Development of Kaizen Sustainability Model for Medium Manufacturing Enterprises of Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop kaizen sustainability model in medium manufacturing enterprises in the case of Gurage zone Administration of Ethiopia. To achieve the purpose of the study, data is collected from both primary and secondary sources.  The primary data were collected from Technical & Vocational Education & Training (TVET) trainers, TVET leaders, Medium Manufacturing Enterprise (MME's) operators, and MME's experts using questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and observations. Secondary data were obtained from available documents from Ethiopian Kaizen Institute (EKI), published papers in international journals and conferences. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS Version 21.  The study revealed that the main factors distressing sustainability of kaizen are gaps in knowledge & skill, short-termism, inadequate use of kaizen implementation tools, centralized decision making, individualism, absence of functional diversity in kaizen event team, poor use of visual management tools(VMT), absence of rewarding & recognition scheme. To tackle these problems a kaizen sustainability model comprising eight interrelated steps has been developed.