The most fundamental priniciple of Kaizen is the centrality of quality. This expresses itself in three ways. First, quality is seen as central to reducing time and cost: By avoiding defects, you save rework cost and time. Second, quality is not the responsibility of a separate QA department. It is everyone’s responsibility from the CEO to the frontline assembly person. Third, quality is not an outcome but an ongoing process of improvement. To capture this last idea, the quality goals in Kaize...

The most fundamental priniciple of Kaizen is the centrality of quality. This expresses itself in three ways. First, quality is seen as central to reducing time and cost: By avoiding defects, you save rework cost and time. Second, quality is not the responsibility of a separate QA department. It is everyone’s responsibility from the CEO to the frontline assembly person. Third, quality is not an outcome but an ongoing process of improvement. To capture this last idea, the quality goals in Kaize...