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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Enabling success: performance excellence

Orion Devices has adopted kaizen. A production line operator suggests moving a tool bin closer to the workstation, saving 4 seconds per unit. Management implements it the same week and encourages further similar ideas from all staff. Meanwhile, the board is also considering a complete redesign of the factory around robotics. Which statement correctly distinguishes the two approaches?

The tool bin change is kaizen, being a small, incremental improvement suggested by an employee and implemented quickly. The robotics factory redesign is a radical step-change, closer to business process re-engineering or innovation. Kaizen relies on continuous small gains from everyone, not one-off fundamental redesign.

  1. ABoth the tool bin change and the robotics redesign are kaizen because both reduce cost
  2. BThe tool bin change is kaizen: small, incremental, employee-driven improvement; the robotic redesign is closer to radical innovation or business process re-engineeringCorrect
  3. CThe tool bin change is business process re-engineering and the redesign is kaizen
  4. DNeither is relevant to continuous improvement because kaizen concerns only quality inspection

Explanation

Kaizen involves ongoing small improvements involving all employees, typically with low cost and risk. A wholesale redesign around new technology is a step-change, characteristic of re-engineering or innovation. The other options confuse scale and who initiates the change.

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