kaizen

English Wikipedia has an article on:

kaizen

Wikipedia

From Japanese 改善 (kaizen かいぜん), from Middle Chinese 改善 (kój-dʒjén) (compare Mandarin gǎishàn 改善), from Old Chinese 改善 (*qˁəʔ-ɡenʔ "to correct errors"), from 改 ("to change") + 善 ("good").

Introduced to English in 1959 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente in his book Japanese Etiquette and Ethics in Business.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaɪˌzən/, /ˈkaɪˌzɛn/
• Rhymes: -aɪzən

kaizen (countable and uncountable, plural kaizens)

1. A Japanese business practice of continuous improvement in performance and productivity.
2. (by extension) Continuous improvement generally.
   • 2023 June 28, Sir Michael Holden, “Comment: 'There will be more Nunehams': We need some serious Kaizen... and we need it now”, in RAIL, number 986, page 3:

     This is a big mistake, because Japanese railways were largely built using British equipment and technology. But what they have done since is ruthlessly improve and refine it, using Kaizen principles.

kaizen (third-person singular simple present kaizens, present participle kaizening, simple past and past participle kaizened)

1. (transitive, business) To apply continuous improvement to (a task, or the worker who performs it).

• quality circle

Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:

kaizen

Wikipedia ^id

Borrowed from Japanese 改善(かいぜん) (kaizen, “improvement”).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /kaˈizɛn/
• Rhymes: -izɛn
• Syllabification: kai‧zen

kaizen (uncountable)

1. (management) kaizen

• “kaizen” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

kaizen

1. Rōmaji transcription of かいぜん