Most citizenry have see of " Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance , " but not everyone has a bike or the time to reflect on maintain one . However , most people do have cars , and diagnosing auto worry and other machine problems can seem as strange to most people as Eastern philosophy . But what if there was an easterly philosophy that could help you name car job and preclude car problem ?
Some people cogitate there is . The wordkaizenmeans betterment in Japanese , and theKaizen philosophical system , which focuses on continuous improvement in all areas , is the basis for some of the winner of Nipponese car companies . Appling some of its precepts to how you uphold your own car may avail you keep off coarse job .
Using an easterly doctrine to prevent car difficulty does n’t mean you should start doing yoga on the hood of your car ( not that there ’s anything untimely with that ) . The Kaizen doctrine concenter on make constant advance to quality by name and eliminating waste . It turns out , that ’s a somewhat dependable philosophy to pass car fabrication and maintenance , too .
Most car problems arise from poor sustentation or wear and tear . If you could identify trouble area before they actually become problem , then you ’ve just applied Kaizen to your car – and likely saved yourself a hefty repair bill at the same clock time .
While you could sure apply Kaizen philosophy to your own car and the maintenance you do , it ’s most excellently been applied by some car companies right at the factory . Keep reading to regain out which car manufacturers abide by Kaizen from the get - go .
The Kaizen Philosophy in the Auto Industry
Kaizen philosophy and the auto industry intersect in Japan in the 1950s , but it ’s a philosophy and direction style that continues to be practiced today – most notably by Toyota .
After World War II , Taiichi Ohno was charged with setting up machine store for Toyota . He make out to the United States to learn Henry Ford ’s fabrication lines . Ohno saw that while the Ford assemblage lines figure out , there was a circumstances of wastefulness in the process . Some parts of the factory would have too much inventorying , while others would have too small . Also , there was n’t a clean and efficient way to check for character and the gathering line worker were n’t require to put up solutions to problems . Ohno was n’t impressed .
On the other hand , Ohno was very impressed by the American supermarket he visited . He saw how the shop only ordered what they needed and kept their stocktaking low to answer to consumer demand .
Using what he saw in the States , Ohno apply the principles of Kaizen to Japanese auto manufacturing and came up with several programs , like just - in - metre inventory , for example . The just - in - sentence organization is where inventory is delivered establish on what ’s necessary rightfulness at that mo , not what ’s available . Kaizen continue to reform the fellowship ’s practices by charging every employee – from the CEO to the janitor – with continuously improving timbre . Rather than wait for problems to occur , Toyota employee are expected to continually seek improvements in efficiency and tone . If factory workers see a likely problem , they can actually stop work to determine a solution , rather than letting the problem raise as production continues . As part of Kaizen , Toyota has quality circles , which are groups of workers who know how the company works , and whose job it is to happen area for melioration , either through trim down wastefulness , changing a outgrowth or improve a intersection .
And , for the most part , Kaizen seems to be bring for Toyota . And while it may have lost some sales due to the economic downturn , for most consumers , the Toyota name continue to be synonymous with timber and reliability . That ’s something that owner – especially those that practice Kaizen car maintenance at plate – are probable to appreciate .
For more information about diagnosing car problems and other related to topics , keep up the links on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
