Finding the Origins of Kaizen on a Lean Japan Trip

Where did Lean come from anyway? They say you can’t know where you’re going without knowing where you came from. For practitioners of Lean management methods, it is necessary to know how the methods originated in order to improve them. This is why an increasing number of companies and consultants journey on a Lean Japan trip to see where it all started.

We know that Lean originated in Japan, but with over 150 million people living in a landmass the size of California, Japan is a big and complicated place. Let’s get more specific with where Lean began. Toyota is usually cited as the origin of many Lean concepts. We must give credit where credit’s due; Toyota was indeed very influential in spreading Lean concepts. However, Toyota did not develop these concepts in isolation. They were reacting to the circumstances they found themselves in during the aftermath of World War II. Japanese industry as a whole had been decimated, and companies like Toyota were struggling to get back on their feet. To do this, they actually turned to American quality improvement experts like W. Edwards Deeming and Joseph Juran. These people promoted ideas about quality and efficiency that were being woefully overlooked in their home country, but Japan immediately recognized the value of methods like TQM.

There is an important lesson to be learned here for anyone who is planning a Lean Japan trip: Sometimes you have to look outside your home boarders to find solutions to the problems you are experiencing. This is exactly what Lean study missions to Japan provide. By travelling to Japan to experience a new approach to management, you are effectively doing the same thing that the pioneers of Lean did: looking abroad for solutions to problems at home. If you go about this the right way, you will be exposed to ideas you wouldn't be able to envision in you usual comfort zone. You will then be able to adapt and translate this to your local needs. This is also an important factor to understand. The early Lean pioneers did not get where they are simply by copying what others had done successfully. They made their own system from the lessons they learned. When it comes to process improvement, the expert is the person who conducts the process. Learning from other organizations is the first step, but forging your own path from these lessons will ultimately determine your success.

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