The Kaizen transition from top-down to bottom-up

Ironically, Kaizen must start out as a top-down initiative with a very forceful Change Agent - because the primary objective is to change the way people think.

It usually takes about 5 years of intensive training, doing, and re-training (because there is no way that everyone will "get it all" the first time) before Kaizen transitions into a bottom-up activity - with most changes coming from the self-directed Kaizen Teams that have now established continuous improvement as a way of life.

Note: Without frequent re-training, there is a VERY strong tendency for middle managers to slide right back into the "safety nets" of building inventories using batch & queue processes that are so much more tolerant of sloppiness and mistakes.