Quality and Productivity Improvement:
JICA’s Kaizen assistanceTakafumi Ueda
JICA Senior Advisor
on Private Sector Development

Today’s presentation• Part 1 reviews kaizen, productivity andquality improvement.
• Part 2 shows JICA’s assistance in variouscountries.

Kaizen• A Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous
improvement through all aspects of life.
• In business: incremental & continuous improvement with
the involvement of the entire workforce– “If no money, use your brain”: An effort to improve productivity,quality and cost without additional investment (= no newmachines) first– Participatory: Top/senior management, middle management,supervisors, and workers – all need to participate to continuously
improve.
– Bottom-up: specific ideas of improvement come from the frontline (e.g. factory floors).
– Emphasis on process as well as results.
Source: Masaaki Imai, “Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success”, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 1986.

Kaizen & Innovation
Quality/Productivity level• Kaizen and innovation complement each other.
KaizenInnovation
KaizenInnovation
With Kaizen

Innovation

Without KaizenTime

Quality improvement is …
• Drs. W. E. Deming & J. M. Juran introduced Americanstyle (“scientific”) quality management to Japan.
– By adopting appropriate principles of management,organizations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce
costs – by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation
while increasing customer loyalty.
– The key is to practice continual improvement and think ofmanufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces.
– Introduced PDCA (= Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle

Productivity is …
Productivity is, above all, an attitude of mind.
It is an attitude that seeks the continuous improvementof what exists.
It is a conviction that one can do better today thanyesterday, and that tomorrow shall be better than today.
Further, it requires constant efforts that adapt economic
activities to ever-changing conditions, and theapplication of new theories and new methods. It is a firm
belief in the progress of humanity.
(from the report of Rome Conference, 1958 -European
Productivity Agency)Japan’s Productivity Movement• Three principles of Japan Productivity Centre(Est. in 1955)– Expansion of employment– Cooperation of labour & management– Fair distribution of the fruits of productivity• Among employers, workers and consumers• “Productivity movement”• Movement (noun): “… 3. a group of people working toadvance a shared cause. 4 a series of organized actions toadvance a shared cause.” (Oxford English Dictionary)Kaizen = Quality & Productivity Improvement

Examples of Kaizen activities• QC circles– “7 tools”– Muda (= waste) elimination• 5S= seiri (sort), seiton (systematize), seiso (sweep),seiketsu (standardize), shitsuke (self-discipline)• Layout improvement• Shortening of setup times• … and more:– suggestion box, TPM, TQM, JIT, Kanban, TPS

JICA’s assistance• JICA has assisted in capacity development ofquality/productivity organizations.
– Start-up stage: Hungary, Brazil, Egypt– Development stage: Singapore– Transformation stage: Thailand• Pilot/demonstration + action planning: Tunisia• Regional: Central America (Costa Rica)• Others– As a project component– Experts, group trainingCD in start-up stage (1)• Hungary (1995-99): Productivity Development
Project– Hungarian Productivity Center (est. 1994)– Outputs:• In-company facilitators trained• Company-level cases collected• PR/promotion implemented• C/P’s technical capacities upgraded• Network expanded• Egypt (2007-2011): Productivity and Quality
Improvement Center (= “Kaizen Center”, est.
2006) Project– On-goingCD in start-up stage (2)• Brazil (1995-2000): Brazilian Institute of Qualityand Productivity (IBQP-PR) Project– JICA support in Paraná State, one of 5 institutes est.
by the Gov.
• JICA’s role: capacity building• Staff training: Seminars/training OJT

– Developed a Brazilian concept of “SystemicProductivity”– Ex-post evaluation (2004) saw positive impact.

• After the project, IBQP became a “non-profitprivate entity” in 2002.

CD in development stage• Singapore (1983-90): Productivity Development
Project– National Productivity Board (NPB; est. 1972)– JICA assisted in enhancing NPB capacities for:• Management and supervisory training;• Training in labour-management relations and small group
activities;• Occupational safety and health;• Promotion of productivity;• Development of Resource Centre; and• Planning and research– Through TOT, staff upgrading & training material dev.

NPB Singapore has evolved …
• JICA’s assistance to NPB seen as a successfulcase of transferring “productivity technology”.
• NPB acquired capacity to provide productivity
training for other countries.
– For JICA
• Third-country group training course on productivity deliveredby NPB from 1990-95.
• Courses on productivity management organized for 17 SADC
countries from 1997-2002.

• NPB has evolved:– Productivity & Standards Board (PSB) in 1996
– SPRING (Standards, Productivity & Innovation Board) in 2002

CD in transformation stage• Thailand (1994-2001): “Quality and Productivity
Improvement Project”– Thailand Management Development and Productivity
Centre (TMDPC) (est.1962) turned into Thailand
Productivity Institute (FTPI) in 1995.
• Gained more autonomy to better serve the private sector.

– JICA supported in enhancing FTPI staff capacity in:• Productivity consulting services• HRD & labour-management relations consultancy• Research• Productivity campaigns & promotional activities• 1997 Asian economic crisis highlighted itsimportance.

Pilot/demonstration & planning• Tunisia (2006-08): “Study on the Master Plan for
Quality/Productivity Improvement”– Identifying pilot enterprises– Consultant training (incl. OJT)– Material development– Master Plan & Action Plan
• To expand to other business processes– Component quality, design quality, market quality• To spread out

 Project on Quality/Productivity Improvement(2009-2012)Other forms of assistance• Long-term & short-term experts• Training courses:– In Japan– In 3rd countries– Through JICA-Net• Kaizen as a project component– Indonesia (to be presented by Mr. Homma)– Bangladesh• Demonstration of Kaizen techniques• Regional approach– Central America (in Costa Rica)Example of Kaizen results• Bangladesh• Tunisia– 8 enterprises achieved more than 20% productivity increase, 3achieved >50% increase.
– Another cut nonconformity rate from 20% to 0%– Another reduced die replacement from 110 min. to 70 min.
Cf. out of 27 enterprises

Lessons• Kaizen can bring about results for companies withcommitment.
• Dual roles of Kaizen centres:– Private: Services to companies– Public: Propagation/dissemination (e.g. campaigns)• Challenges:• Trained C/P staff could become attractive enough to be recruited by
the private sector.
• Once enough understanding formed, a public-private entity may beappropriate.
– To better serve the private sector– For the management of the centre (e.g. finance, HR)• Need to consider how (& when) to develop and mobilize private
sector consultants

In summary …
• Kaizen is “an attitude of mind”– Not just a management technique• Kaizen is participatory:– Frontline knows the best.  Use your brains
as well as your hands.

• Various “tools” exist.
– 5S, QC circles, …

• JICA has provided support in capacity
development.