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 5 : A presentation on 5S and 3 Mu's

Miss P has been worried that Suzuki San was not available for any further mentoring last week , and heaved a sigh of relief when she received  a mail from him today morning .

Suzuki San wrote " Dear Miss P , Greetings and I must apologise the gap last two weeks as I have been travelling continuously with little time to update you . As I am sending this mail , I am in Ethiopia visiting the Ethiopian Kaizen Institute to get insights on their activities .

Frankly , I am amazed by the development the EKI has shown in building up Kaizen Culture in Ethiopia and I will devote atleast two weeks on this when I return .

I am sure all of you would have benefited from the Red tag template I had asked KJ to publish in his blog earlier and have been using them . Now , As promised I have given the link on an internal presentation that my friend KJ has done in his organisation to explain 5S, Red tagging and Muda , Mura and Muri .

There are some 40 slides in this and I am sure it will be helpful to all . If you have any queries or doubts , please write to me or comment on the blog as I have asked KJ to publish this as well .


KJ's training material on 5S , Red Tagging principles & 3 Mu's


Happy Learning and see you soon !
Regards
Suzuki"


Citation in presentation : Various materials available on the www . 

Note 1 : 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 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 4 : Suzuki San continues with 5S

"Good afternoon , Suzuki San . I enjoyed the material on 5S that you gave last week . You said that you will give the Red tag format this week " said Miss P with expectations to learn more in her eyes . 

Suzuki San smiled and said , " yes , I thought you will forget . I have asked my friend Mr.KJ to upload it in a drop box so that any one can download the excel sheet on red paper and can use . The link is at the end of the blog page he will publish .

As the name goes , if you are not able to get a red sheet , you can use any color though generally Red color paper is used , so its called as the red tag. Mr.KJ has offered to give a couple of pictures in his organisation where they have red tagged and then taken action .

You can see that the Kaizen team at Specialised Systems  has spared no one , and has red tagged KJ's room as well . That is the beauty of Kaizen power , Miss P , the ability to accept constructive criticism and improve continuously .

Well , having said that , there are a few cardinal rules a Kaizen 5S team must know and follow " paused Suzuki San .

Miss P and her team , very eagerly kept looking at him wondering what he will tell next .

Suzuki San continued

" 1. You must be ruthless in your red tagging activity . Whatever is seen in a place without use for more than say 3 months , must be red tagged . Depending on the purpose , each company is free to decide this duration of non use , though .

2. You will notice that some of the inventory may be lying for years together , every one seeing it every day and doing nothing .

3. There was this company which had a successful red tag session happen , and then removed them due to an audit that was to happen , and again red tagged after the audit . This is not acceptable .

4. Yellow tag mess - A company decided to yellow tag , instead of red tag with the idea of those items as doubtful necessity , and when the exercise was completed , they found that all the items were yellow tagged . Moral is that there is no half way between red tagging and an item being doubtful of use . It should be mercilessly red tagged if not used .

5. Another company did a red tagging exercise and made adhesive red tag stickers at a cost of K 5 per sticker . One of the Kaizen members promptly red tagged the sticker bunch itself . Moral is that you must be very conservative in such a Kaizen exercise .

6.  And last but not the least , my friends DO NOT RED TAG PEOPLE , UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE RED TAGGED YOURSELF "

Every one burst out laughing at this , and Miss P was almost on tears with joy hearing these inputs . " Suzuki San , We cant thank you enough for these valuable inputs . Now I begin to understand , what you meant by being Excellent by doing simple things in practice , WoW , this is great and we cant wait to implement "

Suzuki San said humbly " You are welcome , I am also asking KJ to publish in his blog a presentation that he gave to his staff on these rules of 5S and red tagging . But that will be next week , See you then "

RED TAG SAMPLE LINK AS EXPLAINED BY SUZUKI SAN : 

This will open in a new window when you click Download at the right side top

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w9vrolvpuxznbgy/5S%20Red%20Tag%20template%20SSL.xls?dl=0


The Excel file has 3 red tag cards to fit an A4 sheet, and needs to be cut carefully to create 3 red tags .

Note 1 : 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 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 .

A Case of Throughput efficiency

Miss Precious Quality (Miss. PQ) is a Quality manager at one of the big copper ore processing plant in Zambia . She has had no formal qualification in Quality management and has come up in her career by showing interest in these areas , and her boss thought that she would do a better job learning Quality on the job .

Miss PQ had learnt that efficiency is the output over input and had calculated the efficiency for each of the stages of production and had displayed it on the respective notice boards , to the pride of the departmental staff . It showed up something like this .

Incoming Ore purification : 93%

Stage 1 processing : 95%

Stage 2 purification : 97%

Copper ingot facility : 96%

Storage department : 98%

The outputs and inputs comprised of a matrix of variables that related to the function of the department . For example ,  the copper ingot facility had the molten copper poured into ingots for storage and transportation . There were process leakages in terms of how much the ingots were filled and any spillage . There was a variable related to the number of ingots produced in a month compared to a target set . 

The departments were very proud on their achievements of 90+ percentage points of efficiency . One day the CEO Mr. George  of the facility walked into the production floor with a Japanese consultant called Suzuki San . He introduced him to Miss. PQ and explained that the company had become a member of the newly formed Kaizen Club of Zambia and Suzuki San is representing an agency facilitating Kaizen activities in Zambia and was on a visit to the production facility . 

Miss.PQ thought this was one of her best moments in life , and took Suzuki San through the production facility explaining the stages and how best the departments were performing and showed proudly the efficiency calculations of each of the departments . After the tour , the team assembled in their board room for a feedback meeting and were eagerly waiting for Suzuki San to commend on their performance . 

Suzuki San rightly expressed his observations on the enthusiasm of the team and the way they were progressing in their improvement methods . Turning back to Miss PQ he then asked , “Miss Quality , I observe that you are very happy on the efficiency levels of each of the departments “ and Miss PQ responded “ Yeah , Suzuki San I am sure you saw the 90+ efficiency levels “ 

Suzuki San asked her “ Have you calculated your through put efficiency then “ 

Miss PQ  looked confused “ Suzuki San , I have never heard of that , is it not enough if individual departments show their efficiencies , Please explain throughput efficiency “ 

Suzuki San continued “ Miss PQ , Any production process shall have an input and an output and you have done it wisely by calculating the functional efficiencies of each of the stages , however you have to also calculate the throughput efficiency , which gives the overall process efficiency . Now we have your stagewise efficiencies . Throughput efficiency is simply the product of all the efficiencies in stages . So your production process has a throughput efficiency of

Throughput efficiency : 93% x 95% x 97% x 96% x 98%  =  80.62% 

Miss PQ got a shock of her life . “Are we doing so badly , Suzuki San “ . She almost broke down . 

Suzuki San kindly replied , “ No Miss PQ , the concept of Kaizen and Quality management, is that you must never be happy with your present levels of performance , but keep embarking continuously on how to improve your outputs for the same or lower levels of inputs . This is done by using lots of Quality and statistical tools and identify wastage and eliminate variations . Have you heard about Six sigma quality levels and various statistical tools “ 

“ Yes Suzuki San , I have heard of the word Six sigma , but not beyond that , would you be kind enough to tell something about it “ 

“ Yes for sure , but not now, Miss PQ , I will spend an hour with you and your team during my next visit . You can in the meanwhile try to find out more from websites and be aware of these ,OK”

“ Thanks a lot for these inputs , Suzuki San . This has been a good eye opener for us , and we will certainly adopt and learn more of how to continuously improve our process efficiencies and of course the Throughput efficiency “ 

Miss Precious Quality knew now that she was embarking into a new territory that will put her on the Roadmap to Quality movement in Zambia .

Note: The case study was developed by KJ and has no relevance to any particular processes 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 . Readers are invited to express their views on this continuing case study series .