This document discusses Kaizen, which is a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement involving small changes implemented gradually over time. The key points are: - Kaizen focuses on making incremental improvements to processes rather than large, innovative changes. It aims to optimize existing systems and methods. - It emphasizes identifying and eliminating waste and non-value added activities through ongoing employee participation at all levels. - Regularly visiting the workplace or "gemba" is important to understand problems, standardize solutions to prevent recurrences, and continuously refine processes. - Kaizen's goals are to maximize value for customers through higher quality, lower costs, and shorter lead times while also improving work conditions.