The Japan Productivity Center and APO Secretariat organized a face-to-face training course on Digital Kaizen in SMEs from 11–15 November in Tokyo. It aimed to develop an understanding of approaches to and methods for digital transformation at the enterprise level, build knowledge of leveraging kaizen techniques, and highlight improvements in productivity, profitability, and employee well-being through applications of digital kaizen.

Twenty participants from 16 APO members completed the course, led by two resource persons from Japan who provided guidance on IoT basics, digital kaizen case studies on visualizing environmental parameters, legacy equipment retrofitting and production line improvement with the IoT, hands-on exercises on acquiring sensor data, periodic data transmission, and data visualization and abnormality alerts. The site visits to ARSOA Keio Group Corporation and PATLITE Corporation further enhanced the participants’ understanding of the impact of digital technology interventions on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes, thereby enhancing enterprise level productivity. The training course concluded with member presentations focusing on sector-specific challenges in implementing digital kaizen and explaining action plans to apply or disseminate the knowledge gained during the training. Key points that emerged from participant presentations included the need to improve skills, develop a readiness framework to ascertain enterprise maturity levels, develop an impact evaluation framework, and establish local level productivity clubs.