

Japan brings kaizen philosophy to Ethiopia - McUsr
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26542963

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gregpilling
I am surprised how often W. Edward Deming is left out of articles like this
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming)

"n Japan, from 1950 onward, he taught top business managers how to improve
design (and thus service), product quality, testing, and sales (the last
through global markets)[1] by various means, including the application of
statistical methods. Deming made a significant contribution to Japan's later
reputation for innovative, high-quality products, and for its economic power.
He is regarded as having had more impact upon Japanese manufacturing and
business than any other individual not of Japanese heritage."

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piokuc
That was a short article about kaizen in Ethiopia, not history of kaizen. But
thanks for the reference!

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e12e
Reminds me of the story where Toyota decides to help charities by donating
help with management/process:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6139960](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6139960)

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polskibus
Kaizen is a small part of the Lean philosophy that originated in Toyota. I
dont understandbwhy the article focuses on kaizen technique only.

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Kluny
The Toyota Way is a philosophy that includes Kaizen, Lean, and like 12 other
principles.
[http://icos.groups.si.umich.edu/Liker04.pdf](http://icos.groups.si.umich.edu/Liker04.pdf).
Most people latch on to one or two because the whole thing is too big to grasp
at one sitting. It takes a long time (a century, for Toyota) to develop a
company into it.

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polskibus
I'd say that kaizen is a lean technique for improving a process or flow as
described in "Lean thinking".

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yakshemash
Not very often we get stories about Ethiopia on front page of hacker news...

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Apocryphon
Interestingly enough, the historical amity between Japan and Ethiopia has
existed since the early 20th century, as two lone countries that managed to
remain independent during the time of European colonialism:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia–Japan_relations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia–Japan_relations)

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spingsprong
Thailand was never colonised.

