Experience of Kaizen in Ethiopia andthe way forward

17th October, 2011
Tokyo, Japan

Daniel Kitaw (Dr.-Ing.)
Associate Professor and Chair of Industrial Engineering
Founding Fellow of Ethiopian Academy of Sciences
Addis Ababa University

Outline
1.

Introduction

2. Concepts of Quality and Productivity
3. Quality/Productivity in Ethiopia
4. Kaizen in Ethiopia and Africa
5. A Way Forward
6. Conclusion

Key Statistics of Ethiopia (2010)
 Land Area

1,106,000 sq km.

 Population over

80 million

 Labor Force

38 million (2007)

 Contribution of sectors to the GDP growth:
Agriculture

41.5 %Industry

13.3 %



Service sector

46.9 %

1. Introduction
 Ethiopia has registered successive developmentin the past five years at about 10% per year.
 The Government of Ethiopia planned to sustain
the growth and increase the contribution ofindustrial sector from 13.3% in 2010 up to 19.1%
in 2015.
Quality

andproductivity

improvement

considered as a means to achieve the plan.

are2a. Concept of Quality
 Reducing variation – Deming Fitness for purpose – Juran Conformance to requirements – Crosby

Exceeding customers expectations!!

The central idea lays on customer, because; Today is the customer economy.

 Customer has upper hand.
Lowest price, highest quality and best services
are the standards of customer satisfaction.

At the heart of quality movement, there are two
simple aims, they are:

 Make things right the first time and every time.

 Work for continual improvement.

If Quality (KAIZEN) is introduced and managed
correctly, will: Eliminate waste
 Cut inventories
 Improve customer satisfaction and Enhance profitability

2b. Concept of Productivity“Productivity is a state of mind… an attitude thatseeks the continuous improvement of what exists. It
is a conviction that one can do better today thanyesterday and that tomorrow will be better thantoday.”European Productivity Agency(1959)

“ Productivity is an attitude of mind that strives forand achieves the habit for improvements, as wellas the systems and the set of practices thattranslate the attitude into action”

National Productivity Board, Singapore

3. Quality/Productivity in Ethiopia
 There were and are sporadic efforts topromote quality/productivity in Ethiopia.
 Government
 Ethiopian Quality Award Organization
 National Association of Ethiopian Industries
 Ethiopian Society of Industrial Engineers
 International development partners
 Private quality promotersGovernment’s effort
 Related to quality;
 Ethiopian Standard Institute Ethiopian Authority for Standardization
 Quality and Standard Authority of Ethiopia
 Quality Infrastructure Productivity improvement center Civil Service reforms

International development partners
 GiZ - Quality infrastructure JICA - Kaizen

4a. Kaizen Activities in Ethiopia
 Prime Minister Meles requested - July, 2009:
 Advice on Ethiopia’s industrial development strategy, fromEast Asian perspectives.
 How to stimulate private sector dynamism? How toenhance the policy of the private sector?

JICA-GRIPs team responded :“National Movement for Mindset Change !” Accordingly, framework of study for Kaizen wasdesigned (from October, 2009 to May, 2011) withthree phases.
Phase1 (2009):

Preparatory work

Phase2 (2010):

Implementation of pilot project

Phase3 (2011):

Kaizen unit start performing
diagnosis & guidance All the three phases are completed on time.

 In 2009
 JICA and MOTI agreed the study on Kaizen
 KU (Kaizen Unit) formed under MOTI Kaizen Project launched In 2010
 Lessons from African countries that implemented Kaizen
 Training and Seminars were conducted Kaizen implementation commenced in 1st batch companies
 Kaizen high level forum carried out Performance evaluation of implementers’ carried out.

 In 2011
 2nd batch implementation of Kaizen commenced
 Kaizen manual prepared and it is under pilot testing Kaizen high level forum carried out Kaizen Audio-visual materials have been prepared Kaizen dissemination plan has been proposed
 Kaizen Library formed and equipped EKI institutional design Kaizen implementation project constitutes:

 Organizing of Quality Control Circle (QCC)
 5S implementation
 Operation Standard and Time Study Elimination of wastes (MUDAs) General benefits obtained from the Kaizen
projects were:

Capacity utilization improvement

Profits improvement



Waste minimization

Costs reductionDown time minimization



Cycle time reduction

 Some of qualitative results obtained are:
 Clean working environment created Teamwork and motivation of workers developed Health and occupational safety of workers improved Knowledge obtained on how to meet delivery & reducecosts

 Some of quantitative results obtained are:
 Reducing costs – ETB 78,000 per annum Generating additional income of ETB 1.2 million per year.
 Decreasing downtime ETB 204,000 per day Reduction of floor space around 50%

 Challenges faced in the kaizen implementation
process were: Power is very much concentrated in the hands of topmanagers
 Workers motivation to improvement and change in theorganizations were limited
 Awarenesscreationamongemployees took much timethemanagementand National

disseminationofkaizen

activities

Ethiopia may require: Kaizen needs to be publicized as a national movement
 Create enabling environment for Kaizen dissemination
 Create Kaizen day/month Establish Kaizen award
 Human resource development through training Customization of the Kaizen guidance methodology
 Standardization of Kaizen consultancy
 Integrate Kaizen in all educational systems
 Synchronization of the GTP with Kaizen projectsin4b. Kaizen in Africa
 Currently, four organizations are considered asvital to spread Kaizen method in Africa.

 Kaizen institute JICA APO
 ILO

Kaizen inAfrica

 The efforts are very limited

 However, competitiveness of Africa is still verylowGlobal Competitiveness Index (GCI) – Selected Countries

Countries

GCI 2009/10

GCI 2010/11

GCI 2011/12

Status

Switzerland

111

GrowthSingapore

332

GrowthUSA

245

DeclineUK131210GrowthTurkey61

61

59

GrowthGerman756

GrowthJapan

869

DeclineSouth Korea

192224

DeclineChina

292726GrowthAfrican Countries

GCI 2009/10

GCI 2010/11

GCI 2011/12

StatusTunisia

40

32

40

Stagnant

South Africa

455450Decline

Mauritius

575554GrowthBotswana

667680Decline

Egypt

70

8194

DeclineMorocco737573

Stagnant

Namibia

747483DeclineRwandaNA

8070GrowthGambia

81

90

99

DeclineAlgeria

838687

Decline

Libya

88100

NA

DeclineSenegal

92

104

111

Decline

Kenya

98

106

102

DeclineNigeria

99

127

127

DeclineTanzania

100

113

120

Decline

Benin

103

103

104

DeclineLesotho

107

128

135

DeclineAfrican Countries

GCI 2009/10

GCI 2010/11

GCI 2011/12

StatusUganda

108

118

121

DeclineCameroon

111

111

116

DeclineZambia

112

115

113

Decline

Ghana

114

114

114

Stagnant

Cote divore

116

129

129

DeclineEthiopia

118

119

106

GrowthMalawi

119

125

117

GrowthMadagascar

121

124

130Decline

Mauritania

127

135

137

DeclineBurkina Faso

128

134

136

DeclineMozambique

129

131

133

Decline

Mali

130

132

128

GrowthZimbabwe

132

136

132

Stagnant

Burundi

133

137

140

DeclineSwaziland

NA

126

134

DeclineAngolaNA138

139

Decline

Chad

131

139

142

DeclineWorld Map Based on Population

World Map Based on Development Theneedtointegrated

movementofquality/productivity in Africa are;
 To maximize resources utilizations
 To facilitate successful experience sharing
 To conduct joint research To

acceleratequality/productivity

themovementof

5. A way Forward Quality and Productivity improvement is a globalagenda.
 Kaizen has become a global activity spread bymultinational companies and their employees toimprove quality and productivity.
 However, propagation of Kaizen in Africa is still
very low due to the limited number of players whobring the practice and excellence.

 Establishing

PanAfrican

KaizenInitiatives

Institute (PAKII) will be a remedy to thechallenges faced by African countries

What would be the objectives ofPAKII?
 To serve as a focal point for promoting quality andproductivity improvement (Kaizen) in Africa.
 To disseminate Kaizen activities and concepts to allAfrican countries.
 Networking, sharing, harvesting ideas and learn
with peers to each other in all African countries.
 Discuss common issues and solutions in Africancontext.

The establishment of PAKII It is important to create a conducive environmentfor PAKII that will enable it to coordinate andparticipate all African countries.
 PAKII would work in cooperation with AU andother African institutions that would enable toachieve its objectives.

6. Conclusion Currently, the leadership in Ethiopia has recognized
the need for attitude change in working culture andestablished the Ethiopian Kaizen Institute (EKI) .
 It is high time to keep the momentum
 African’s

integratedaction(PAKII)

for

quality/productivity improvement in an organized
way will significantly accelerate the movement’s
success.

Thank you