Hoshin Kanri Planning Process

In today’s business world, the goal of any organization is to survive in the market, by having a strong competitive advantage and by meeting the expectations of the customers.  In order to achieve that goal, the organization needs to establish a long-term strategic plan that is achievable as well as contribute toward improving the organizations business process.  One strategic plan that has been proven to be successful and can be used by an organization would be the Hoshin Kanri Planning Process.

The Hoshin Kanri Planning Process has been used as a tool in Japan since the 1960’s to implement policy.  Hewlett-Packard was the first company to use the Hoshin plan in 1976 and to this day have been successful.  Hoshin is Japanese for a compass, a course, a policy or a plan indicating purpose or vision to an existence.  Kanri is Japanese for management control and when translated into English means policy deployment.  The objective to the Hoshin plan is to ensure that all the employees in the organization understand the long-term goal and work together on a specific plan in order to make the organizations goal a reality. 

The way the Hoshin Kanri process works is by the organization having a vision or goal.  The organization must plan out various ways to accomplish that goal, in a way that everyone in the company is involved.  Management and the employees must work together by way of a catchball, meaning reporting and providing feedback to one another.  The catchball is then followed by a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle.  The cycle of Plan-Do-Check-Act involves measuring the progress to the goal that was set in the beginning of the year, to record the actual results-to-date, to take note of all the problems between the results and the plan, and lastly state the impact on the strategy for the coming year.  The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is extremely important to continuously improve the performance of the organizations business process. 

The elements involved in the Hoshin plan is having an objective focus, to develop plans that adequately support that objective, to review the progress of those plans, to make changes to those plans as required, make continuous improvements of the key business processes, and lastly to make the plan a vehicle for organizational learning.  It involves the understanding and the use of the 7 Basic Tools of Quality (B7), which include Histograms, Pareto charts, Cause-and-Effect Diagrams, Check Sheets, Scatter Diagrams, Flowcharts and Control Charts.  The organization must also understand and use the 7 New Tool of Quality (N7), which were developed by a committee of the Japanese Society for QC Technique Development as a result of research.  The 7 New Tools have their roots in Japanese practice and dates back before World War II.  The 7 New Tool of Quality include the Affinity Diagram, Interrelationship Diagraph, Matrix Diagram, Tree Diagram, Prioritization Matrices, Process Decision Program Chart and an Activity Network Diagram. 

The Hoshin Planning Process can be used in any organization that involves projects or teamwork.  It will help teams work faster and assist them in obtaining a solution to their given problem.  By using the Hoshin process, organizations can eliminate any waste time by breaking down various steps one by one.  Lastly, Hoshin can bring the organizational teams and management closer by using the catchball, therefore allowing everyone in the organization to be involved and to work together in order to accomplish their goal.

To better understand the Hoshin Kanri Planning Process, reading as well as actually using the Hoshin process is required.  Yojo Akao, the author of Hoshin Kanri: Policy Deployment for Successful TQM, gives readers a Japanese perspective of the strategic business process, while many other leaders in total quality management provide the necessary tools needed to accurately accomplish the Hoshin Kanri.   There are also many books that are available as well as many web sites that interested users of the Hoshin Kanri may use to gain insight on the successful Hoshin Kanri Planning Process.  Hoshin Kanri is an extremely helpful tool that organizations may use to improve their processing plan and gain an even better competitive advantage in the business industry.  It will also help them in reaching their customers expectations and allow them to survive and thrive in their market.  Hoshin has been a very successful tool for many companies and when used correctly may enhance any organizations business process and help them achieve a greater sense of total quality management for their organization.  

Bibliography

Akao, Yoji., ed. (1991).  Hoshin Kanri: Policy Deployment for Successful TQM, Productivity, Cambridge MA.

Dean, Edwin (1991). Hoshin Kanri: Perspective of Competitive Advantage.

http:www.mijuno.larc.nasa.gov/dfc/hp.html

Brassard, Michael and Diane Ritter (1995).  The Memory Jogger II, GOAL/QPC, Salem NH

Foster, Thomas (2001). Managing Quality: An Integrative Approach, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River NJ.