In this episode, Mark and Greg remember Masaaki Imai, who recently passed away at 92.
They were both deeply influenced by Mr. Imai and his book “KAIZEN: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success.”
Without Greg being given this book by his Emergency Department leader, there would be no KaiNexus. Greg discusses the importance of the book to him and others — and the broad influence it has had.
Mark shares stories about meeting Mr. Imai (once in Seattle and twice in Japan) and some of the classic ideas — that Kaizen means everybody improvement, everywhere improvement, every day improvement.
See Mr. Imai talk about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqKMlRJUAJk&ab_channel=KaizenInstitute-SouthAsia%26Africa
They also discuss the connections between Kaizen and Lean books and practice — and how Kaizen should be a core part of a Lean strategy, as it is at Toyota and other companies.
Get the book KAIZEN on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3XAg2mz
This approach should be the key to a hospital's success, or any organization's success — not just manufacturing and not just in Japan.
Mark's blog post about meeting Mr. Imai: https://www.leanblog.org/2012/06/meeting-mr-imai/
Greg's journal article about Kaizen: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2009.00580.x