The material for this study is taken from interviews of 27 Chinese building professionals from 16 large Chinese firms in 2011.

The interview results indicate that different types of activities associated with kaizen have been adopted by Chinese construction firms at the project level.

There are considerable challenges identified in this study. This includes the lack of a supporting culture, compressing schedules, limited resources and especially the lack of professionals with sufficient understanding of kaizen. In order to put Chinese construction firms in a better position to implement kaizen, this study concludes with a number of strategies for overcoming these challenges.

The respondents' perceptions of kaizen, as well as its possible applications in real life projects, were sought. In addition, the infrastructure of kaizen within the Chinese construction project setting was also investigated in this study.

Existing conceptual, empirical and case studies evidence suggests that manufacturing industries find the joint implementation of Kaizen philosophy initiatives. However, the existing practices rarely demonstrated in a single framework and implementation procedure in a structure nature. This paper, therefore, aims to develop, validate and practically test a framework and implementation procedure for the implementation of integrated Kaizen in manufacturing industries to attain long-term improvement of operational, innovation, business (financial and marketing) processes, performance and competitiveness.

The study primarily described the problem, extensively reviewed the current state-of-the-art literature and then identified a gap. Based on it, generic and comprehensive integrated framework and implementation procedure is developed. Besides, the study used managers, consultants and academics from various fields to validate a framework and implementation procedure for addressing business concerns. In this case, the primary data was collected through self-administered questionnaire, and 244 valid questionnaires were received and were analyzed. Furthermore, the research verified the practicability of the framework by empirically exploring the current scenario of selected manufacturing companies.

The research discovered innovative framework and six-phase implementation procedure to fill the existing conceptual gap. Furthermore, the survey-based and exploratory empirical analysis of the research demonstrated that the practice of the proposed framework based on structured procedure is valued and companies attain the middling improvements of productivity, delivery time, quality, 5S practice, waste and accident rate by 61.03, 44, 52.53, 95.19, 80.12, and 70.55% respectively. Additionally, the companies saved a total of 14933446 ETH Birr and 5,658 M² free spaces. Even though, the practices and improvements vary from company to company, and even companies unable to practice some of the unique techniques of the identified CI initiatives considered in the proposed framework.

All data collected in the survey came from professionals working for Ethiopian manufacturing companies, universities and government. It is important to highlight that n = 244 is high sample size, which is adequate for a preliminary survey but reinforcing still needs further survey in terms of generalization of the results since there are hundreds of manufacturing companies, consultants and academicians implementing and consulting Kaizen. Therefore, a further study on a wider Ethiopian manufacturing companies, consultants and academic scale would be informative.

This work is very important for Kaizen professionals in the manufacturing industry, academic and government but in particular for senior management and leadership teams. Aside from the main findings on framework development, there is some strong evidence that practice of Kaizen resulted in achieving quantitative (monetary and non-monetary) and qualitative results. Thus, senior management teams should use this research out to practice and analyze the effect of Kaizen on their own organizations. Within the academic community, this study is one of the first focusing on development, validating and practically testing and should aid further study, research and understanding of Kaizen in manufacturing industries.

So far, it is rare to find preceding studies proposed, validated and practically test an integrated Kaizen framework with the context of manufacturing industries. Thus, authors understand that this is the very first research focused on the development of the framework for manufacturing industries continuously to be competitive and could help managers, institutions, practitioners and academicians in Kaizen practice.

This study aims to improve accessibility to frontline psychological services for youths in difficulty. In the province of Quebec, Canada, the first significant intervention must take place within 30 days for at least 75% of the clients. Achieving this target is challenging. This was observed in the Youth Programme of a health-care network in Montreal (Centre Intégré (Universitaire) de la Santé et des Services Sociaux Centre-Sud-de-l’île-de-Montréal).

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) approach within the Action Research methodology was used. Define, Measure, Analyse, Innovate, Implement and Control structure combined with Lean techniques and a Kaizen event were implemented.

In total 69% of the clients have now had their first intervention within 30 days and 91% within 60 days. Improving accessibility to frontline services led to improving accessibility to second-line services. Communicating performance objectives to employees led to increasing their awareness about the importance of performance assessment and their willingness to contribute to improvement. The Kaizen event was a driving force that enabled more collaboration and trust. The participation of a partner-client in the Kaizen helped finding client-centred solutions. The large number of participants in the Kaizen added complexity.

It was difficult to sort and rank a large number of solutions during the Kaizen. The impact of hiring additional employees has not been investigated. Despite the significant improvements, the targets were not achieved. More research is required to identify more accurately critical factors that have a major impact on the success of LSS projects involving complex processes.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge in Lean health care. It describes Lean tools/techniques used, solution implementation and improvements achieved in a real context. 10 success factors and 4 challenges were identified. The study provides a model for other organizations for developing their own roadmap to improve accessibility to their services, notably in large and complex processes.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework for the design and management of a Kaizen event program where short‐term improvement projects (Kaizen events) are systematically used to introduce rapid change in targeted work areas, often relying on lean work system principles.

To develop the framework and the assessment approach, a comprehensive literature review and a field study of Kaizen event programs in three organizations were conducted. To illustrate the potential usefulness of the framework and the assessment approach, this paper presents a case study of how the framework was applied to design and improve a Kaizen event program in the Belgian Armed Forces.

Use of the framework as a design and assessment tool appeared to make the Kaizen event program more effective in the case study organization. Specific areas of improvement identified included: clearly defining event goals, scheduling extended follow‐up activities, defining measures to track results, assigning roles for Kaizen event evaluation activities, and sharing lessons learned in areas of the organization outside the work processes targeted by Kaizen events.

With the increased use of lean work system practices in recent years, many organizations are using Kaizen events to rapidly introduce change and to create a culture of continual improvement (or kaizen). However, organizations lack systematic, research‐based guidance on how to best design and implement Kaizen event improvement programs and how to best assess results. The proposed framework attempts to address these gaps.

Evidence suggests that hospitals are having problems achieving continuous improvement project (CIP) goals or sustaining their results. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify those critical success factors (CSFs) most strongly related to CIP success in hospitals (Lean-Kaizen project, Lean Six Sigma project, Six Sigma projects, and Quality Improvement projects).

A retrospective survey was applied to any CIP leaders/facilitators from hospitals that conducted at least one CIP during the last two years.

Three main findings were obtained from the 116 valid responses. First, the level of importance of 47 out of 53 CSFs to achieve CIPs success in hospitals was assessed as very important or higher (4 or higher on a six-point scale). Second, there are important differences between the CSFs to achieve CIP success in hospitals in this research and previous investigations. Third, the type of CIP affects the level of importance of 16 out of 53 CSFs to achieve CIP success in hospitals.

Practitioners involved with CIPs activities in hospitals could use the knowledge extracted from this investigation to improve the impact of their CIPs. Future research should continue in two lines: test if the 53 CSFs for CIPs measure a unique factor and identify the main relationships or paths between CSFs for CIPs and CIP outcomes.