Kaizen is the Japanese term for continuous improvement. The kaizen concept was pioneered by in Japan by Toyota as a daily challenge to all its employees to improve their processes and working environment little by little over time. The effect of these small incremental changes compound into significant improvements to a company value added competitive position.

Moreover it means continuing improvement in personal life, home life social life and working life. When applied to the workplace kaizen means continuing improvement involving every one managers and workers alike.

Kaizen efforts are usually focused on improvements within a work station or the local work area where a small group of individuals ( the kaizen team) seek to improve their own work environment and productivity. The tools available to these kaizen teams have long been little more than pencil paper a stopwatch and their knowledge of the process.