kaizen

Where does the word "kaizen" come from? It comes from Japanese kaizen, and was adopted directly into English (1980s).

Kaizen’s story begins in Japanese: kaizen meant “continuous, incremental improvement.” Literally 'improvement', formalized as a philosophy of continuous small changes in Toyota's production system. It reached English by 1980s as kaizen. Masaaki Imai's 1986 book 'Kaizen' popularized it; Toyota's production system is the model. Today, kaizen means a business philosophy centered on continuous, incremental improvement.

1. Stage 1 · Japanese · 1950s-1960s kaizen "continuous, incremental improvement", literally 'improvement', formalized as a philosophy of continuous small changes in Toyota's production system.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1980s kaizen "a business philosophy of continuous incremental improvement", Masaaki Imai's 1986 book 'Kaizen' popularized it; Toyota's production system is the model.