Impacts of Kaizen in a small-scale industry of India: a case study

Purpose - A large number of small-scale industries have shown their existence in India, tough competition among them made the survival of small industries difficult. All facing problems like reduced production and poor quality. The case study presented in the paper deals with Kaizen implementation in a machine vice manufacturer company. Kaizen has tremendous impacts on the production techniques and lead times. Case study represented is to motivate practitioners for implementing Kaizen in small-scale industries of India. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach - The methodology applied to implement the Kaizen in Indian small-scale industry. Fishbone diagrams have been used to represent cause and effects. The result has been shown as savings in terms of money and time. Findings - Processing time has been reduced by 44.4 percent and an amount of Rs. 64,000 has been saved by recovering a total of 80 square feet working area. Improvements in the form of work flow have been achieved. Research limitations/implications - Value stream mapping can be integrated with Kaizen for more reduction in the product lead time. Practical implications - The paper will be worthily for practitioners and consultants for understanding Kaizen implementation in small-scale industry of India. Originality/value - The paper yields lots of values for practitioners to understand the impacts and significance of the Kaizen in small-scale industries of India. Also it bridges the gap between theory and practical of Kaizen implementation in small-scale industry of India.