Reflections on Excellence

"Good morning , Suzuki San , how have you been "asked Miss P when she noticed him walking through the door .

" I am fine , Miss P , how about you . Today I have want to tell something that is not going to make you happy . I am really surprised why you and many others did not attend the Learning series on WHAT IS QUALITY conducted by my good friend KJ on the 19th May . Those who attended enjoyed the program and it gave a new outlook on the understanding of Quality .

I know what you will tell . That you were busy and though you tried you couldnt make it . I cant accept that Miss P . You must know that these are great opportunities for enhancing your knowledge levels , and all that you are going to spend is just 2 hours purposefully "

Miss P hung her head in shame . "I know Suzuki San , I dont have any reasons , I was trying to complete some work that I had and felt that I was too busy . But I do realise that when we have so much TIME to spend on trivialities and gossip etc... for a purposeful learning , we can always afford time . I will tell my apologies to KJ and ensure that I attend the programs in future without giving any reasons "

Suzuki San continued " I am not surprised by this lame reasoning , Miss P . I will see if I can ask KJ to conduct this program again in the near future . Atleast you go and tell others in the Industry to take advantage of this .

Have you heard of the concept of 3 BOX MODEL by Vijay Govindarajan . "

Miss P innocently asked " No , Suzuki San , is it something related to packaging ?"

Suzuki San who was so tensed up till now , burst out laughing .
"Miss P , you made me laugh now . I was so angry with you when I walked in . This is a MANAGEMENT CONCEPT proposed by a management guru called Vijay Govindarajan .

Prof.Vijay says that most of the Organizations are very myopic ( Senior management ) . They look at handling their current chores and responsibilities as a major task and invariably lost out on the future .

The 3 BOX MODEL is as follows .

BOX 1 - MANAGE THE PRESENT

Prof.Vijay says the present is something you will have to just manage . There may be very little control on what large changes you can achieve to give new directions to what is happening currently .

BOX 2 - SELECTIVELY FORGET THE PAST

Not all things that happened in the past are good or bad . However , certain mistakes and bad happenings need to be forgotten while retaining the ones that will be useful .

I will make an analogy of  driving a car . Just imagine if one keeps looking only at the rear view mirror and driving . Will he/she be able to drive forward . But at the same time do you drive only looking in front . No . We also keep looking at the rear view mirror ocassionally .

So the idea behind this is that , the good things of the past should be a reference only .

BOX 3 - CREATE THE FUTURE

You need to know where you want to be say 10 years from now . And to be WHAT YOU WANT TO BE 10 YEARS FROM NOW , there is no point in starting to act after 10 years , but NOW .

To be what you want to be in 10 years from now , you have to start planning and acting right now .

The moral of this concept is that and what I observed is that , WHAT KJ IS TRYING TO DISSEMINATE IN TERMS OF KNOWLEDGE IS NOT FOR YOU TO MANAGE THE PRESENT , BUT FOR YOU TO PREPARE YOURSELF TO CREATE THE FUTURE " .

So , stop giving stories like you were trying to finish some job , manage the present and all that , Miss P and look at using these opportunities so that you can be in better positions in the future . "

Miss P was almost in tears . "Suzuki San , I now understand fully what you conveyed . Yes , I do want to be a Managing Director in 10 years from , and I now realise that to be that in 10 years , unless I start using these opportunities now , I can never think of nearing such positions . So I am going to do one thing now .

I will selectively forget the past , my habit of saying that I was busy , and will look forward to attending KJ's next Learning series . Thanks a Lot , Suzuki San for this "

Suzuki San smiled . " you see , you got the concept right .

Now , I want tell you something . My other friend Mr.Eric Miller is in Zambia . He is a Management Consultant and a Lean Expert . He has done consultancy in many organisations in the Europe and has also worked as a Professor .

He is currently in Zambia and is volunteering his services for the Kaizen Institute of Zambia . I met him the other day and Eric sent me an article on Reflections of Excellence , which I felt will be immensely useful to all and hence have asked KJ to post it in the blog . Eric wishes to thank the authors Keith Mobley and agency Life Cycle Engineering for this article . Please read them and benefit . If you have any queries on lean , please email Eric on millereric450@gmail.com

Copy paste link or Click on the link details below :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/66cw9iiv4e7wrm4/Reflections-15-Laws-for-Continuous-Improvement%20May%202016.pdf?dl=0

Ok, Miss P , I am running late for a meeting now , Next week I will share about the Gemba program that happened in Sakiza Spinning in  Kitwe by the Kaizen Club of Zambia - Copperbelt Chapter "

Note 1 : Suzuki San , Miss P and her company are characters  developed by KJ and has no relevance to any particular person / processes/situation    . All mention are purely for illustration purpose of the central theme of the case and are personal opinions unless cited and shall have no recourse of consequences to author . Readers can use their practical inputs to alter any of the material that may be published . Readers are invited to express their views on this continuing case study series .

Note 2: Some of the readers have mentioned that they are unable to place their comments . Please click on the "No comments"  link , and make your comments and if you do not have any prior registration , you can choose anonymous and feel free to give details or not , though it will be nice if we can have your name details in the comments .

Episode 7 : Kaizen in Hotel Industry

"Hello , Miss P Good morning and how are you " a voice on Miss P's phone asked

Miss P was startled for a moment and exclaimed " Good morning , Suzuki San is that you , What happened to you for so long and I almost broke down " She was literally in tears while speaking . Miss P , Suzuki San continued , Please see my mail now"  and hung the phone .

The mail reads

" Miss P , I have been travelling continuously and had little access to internet and time to call you , Miss P , anyway I am now back in action . I had been to India with my good friend KJ to a place called Trichy in Southern India and the state of Tamil Nadu . While I was travelling through the town , I found this 4 star Hotel but something on the front , a banner caught my eyes .

With great surprise , we both barged into the Hotel and requested to be connected to their Director , Mr.Rathnakumar who with great enthusiasm accepted to meet us .

We asked him how he came about Kaizen and the progress and I am producing an excerpt of what he told .

Mr. Rathnakumar says , " We have been implementing Kaizen for the past two years now . I wanted to bring up the Service standards in the Hotel and offer a delightful experience to my customers . I found Kaizen being practiced in a manufacturing company in a city called Coimbatore , which is 300 kms from Trichy .

I was wondering if Kaizen and 5S tools will work in a Hotel Industry but was encouraged to try out . We started in a small way and I engaged a consultant to help us through defining 5S and red tagging methodologies to my staff .

The Initial reaction was an expected resistance . What is in it for me . But there were quite a good number of staff who eagerly were willing to participate with a thinking , whether there is anything to gain or not , atleast there is nothing to lose .

So I told my staff whoever is interested to participate can do so , and whoever is not , its fine .

After we started the program , our focus was on 5S and we have done a great deal of reducing Muda in workplace . We conduct regular sessions and reward in a small way those who achieve certain milestones .

I also encouraged my staff to make little mistakes and learn from them . I am fully OK for my staff to make a mistake as long as it is not intentional .

Now with these changes , which were immediately visible to everyone , other members who initially shied away also joined . Now we have all our members participating in the Kaizen promotion and are very enthusiastic in continuously improving our standards .

We face lots of challenges , Unlike any other institution , the Hotel Industry is 24 x 7 , meaning we have to be on our toes servicing customers through out the day and night . Also the business is seasonal , meaning the work load will be huge during season time and most of the staff would tend to avail their vacation during lean season .

But we have managed to have our meetings during shift changes and meticulously planning our schedule so as to have our Kaizen meetings regularly .

I am really passionate about implementing Kaizen and develop more and be an example and leader in the Hotel industry . We have a lot of 5 and 7 star hotels in India and my dream is to surpass those standards of service by Kaizen implementation .

And I know that my business will grow exponentially as a consequence of Kaizen implementation , Thanks for listening to me "

We were amazed on the wonders Kaizen can do in any field of business one is in , and we thanked Mr.Rathnakumar profusely for his time and returned .



More Kaizen stories in coming weeks , Bye till then Miss P .

Episode 6 : KAIZEN STUDY TOUR TO ETHIOPIA BY ZAMBIAN DELEGATION

Suzuki San updates the blog with his Ethiopian visit on a Kaizen Study Tour and writes to Miss P .

Miss P , I have taken some time now to compile this blog . My visit to Ethiopia along with a delegation from the Zambian government comprising of officials from the Government , representatives of JICA and representation from the private sector . As indicated earlier the visit was wonderful , useful and very informative and am giving a summary of the same .

The visit comprised of 3 stages  , first a lecture series by Mr.Getaun Tadesse , Director General of the Ethiopia Kaizen Institute (EKI) , second , visits to Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Foreign affairs and third , visits to Industry .

ETHIOPIA KAIZEN INSTITUTE (EKI) :

The DG of EKI explained how Ethiopia kickstarted the Kaizen revolution and have adopted and customised the Kaizen models of Japan and Singapore to create the Third generation Kaizen revolution in Ethiopia .

EKI has more than 140 trainers who go around visiting Industry and training the trainers and the employees in these companies who have shown interest . He also explained how the Kaizen movement is Government driven and through KAIZEN IMPLEMENTATION how the Ethiopian Industry has saved more than 4 million bir ( $1 = 20bir app) .

EKI is setting up itself as a role model in Africa and is keen to guide other African countries on the journey of Kaizen

VISITS TO MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS :

The Zambian delegation visited the Hon. Ministers for Industry and at Foreign affairs . The commitment and a single voice in which the Ministers and the Directors of various departments spoke was highly commendable .

What was interesting and common in the view points by the Ethiopian team was that , they never mentioned availability of Funds as a first gap or  need that hinders their growth .

ALL OF THEM COMMONLY GAVE THEIR VOICE TO MENTION THAT THERE WAS A DIRE NEED TO CHANGE THEIR ATTITUDE IF THEY WERE TO TAKE ETHIOPIA TO THE HEIGHTS WHERE JAPAN AND SINGAPORE HAVE REACHED .

THEY EXPRESSED THAT KAIZEN SHALL BE TAUGHT RIGHT FROM SCHOOL SO THAT THE YOUNGER GENERATION PRACTICE EXCELLENCE BY THE TIME THEY COME TO INDUSTRY . 

VISITS TO INDUSTRY :

AP PHARMACEUTICALS  :

The company has been implementing Kaizen for the past 3 years and has achieved tremendous improvements in work place culture , change in attitude from all levels of staff . The GM of the company explained that all the staff are members of KAIZEN PROMOTIONAL TEAM (KPT) and take part in various Kaizen practices right from 5S practices to process improvements .

He also  explained how suggestions from the workers have made them implement Kaizen improvements and how the company was able to save money through the interventions .

PEACOCK SHOE COMPANY :

The company exports Leather shoes to European countries and need to adhere to stringent norms of the EU .

Peacock Shoes has been implementing Kaizen for the past two years and has seen tremendous changes in the attitude of the staff .

They are also very happy to note the appreciations and astonishment of their customers when they visit their factory and see a complete change in the ambience and attitude of the staff . THANKS TO KAIZEN .

The company has 41 KPT's ( Kaizen Promotion Team ) and are involved in various Kaizen activities . Due to the implementation of Kaizen , the company has achieved reduction in maintenance time , increased productivity , higher staff morale and sense of belongingness .

The Company prides itself to mention that ALL THESE IMPROVEMENTS WERE DONE WITHOUT INCREASING OVERHEADS OR UNNECESSARY EXPENDITURE .

 KAFETEGNA VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE:

Of all the Gemba visits carried out , what impressed the Zambian delegation were the KAIZEN practices at this vocational training centre .

As one would be aware  there is generally a dearth of funding available to vocational centres and the Kafetegna vocational centre is no exception .

But right across the hierarchy of the school , everyone is passionate in implementing Kaizen . The Zambian team was moved when they explained how they disposed off the waste ( MUDA) in form of old furniture , tools , tackles etc... and with the money they got from the scrap sales , they purchased NEW Sewing machines for the training centre .

All the workshops were painted and 5S is being carried out and one cannot forget the bright and smiling faces of the supervisors when they showed around their workshop areas .

I am sure each and every Educational institution in Zambia can start working on these lines and implement Kaizen to transform themselves completely .

In all , Miss P  , we are already losing time , and IN A SINGLE VOICE , I WISH THAT THE TOP MANAGEMENT OF ALL ORGANISATIONS IN ZAMBIA COME TOGETHER TO PROMOTE KAIZEN IN ZAMBIA , AND TAKE ZAMBIA TO A LEVEL OF FOURTH GENERATION DEVELOPMENT , AFTER JAPAN , SINGAPORE , ETHIOPIA AND ZAMBIA .

IT IS TIME WE ALL STARTED THINKING BEYOND WHAT WE ARE NOW , AND CHART A LARGER FUTURE FOR THE NEXT ZAMBIA , OUR CHILDREN AND THEIRS , SO THAT WE PUT ZAMBIA ON THE GLOBAL MAP FOR ITS EXCELLENCE .

I am asking all our readers to contribute their opinion and comments to this blog .

Be blogging you next week , bye ....

Miss P was very moved after reading this blog , her colleagues as well , and they all immediately TOOK A RESOLUTION THAT THEY WILL EMBRACE KAIZEN IMMEDIATELY AND START SPREADING THE WORD WHERE EVER THEY CAN , AND VOWED TO GIVE ZAMBIA A NEW MEANING FOR THE WORD QUALITY .

ARE YOU PART OF THIS KAIZEN MOVEMENT  ?

Note 1 : Suzuki San , Miss P and her company are characters  developed by KJ and has no relevance to any particular person / processes/situation   . The Ethiopian visit is a factual happening by a Zambian delegation (excecpt ofcourse Suzuki San) and readers are urged to learn from these experiences as cited above  . All mention are purely for illustration purpose of the central theme of the case and are personal opinions unless cited and shall have no recourse of consequences to author . Readers can use their practical inputs to alter any of the material that may be published . Readers are invited to express their views on this continuing case study series .

Note 2: Some of the readers have mentioned that they are unable to place their comments . Please click on the "No comments"  link , and make your comments and if you do not have any prior registration , you can choose anonymous and feel free to give details or not , though it will be nice if we can have your name details in the comments .

Episode 3 : Suzuki San explains 5S to Miss P

Suzuki San writes to Miss P this week :

Dear Miss P , Sorry  I had planned to come over this week , but I have some meetings in Lusaka . However , you may go through the mail and put it on your notice board for other staff to see and benefit .

Last week , We saw about managing simple things and started with Time management . This week I want to talk about 5S concept , which is very well known to you . So , I will devote only two articles to 5S and will ask any of those who have queries to comment on the blog KJ is maintaining as I have asked him to publish this as well .

5S is the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. Translated in English , the  list describes how to organize a work space for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order of change and doing simple things properly .  The decision-making process usually comes from a dialogue about standardization, which builds understanding among employees of how they should do the work.

 

There are five 5S phases: They can be translated from the Japanese as "sort", "straighten", "shine", "standardise", and "sustain".

Seiri

整理 (Sort)

• Remove unnecessary items and dispose of them properly
• Make work easier by eliminating obstacles
• Reduce chance of being disturbed with unnecessary items
• Prevent accumulation of unnecessary items
• Evaluate necessary items with regard to cost or other factors
• Remove all parts not in use
• Segregate unwanted material from the workplace
• Need fully skilled supervisor for checking on regular basis
• Don`t put unnecessary items at the workplace & define a red-tagged area to keep those unnecessary items

Seiton

整頓 (Systematic Arrangement)

• Can also be translated as "set in order", "straighten" or "streamline"
• Arrange all necessary items so they can be easily selected for use
• Prevent loss and waste of time
• Make it easy to find and pick up necessary items
• Ensure first-come-first-served basis
• Make workflow smooth and easy
• All above work should be done on regular basis

Seiso

清掃 (Shine)

• Can also be translated as "sweep", "sanitize", "shine", or "scrub"
• Clean your workplace completely
• Use cleaning as inspection
• Prevent machinery and equipment deterioration
• Keep workplace safe and easy to work
• Keep work place clean

Seiketsu

清潔 (Standardize)

• Standardize the best practices in the work area.
• Maintain high standards of housekeeping and workplace organization at all times.
• Maintain orderliness. Maintain everything in order and according to its standard.
• Everything in its right place.(Chilled food items  in chilled area, Dry ones in dry area.)
• Every process has a standard.

Shitsuke

躾 (Sustain)

• To keep in working order
• Also translates as "do without being told" (though this doesn't begin with S)
• Perform regular audits
• Training and Discipline
• Training is goal oriented process. Its resulting feedback is necessary monthly

 To conclude , Miss P , you would have seen the word "RED TAG" in the above material and you may be wondering what a RED TAG is . I will explain about this in the coming week . If anyone has any queries please post it as a comment on the blog , either myself or KJ will respond .  Bye for now. 

Regards

Suzuki

Reference :

1.    Wikipedia
2.    http://www.forestry.gov.my/negerisembilan/images/stories/Laporan/5s_circle.gif

Miss P and Kaizen – episode 2

“Good morning Suzuki San “ , Miss P said , “what a surprise I thought you would return back from Lusaka after a few weeks only “

Suzuki San responded “ Good morning , Miss P , I was attending a Kaizen training program in Lusaka this week , and thought I will do some article on Kaizen success stories from a few companies, but since they were busy with office , I thought I better use my time visit here “ 

“Last week you mentioned about six sigma ,Suzuki San .Can you tell something about it “ 

“ Before we talk of six sigma , I want to ask you a question “ Suzuki San continued “ What do Excellent companies do “

Miss P thought for a few seconds before responding “ I presume they do high end brain storming , Develop complicate strategies , have a huge capital budget layout to execute their expansion plans , something like this … “ 

“May be , Miss P  , but do you know that Excellent companies work very hard to ensure basic things are done properly and consistently ¹   “ 

“Can you elaborate further Suzuki San “ 

“ Yes , for example , may I ask you what time your work starts and what time you reach to office every morning “ 

“ Well , my work starts at 08:00 hrs in the morning , and I generally reach between 7:55 to 8:00 , and maybe some days I may come in by 08:10 hrs “ 

“ Good , but Miss .P don’t you feel that 08:00hrs is the start of work and not the time you are expected to arrive in office “ 

A confused Miss P “ yes, very true  , I have never actually thought about this “ 

Suzuki San asked “ Miss P , do you fly in aircraft frequently “ . 

“ Yes , I do , when I go for meetings in Johanesburg or for trainings , why do you ask that , Suzuki San” 

“ Have you ever reached the airport 5 minutes before the aircraft is to depart , Miss P “ 

“ Oh , I see the point , Suzuki San “ Miss P said smilingly “ you are pointing out , when we can exercise discipline when we want to achieve something , why show a different attitude in work “ 

“Exactly , the first step to Kaizen and doing simple things right is to start arriving atleast 15-20 minutes before , and start your work at 08:00 hrs , Do you agree to that “ 

Suzuki San continued “ what happens generally is that we all tend to arrive at around 08:00 hrs , then take some time to settle down , and by the time one starts working , its already 08:30 hrs . As an individual , it may or may not be ok , but collectively , if you have 50 staff ,  we lose 50no.s x 0.5 hrs = 25 man hours per day already “ 

Miss P cheerfully added “ and if this time were saved , it will eventually increase productivity over a period of time . Wow , what a simple thing and I just never even thought about it , Thanks a lot Suzuki San for pointing this out , I will share with my team immediately  , what else do you think can we improve up on “ 

Suzuki San said “ I am happy that you got the point so fast , Miss P . This is suffice  for this week , I shall share my experiences with my friend KJ who publishes a Kaizen blog , so that many more Kaizen club members can read and benefit . In the coming weeks , we will gradually discuss more serious issues on continuous improvement , See you later then “ 

“ Thanks Suzuki San . Have a great weekend “

*¹  - In search of excellence , Tom Peters & Robert Waterman Jr.

Note: The case study is developed by KJ and has no relevance to any particular processes/situation  that may be followed in the concerned industry , All names are fictitious and do not represent any individual or organisation . All mention are purely for illustration purpose of the central theme of the case and are personal opinions unless cited and shall have no recourse of consequences to author . Readers are invited to express their views on this continuing case study series .

GEMBA KAIZEN APRIL 2015

On the 15th April , the Kaizen Club team was invited by AFIL engineering for a Gemba Kaizen visit to their premises . The program started at 10:00 hrs and was attended by representatives from JICA , KIZ , Specialised Systems , NAC2000 , Realtime and AFIL . 

AFIL team gave a presentation of their Kaizen efforts followed by a Gemba ( at workplace) visit by the team . Ito San of JICA and Bernard San of KIZ organised a brainstorming session where the participants split into two groups and discussed what were the good things that were noticed in the Gemba and what were requiring improvements . 

AFIL very keenly noted the suggestions for improvement and informed that some of the observations were very useful and can be implemented immediately . 

The program concluded with a sumptuous lunch organised by AFIL team . 

This marks one of the first major Kaizen interventions in Zambia , where the Industry fraternity opens up for  SHARING KNOWLEDGE & BENCHMARKING BEST PRACTICES . 

PICTURE GALLERY