This week, the Sixth Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD VI) took place in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference reflects an amazing partnership between Japan and Africa that has spanned 23 years, and is still going strong.
The purpose of the gathering is to foster economic development innovations, which have initially focused on agriculture and light industries. Through the implementation of humanitarian and economic initiatives, the Japanese government and several companies have contributed to the welfare of millions of Africans.
Of particular interest is the use of the Japanese concept of KAIZEN to empower African workers to continuously improve their current working methods to increase productivity and safety.
“KAIZEN” enhances productivity and decreases defective goods through the initiatives and ingenuity of the people working on the production lines. The common philosophy running through this is trust in each individual worker. It is a philosophy and a method born in Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shared that one of the goals of the collaborative between Japan and Africa is to increase productivity by 30 percent in factories where KAIZEN is introduced.
Sound like an ambitious goal? Maybe so. But thanks to this focus on operational improvement, Africa has already many successes. In Ethiopia, for example, a shoe manufacturer called Peacock Shoe Factory received training in KAIZEN 17 times, resulting in daily production jumping from 500 pairs of shoes a day to 800 — a 60 percent increase.
The turnaround came as Chinese imports began to swamp the local shoe market in 2000. In an unexpected twist of fortune, the Chinese challenge presented an opportunity for the Ethiopian shoe manufacturer, pushing the company to focus on the quality, design and durability of their products. Now, Peacock earns more than $4 million a year from exports to Europe.
Too often, economic development programs provide money and technical assistance for starting new companies or initiatives, but do not offer methodologies for ensuring the long-term success for these activities. By helping to instill the ideals of KAIZEN and along with Lean and Six Sigma, employees and management are better prepared to face the challenges that develop during the transition into economic stability.
Sharing of knowledge is as important, if not more so, than just providing money. By ensuring that managers and employees are well versed in the precepts of continuous improvement, the participants of the Sixth Tokyo International Conference for African Development can know that those they are helping will soon be able to help themselves and those around them.
How are you helping your employees to work smarter by reducing the amount of time they spend on non-productive activities and correcting errors? If your business processes need a “check up,” please email me! I’d love to help you get back to a healthy, productive workplace.
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