Prelims

Half Title Page

KAIZEN-21

Title Page

KAIZEN-21

The Philosophy of Continuous Improvement and Operational Innovation in the New Global Environment

By

Manuel F. Suárez-Barraza

Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Mexico

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2023

Copyright © 2023 Manuel F. Suárez-Barraza.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80455-845-4 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80455-844-7 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80455-846-1 (Epub)

Dedication

For my children Naia and Manuel Alejandro.

List of Figures

List of Tables

About the Author

Manuel Francisco Suárez Barraza, PhD World KAIZEN Expert Research Professor Sensei Level 1, JICA-ASEMEJA Member of N.R.S. Level 2 (México)

Manuel F. Suárez Barraza holds a Doctorate (PhD) in Management Science from the Higher School of Business Administration and Management at ESADE Business School of the Ramón Llull University in Barcelona, Spain. He graduated Cum Laude. In 2022, he obtained an Emeritus PhD for the Doctoral International College and the UNAM. He has been a member of the National System of Researchers in Mexico, Level 2, since 2010. He has a Postgraduate Specialization in total quality management (TQC) and Continuous Improvement of Productivity (KAIZEN) at Sophia University and the Central Industrial Association of Japan (CHU-SAN-REN) in Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan. He received training at Toyota Motor Company's Tsutsumi plant in Toyota City, Aichi Province, Japan. His professional experience of more than 10 years focused on collaborating with Bimbo (an international bread company) and Pemex Exploration and Production (a Mexican oil company). Furthermore, he has an undergraduate diploma in Biochemical Engineering (the best average grades in his generation).

He is currently the academic director of International Business at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP). He worked as a full-time professor at the Graduate School of Administration–EGADE Business School of the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM). Moreover, he has been a professor at the ITESM campuses in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador, and a visiting professor at ESADE Business School in the Master of Operations Management in Barcelona, Spain, for seven years. Since 2019, he has been a visiting professor at the ICADE Business School of the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas in Madrid, Spain. He has taught at institutions such as the Barcelona Business School, ESERP Escuela de Negocios de Barcelona, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, Barcelona Management Institute, Universidad de León in Spain, and Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco in Mexico.

He writes as a research professor in at least 50 articles in the international academic field in refereed journals, among which are as follows: Academy of Management Learning and Education (ISI Web of Science, SCOPUS), Business Process Management Journal (ISI Web of Science, SCOPUS), TQM Journal (ISI Web of Science, SCOPUS), INNOVAR Journal of Administrative Science Magazine (ISI Thomson Reuters RANKING), TQC and Business Excellence (ISI Thomson Reuters RANKING), and TQM Journal (indexed journal, C1, and C2). He authors 10 books on the subject of KAIZEN philosophy, some with more than 4,000 copies sold, such as the “KAIZEN philosophy of Panorama publishing house,” 2,000 copies of the “KAIZEN-GP of Porrúa,” 1,500 of “Process Innovation of Editorial Ágora,” 700 of “KAIZEN-Coaching,” and 500 of “My Meeting with the KAIZEN of Editorial UDLAP.” In 2021, he published his new book: “K'AAT-KAIZEN,” the Mayan–Japanese model that gives meaning to your daily life.

He is a member of the literary faculty of Emerald and a scientific editor of the International Journal of Quality and Service Science (ÚNICO MEXICANO) and Innovar of the University of Colombia, Dyna Management of Spain, and the International Journal of Business and Research Management. In addition, he is a member of the GRACO Research Group for Learning and Knowledge of ESADE in Barcelona. He is also a columnist in popular management magazines: Expansión, chief executive officer (CEO) Expansión, Pyme Adminístrate Hoy, UDLAP Context, Hidalgo Business Link, CONTACTO, and the Total Quality Magazine, including in print media: “La Jornada, El Sol de Puebla, and Milenio Diario.”

He won the first prize in the case writing competition of the EFMD of the European Union in the category of continuous improvement and innovation and journal of excellence, with the case “KAIZEN in Public Service: A case study in a public environmental organization in Mexico.” Finally, he has been an advisor and consultant to Mexican, Spanish, and South American companies in the field of manufacturing (distribution and production) and services, such as Hotels, Restaurants, Mechanical Workshops, Public Government Organizations, and City Halls. He is also an advisor to the UN on issues of modernization of the public sector to reduce failures in public management.

Book's Structure

In the twenty-first century, amid the global pandemic, resource crises, wars that have paralyzed supply chains, and excessive stress on workers, companies are immersed in perhaps the greatest challenges of their last years. The KAIZEN-XXI can represent light in such operational darkness. In that sense, Masaki Imai placed the term KAIZEN in the world management arena with his book KAIZEN: the Key to Japanese Competitive Advantage in 1986. Since then, the managerial approach has been used in different organizations as a strategy for the continuous improvement of operations. In 2018, he addressed a KAIZEN Special Issue in TQM Journal (EMERALD) to observe the rise of KAIZEN in the academic field, resulting in 22 papers sent and 11 accepted, most of which attempted to consolidate the roots, definitions, and theoretical part of philosophy. Hence, KAIZEN continues to have strength in this new century in the business and academic fields. Therefore, the “KAIZEN-XXI” has as its central purpose, that is, to establish a theoretical-practical guide for organizations to implement KAIZEN in their operational processes in the midst of a chaotic and complicated global environment such as that of the twenty-first century. The guiding principles, techniques, and tools of “KAIZEN-XXI” are designed to put human beings at the center as a guiding axis of change and innovation. Moreover, although operation, productivity, and operational efficiency have improved, people are finding healthy work environments to be happy.

The book is comprised of nine chapters that start from the origins of KAIZEN to its definition, the theoretical-practical guide model of guiding principles, techniques and tools, and the application of each guiding principle with its technique and tools in the rest of the chapters. The book presents techniques, such as 5'S, standardization (hyojunka), Standardize-Do-Check-Act (SDCA), and Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycles. The book also introduces process innovation, hitosukuri (management of people), to close with techniques for improving daily work, such as the KAIZEN events; the Kata of Improvement (the A3 format), to close with three chapters on links of “KAIZEN-XXI” with the Toyota Production System (TPS); and the Mayan work model. This book is essential to help improve processes and people in the twenty-first century.