WHAT IS KAIZEN?
Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) is a strategy where employees at all levels of a company work together proactively to achieve regular, incremental improvements to the manufacturing process. In a sense, it combines the collective talents within a company to create a powerful engine for improvement.
A typical Kaizen event goes something like this:

Set goals and provide any necessary background.
Review the current state and develop a plan for improvements.
Implement improvements.
Review and fix what doesn’t work.
Report results and determine any follow-up items.
This type of cycle is frequently referred to as PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, and Act). PDCA brings a scientific approach to making improvements:

Plan (develop a hypothesis)
Do (run experiment)
Check (evaluate results)
Act (refine your experiment; then start a new cycle)
KAIZEN PHILOSOPHY
Interestingly, Kaizen as an action plan is exactly what develops Kaizen as a philosophy. When Kaizen is applied as an action plan through a consistent and sustained program of successful Kaizen events, it teaches employees to think differently about their work. In other words, consistent application of Kaizen as an action plan creates tremendous long-term value by developing the culture that is needed for truly effective continuous improvement.