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Difference between ISO 9000 and Kaizen Theory |
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If you have any questions about our Quality Matrix, or wish to make any comments, please feel free to send a message to us at quality@artige.com. |
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| Overview |
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This analysis is just one of many comparisons that are offered as part of the Artige Quality Matrix, which can be seen here in its original form. The definitions that are used in these comparisons are the ones that we at the Artige Company use internally and with our clients, derived from the research that we perform as a matter of due course. These definitions are derived from natural laws of physics and statistics, in order to screen our work from the effects of the business press. The original article where these terms are discussed appears here. In other words, we like to think that this work will withstand the scourges of time and not be categorized as "management du jour". |
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| ISO 9000 |
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Definition |
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It is one thing to claim that one's firm produces quality products, but it is another for your trading partners to know that this is true. So a bureaucracy was established where third parties could verify a company's claims of quality products. Question is, how do you measure quality? The answer is to document a firm's practices and audit the firm for compliance to its own procedures. |
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This methodology involves administrating a culture of rules and documentation. A natural fit for enterprises that already operate under a bureaucratic culture. The documentation includes not only current practices, but also the methods for implementing process changes. The audit is meant to verify whether the firm follows the documented rules it wrote up. So in other words, ISO 9000 does not ensure that a product or service is has quality about it. Rather, ISO 9000 certifies that certain process were used, and provides for the manner in which the fact that these processes were used will be confirmed. The assumption is that in always following the same method, the same product (of quality or otherwise) will be delivered. |
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| Kaizen Theory |
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Definition |
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One translation of the term Kaizen from Japanese is "to take apart and put back together in a better way". One will immediate recognize that we have a term that relates to quality, as Kaizen relates directly to improvement. This definition even comes with a recommendation on how to accomplish the improvement. Note that the definition does not have a subject, which means that it can be applied to any matter, such as processes, resources or people. |
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For all intents and purposes, Kaizen is most often associated with continuous improvement. This is the improvement methodology where small steps are taken in an attempt to improve an existing process. Feedback is collected, and then these results are analyzed. If the review of the outcome proves successful (based on predetermined metrics), the small step change is accepted. Otherwise the process is rolled back to its previous state. This is not a radical methodology. Rather, many small steps are taken to produce desired process improvements instead of one big overhaul. Kaizen is seen by many business people to be a safe way to implement quality. |
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Thanks to the folks at Toyota, the term Kaizen has been applied in a quality context to refer to a human based approach that requires feedback from the people that are familiar with the process and interact with it. The idea here is that the workers experience and knowledge includes both positive and negative aspects of the operation and would be best to know what changes could potentially work or not. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this line of thought, which is why Kaizen is applicable in certain instances. Obviously, the presence of workers with experience is a requirement, which means high turnover facilities will not be a good candidate. It is also well positioned for manual tasks, especially in the service sector. |
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Another offshoot of Kaizen is the thorough use of the employee suggestion box. The Kaizen effort relies upon employee suggestions and cross-functional teams, where empowered employees are encouraged to speak up. Without human intervention, there can be no process improvement using Kaizen. As such, employees are expected to make suggestions in order to raise the quality of the processes they are responsible for. |
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| The Difference |
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The Differences and / or Similarities |
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At first glance, one would think that Kaizen and ISO 9000 have a few things in common, in addition to the fact that they both deal with the topic of quality. They are both methodologies that can be used to implement some sort of regime which could potentially instill or improve quality in a firm's offerings. The two methodologies take different approaches, resulting in different outcomes. |
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Kaizen offers a direct approach to improving an existing system, through the application of continuous improvement, using a human based approach. Although Kaizen does not provide details to every specific situation, it does offer the optimism that an organization will operate better if process improvements are continuously attempted and applied. One could consider this method a direct attempt at improving the lot of an organization. On the other hand, ISO 9000 takes an indirect approach to improving the quality of an organization. The idea espoused by ISO 9000 advocates is that the process of documenting an organization's processes and verifying that the organization actually follows those processes will ensure quality. Of course, one could document and audit processes that lose money and aggravate customers, but still be certified as an ISO 9000 process. Plus indirect methods by definition will have leeway that allows for circumvention of the intent, while still staying within the boundaries of the regulations. |
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In summary, Kaizen and its continuous improvement methodologies offer a direct method that has a fighting chance to improve quality of business processes. ISO 9000 is another process that uses indirect methods to modify quality, but being indirect, has no guarantee of having any effect (good, bad or indifferent) on the quality of an organization. |
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