Implementing Kaizen Event In Your Organization

What is Kaizen Event?

‘Kaizen Event’ is a focused and structured continuous improvement project, using a dedicated cross-functional team to address a targeted work area to achieve specific goals in an accelerated time frame (usually 1 week or shorter) ^{[1, 2, 3, 4]}. In layman’s terms, a Kaizen event is an intensive and short-term project where employees of different organizational branches work together to implement actions to enhance and improve an existing process ^[5].

‘Kaizen’ in Kaizen Event is a Japanese word where ‘Kai’ means ‘change/improvement’ and ‘Zen’ means ‘for the better/good’ which can be roughly interpreted as “change for the better”. Here, Kaizen advocates a philosophy to work which is ‘Continuous Improvement’ that focuses on implementing small, incremental changes to obtain long-term and continuous improvements within processes with the involvement of employees in an organization ^{[2, 4, 5]}. Therefore, Kaizen Event is a method that works to realize this philosophy.

Aim & Purpose

The purpose of a Kaizen event is to carry out change and achieve goals in the work environment by improving processes, increasing efficiency, reducing waste, and developing people within an organization through low-cost solutions and Lean techniques ^{[1, 4, 6]}. These events bring together cross-functional teams – including operators, managers, and even owners – to determine and focus on a specific problem or issue within their operations and collaborate to identify process gaps, waste, or quality concerns as well as implement improvements in a short period of time, typically in a span of 3 to 5 days ^[1].

Along with that, the goal is to create rapid and substantial change through the collective effort and creativity of the team. Kaizen events aim to foster a culture of continuous improvement and empower employees to take ownership of their work, develop themselves, and make positive changes in their workplace ^{[3, 6]}. Ultimately, the purpose of a Kaizen event is to drive measurable results and create a lasting and significant impact on the organization.

Additionally, Kaizen events can also be referred to as “rapid improvement events”, “Kaizen blitz”, “process improvement projects”, “waste elimination workshops”, and “accelerated improvement workshops” ^[6] which all have similar concepts and practices involving efforts to improve processes and achieve goals within a short period of time.

Benefits of Implementing Kaizen Event in Your Organization

So why do I need to start implementing Kaizen Events in my organization? How could it be beneficial for my company and employees?

There are actually a plethora of benefits that you will gain from working together with your team to implement a Kaizen event in your organization. For many years now, implementing a Kaizen event has been gaining in popularity among many organizations as it works as an organizational improvement method that has given positive impacts on their business in transforming and developing their working environment and employees [1]. Below is a list of these benefits [1, 5, 6, 7];

• A low-cost rapid improvement method
• Provide a systematic and holistic project environment
• Provide a structured problem-solving process
• Provide rapid improvement in a short period of time
• Reduce cost and enhance profitability
• Reduce work-in-process/inventory levels
• Enhance lead time/cycle time
• Helps employees of different branches enhance their awareness and understanding of the flow and impact of the processes on their and others’ works
• Increase productivity and efficiency
• Increase employee’s problem-solving skills
• Reduce the number of defect rate/quality issues
• Increase innovation and creativity
• Encourage the need for change, improvement and employee engagement
• Empower employees
• Enhance internal team processes, communication, and teamwork among employees of different branches
• Fostering a change in organizational culture that focuses on continuous improvement and achieving long-term improvement

When Should You Implement Kaizen Event in Your Organization

We now know that Kaizen events bring a significant and positive impact on organizations, but the question of ‘when is the right time to implement a Kaizen event?’ remains.

Well, the answer to that is that an organization can implement a Kaizen event at any time to optimize its processes continuously. However, since implementing this project requires your employees’ time and full commitment, it is more beneficial and convenient to do so when your organization is facing certain situations, for instance ^{[8, 9]}:

When an urgent issue arises and requires quick solutions

Issues can be quality problems (i.e., defects), high waste levels, frequent machine downtime, bottlenecks, etc.  Implementing a Kaizen event can be an effective way to bring together people related to this issue to brainstorm, identify the root cause of the issue and come out with a quick and practical solution to rectify it.

When your organization is targeting specific goals/KPIs

Kaizen event is a practical way for you and your team to achieve goals or KPIs as it can help you measure and compare your current performance to your goals through documentation. Hence, you and your team can strategize a better and more efficient way to improve your current performance to achieve these goals.

When your daily processes are found inefficient and lagging behind competitors

If you find that the daily processes that your organization has been carrying out are slow and lagging behind your top competitors, implementing Kaizen events can help determine the cause of the problem and find the best solutions to make improvements in order to catch up with competitors in the long run. What’s more, through Kaizen events, your team and organization will likely build a ‘continuous improvement’ culture and be more active and involved to consistently find ways to make changes/improvements in processes throughout the organization.

When your organization requires cross-functional collaborations

When you work in a big company that requires collaboration with people from different departments, it tends to be difficult to work on a project head-on without first sorting out the work dynamics of the other departments’ employees that you are not familiar with.

That is why having a Kaizen event can be beneficial as it can help everyone involved to come together and collaborate to work on a common goal and enhances communication among workers of different departments.  This is important so that each department representative can contribute effectively and a project can flow smoothly. In addition, since Kaizen events typically adopt common problem-solving methods like PDCA, it can act as a guide and a structured process for everyone involved to follow together.

How to Implement Kaizen Event

So how exactly does an organization implement a Kaizen event?

For starters, a Kaizen event typically uses a common problem-solving strategy that involves a number of phases such as;

1. Defining the problem/issue that needs to be addressed during the event for improvement.
2. Creating a team of 5 to 10 employees from different departments that are directly involved with the process or issue that needs improvement.
3. Collecting and analyzing data on the current situation to identify the root cause of the problem and determine areas for improvement.
4. Developing a detailed event plan (objectives, timeline, responsibilities, etc) and brainstorming possible action plans to rectify the issue and improve the process.
5. Implementing, testing, and adjusting proposed action plans for process improvements through team collaboration.
6. Monitoring the results and process performance regularly in order to sustain the achieved improvements over the long term.
7. Sharing results of the event throughout the organization to encourage more continuous improvement implementations and promote a culture change to one that focuses on continuous improvement.

However, these steps may vary depending on the organization’s specific needs and goals. Hence, popular problem-solving methods like DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve & Control), PDCA (Plan, Do, Check & Act), and 8D (Eight Disciplines) are some of the methodologies that organizations choose to employ to implement Kaizen events.

These methodologies may have similar fundamental steps such as defining the problem, finding the root cause, generating solutions, executing solutions, and monitoring and sustaining, but they also have added steps or practices that can meet the specific needs of your organization. Also, Kaizen events often employ Lean tools such as SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die), VSM (Value Stream Mapping), 5S, etc. which are very effective to assist to improve and enhance processes.

What are The Characteristics of A Successful Kaizen Event?

Implementing a Kaizen event using popular methodologies and tools is not enough to ensure that your Kaizen event can be successful and show significant improvements in your processes. If your Kaizen event is implemented but lacks resources, no commitment from team members, or even poor and unorganized event planning, your Kaizen event may not show the results your organization is asking for.

To ensure a successful Kaizen event, it is highly recommended to have;

Clear objectives and the right approach

You and your team need to clearly define the objectives of the Kaizen event and have a structured, systematic approach to problem-solving – choosing the right problem-solving methodology to employ – in order to set a clear focus of the current situation, plan the right strategy, and be able to convert visions into clear-cut measurable targets that can be monitored after the event.

Active involvement of event team members

Also, it is of utmost importance that all of your team members are fully committed and actively involved in the event so that they can be more focused and critical on process improvement efforts and provide their expert opinions and suggestions to improve and resolve the issues at hand. Team members also need to develop effective communication so that they can help each other out with areas that one is not an expert in and can brainstorm effectively to make the right and best decisions to address the issues/problems.

Adequate resources

Additionally, your organization’s top management also needs to play a role in providing enough resources to prepare for the event and execute the action plans proposed (i.e., time, money, equipment, training, etc.) so that the improvement efforts can be realized effectively.

Open mind toward change

Finally, to foster a whole culture of continuous improvement after implementing a Kaizen event, everyone involved in the event needs to have an open mind toward changes in the operations/processes so that they can cooperate better with new ideas, adapt to new things and grow as a company.

To summarize, implementing a Kaizen event is a beneficial improvement project for your organization as it can effectively streamline and make rapid changes and improvements to your processes/services, transforming your organization to become more efficient, effective, and competitive.

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Interested to implement the first Kaizen event for your organization? Hit us up!

f you are interested to implement the first Kaizen event in your organization but are still unsure of how to start or what tools to utilize, hiring third-party consultants who are experts in process improvement is a good way to start.

We, in MBizM Sdn. Bhd., are a certified and accredited training and consultancy provider specializing in Lean Six Sigma, quality and process improvement, consultancy, and coaching. Our certified full-time consultants – with years of experience in process improvement – can offer expert guidance to your Kaizen event team members to implement the event properly, help evaluate the current situation of your targeted processes, determine the best tools and approach to employ in the Kaizen event, and provide guidance to make the improvements sustainable in your organization.

Come and visit us at https://www.mbizm.com/ for more information, or you can fill in your details and inquiries at: https://www.mbizm.com/contact-us/ and we will help you get started.

Be a member today!

Join us and become a member at https://sixsigma.org.my/membership/ and receive various membership perks – vouchers, discounts, networking, and more! Visit us at https://sixsigma.org.my/ for more information.

Looking forward to having you onboard!

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References

[1]   B. Vo, E. Kongar, and M. F. Suárez Barraza, “Kaizen event approach: a case study in the packaging industry,” International Journal of productivity and performance management, vol. 68, no. 7, pp. 1343-1372, 2019.

[2]   L. J. Cheng, (2018), “Implementing Six Sigma within Kaizen events, the experience of AIDC in Taiwan”, The TQM Journal, vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 43-53, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-02-2017-0017

[3]   J. A. Farris, E. M. Van Aken, T. L. Doolen, and J. Worley, “Critical success factors for human resource outcomes in Kaizen events: An empirical study,” International journal of production economics, vol. 117, no. 1, pp. 42-65, 2009.

[4]   J. A. Garza-Reyes, C. Christopoulos, A. Kumar, S. Luthra, F. González-Aleu, V. Kumar, and B. Villarreal, “Deploying Kaizen events in the manufacturing industry: an investigation into managerial factors,” Production Planning & Control, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 427-449, 2022.

[5]   P. Peterka, “Article: Making use of the Kaizen event in the Office,” SixSigma.us. https://www.6sigma.us/lean-six-sigma-articles/making-use-of-the-kaizen-event-in-the-office/ (accessed February 3, 2023).

[6]   W. J. Glover, W. H. Liu, J. A. Farris, and E. M. Van Aken, “Characteristics of established kaizen event programs: an empirical study,” International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 1166-1201, 2013.

[7]   L. R. Lina, and H. Ullah, “The concept and implementation of Kaizen in an organization,” Global Journal of Management and Business Research, vol. 19, no. 1, 9-17, 2019.

[8]   D. Dolcemascolo, “Kaizen events: When and how to use them,” ReliablePlant. https://www.reliableplant.com/Read/8904/kaizen-events#:~:text=Kaizen%20events%20are%20traditionally%20short,the%20scope%20of%20the%20operators (accessed February 3, 2023).

[9]   M. Banna, “When to use a Kaizen event vs. Daily kaizen,” KaiNexus. https://blog.kainexus.com/improvement-disciplines/kaizen/kaizen-events/when-to-use-a-kaizen-event (accessed February 14, 2023).

Lean Six Sigma

BEATING RECESSION WITH A BLACK BELT

(Published in Berita BMCC, July – Aug 2009: Issue 66 PP 11826/12/2009)

By,

Dr. Satnam Singh. | Meridian Biz Management | satnam@mbizm.com

In the current economic downturn, many companies are looking for ways to cut operational costs in order to stay competitive. One of the methodologies available is Six Sigma and it can be applied in any organisation whether in a manufacturing or service industry. It has been proven across a wide range of industries including automotive, transportation, defence, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, education, telecommunications and construction.

Six Sigma can be considered both as a business strategy and a science that has the aim of reducing manufacturing and service costs. It creates significant improvements in customer satisfaction and bottom-line savings by combining statistical and business process methodologies into an integrated model of process, product and service improvement.

According to Dr. Satnam Singh, managing Director of Meridian Biz Management, and himself a Six Sigma Black Belt, the main benefit of a Six Sigma training programme is the reduction of variation and subjectivity in decision-making through the creation of a system where everyone collects and analyses data in a cohesive and systematic manner.

“The fundamental concept of Six Sigma is to improve processes whilst improving the quality of the process outputs, “ he says. Sigma itself is a statistical concept that represents the amount of variation present in a process relative to customer requirements or specifications. “When a process operates at a higher sigma level, the variation is so small that the resulting process and services are virtually defect-free.”

Dr. Satnam was extensively trained for Lean Systems and Six Sigma while working for a multi-national in the UK for 12 years. Since then, he has conducted various training programmes and workshop sessions on workplace improvement, variation and waste reduction, and practical problem-solving techniques. He also has extensive experience in developing and conducting Six Sigma Champions Training, Black Belt, Green Belt and Yellow Belt training programmes for private companies, major GLCs in Malaysia and other government agencies.

Customer focus becomes the top priority in Six Sigma and improvements are defined by their impact on customer satisfaction and value. From an internal perspective, Six Sigma provides a way of improving processes so that company can efficiently and predictably produce world-class products and services. “Six Sigma places a clear focus on bottom-line impact in hard dollar savings. No Six Sigma project will be approved unless the team determines the savings generated from it,” explains Satnam.

Six Sigma has also been very successful in integrating human aspects (such as culture change and customer focus) with process aspects (such as process stability and variation reduction). Six Sigma links the tools and techniques in a sequential manner and combines with the notion that Six Sigma creates a powerful infrastructure for training key personnel in an organisation starting from the top management.

“During an economic downturn, headcount reduction should only be the very last resort as it usually ends up costing far more in the long term than it saves in the short term,” says Satnam. In fact, for many companies, employee costs are minimal compared to other costs such as high inventory levels, payment of penalties, inefficient processes, high product or process rejects and excess wastage of raw materials or resources.

Companies should take the current economic downturn as a positive sign to train or re-train their workforce especially in the areas of process improvements so that they are fully-equipped for the challenge ahead, advises Satnam. “The worst possible scenario is to cut workforce levels to save costs and then struggle to find the right people to carry out projects when the recovery comes.” In the event that the downturn persists, the training still helps the business become more efficient and the workforce better skilled.

Another common downturn reaction is for companies to reduce prices to gain more business and improve market share. But this strategy is hardly sustainable in the long-term as competitors will be reacting in the same way, forcing companies into a vicious downward spiral. Only companies with competitive cost structures are able to compete. Reducing operating costs through process improvements is the only viable way in the long term. “The power of Six Sigma can help by reducing the variation and non-value added activities to improve a company’s cost structure and enhance customer satisfaction.”

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Prinsip Lean Six Sigma Dan Kelebihannya

Organisasi yang besar mahupun peniaga kecil dan sederhana, memerlukan penambahbaikan dalam organisasi dari segala aspek yang berkaitan dalam menggerakkan perniagaan dengan lebih baik. Penambahbaikan perlu dibuat dalam memastikan perniagaan yang dijalankan berada dalam landasan yang betul selari dengan visi dan misi syarikat. Hal ini demikian kerana, dalam mendepani cabaran teknologi yang berkembang pesat para ahli perniagaan haruslah berfikiran secara kritis dan cepat dalam merubah corak perniagaan seiring dengan kemajuan teknologi dan digital atau lebih dikenali sebagai Industrial Revolution 4.0. Oleh yang demikian, prinsip dan konsep Lean Six Sigma merupakan kaedah penambahbaikan berterusan yang boleh digunapakai oleh pelbagai industri yang ingin melakukan perubahan dan penambahbaikan di dalam proses penghasilan produk dan servis untuk mengurangkan pembaziran seterusnya dapat meningkatkan kualiti produk akhir. Penerapan prinsip Lean Six Sigma dapat meningkatkan kepuasan pelanggan dan syarikat akan memperolehi keuntungan yang optimum.

Definisi Lean

Prinsip Lean merupakan satu metodologi yang bertujuan untuk meningkatkan suatu proses dengan menghapuskan semua aktiviti yang tidak mempunyai nilai tambah dan meningkatkan proses kerja untuk menjadi lebih efektif dan efisien dengan memperoleh hasil yang lebih cepat dan kualiti yang lebih baik. Prinsip asas Lean bertujuan untuk meningkatkan nilai tambah (value added) produk dan servis untuk memberikan nilai kepada pelanggan dalam semua garis proses kerja yang dilakukan oleh sesebuah syarikat perniagaan. Tujuan prinsip Lean juga adalah untuk meningkatkan kepuasan pelanggan secara berterusan dengan meningkatkan kualiti produk dan servis.

Definisi Six Sigma

Six Sigma merupakan satu metodologi sistematik yang memfokuskan pada peningkatan kualiti mahupun prestasi dalam sesuatu proses. Six Sigma merupakan strategi penambahbaikan proses yang meningkatkan kualiti hasil dengan mengurangkan kecacatan di dalam sesuatu proses pembuatan produk mahupun servis. Diterapkan pada tahun 1980-an, penggunaan Six Sigma berdasarkan konsep statistik di mana proses yang dilakukan hanya menghasilkan 3.4 kecacatan per juta peluang (DPMO). Oleh yang demikian, Six Sigma boleh dianggap sebagai matlamat yang perlu dicapai, untuk mengurangkan cacat cela ketika proses dijalankan dan melakukannya secara konsisten (kebolehubahan rendah).

Sigma adalah huruf Yunani dan unit pengukuran statistik yang menggambarkan kebolehubahan atau penyebaran data.

σ	DPMO*	Yield
6	3.4	99.9997%
5	233	99.977%
4	6,210	99.379%
3	66,807	93.32%
2	308,537	69.2%
1	690,000	31%

*Defects Per Million Opportunities

Tahap prestasi 6σ mempunyai 3.4 kecacatan per juta peluang (3.4 DPMO), yang dapat diterjemahkan kerana daripada 1 juta produk, hanya ada 3 hingga 4 kecacatan.

Gabungan Lean dan Six Sigma

Gabungan prinsip Lean dan Six Sigma menyediakan pendekatan yang sistematik dengan menggabungkan alat untuk membantu pekerja membina kebolehan dalam penyelesaian masalah yang dihadapi di syarikat. Prinsip Lean dan Six Sigma berdasarkan oleh kaedah saintifik dan metodologi penambahbaikan berterusan yang diguna pakai untuk menghapuskan sisa dan mengurangkan variasi yang terdapat dalam sesuatu proses yang mellibatkan penghasilan produk dan servis. Selain itu, Lean Six Sigma merupakan proses penyeragaman yang didefinasikan sebagai kemampuan organisasi untuk menyediakan produk atau perkhidmatan yang memenuhi kehendak dan keperluan pelanggan secara konsisten dalam jangka masa yang telah ditetapkan. Prinsip Lean digunakan untuk mencapai matmalat dengan menggunakan alat seperti kaizen, organisasi tempat kerja. Manakala Six Sigma pula cenderung dalam menggunakan analisis data statistic, reka bentuk eksperimen dan hipotesis.

Pelaksanaan yang sempurna dimulakan dengan pendekatan prinsip Lean dengan memastikan tempat kerja efisien dan efektif, mengurangkan sisa, dan mengaplikasi peta aliran nilai (VSM) untuk meningkatkan pemahaman dan hasil. Sekiranya masalah didalam proses masih terjadi, maka alat statistik Six Sigma yang lebih teknikal dapat digunakan.

Langkah-langkah Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma menggunakan kaedah 5 langkah untuk memperbaiki proses dan menyelesaikan masalah yang disebut sebagai DMAIC.

D (DEFINE)	Menentukan masalah, matlamat projek, keperluan pelanggan dan mengenal pasti skop projek.
M (MEASURE)	Mengukur proses untuk menentukan prestasi semasa dan keupayaan proses diukur untuk mengenal pasti asas proses tersebut.
A (ANALYZE)	Menganalisis dan menentukan punca kerosakan atau masalah dengan menggunakan alat grafik atau statistik.
I (IMPROVE)	Meningkatkan proses dengan menghapuskan punca kerosakan dengan perancangan yang tepat dalam pelaksanaan cara penyelesaian.
C (CONTROL)	Mengawal prestasi proses pada masa depan dan memantau keberkesanan penyeleasaian yang dilaksanakan dalam fasa penambahbaikan.

DMAIC adalah strategi kualiti berdasarkan data yang digunakan sehingga proses perniagaan yang sedia ada berkesan dan mempunyai prestasi yang lebih baik. 5 langkah DMAIC merupakan fungsi yang berbeza dan setiap langkah harus dibuat untuk melihat keberkesanan dan perubahan yang berlaku didalam proses untuk mencapai matlamat syarikat.

Apakah Kelebihan Implementasi Lean Six Sigma Dalam Organisasi?

Meningkatkan Tahap Kepuasan Pelanggan

Kepuasan atau kesetiaan pelanggan adalah salah satu faktor penting yang dapat menentukan kejayaan sesebuah organisasi. Pelanggan akan setia kepada sesuatu produk mahupun jenama sekiranya tahap kepuasan pelanggan tinggi terhadap produk mahupun perkhidmatan anda. Pakar percaya bahawa kebanyakkan pelanggan tidak kembali kepada sesuatu produk sekiranya berlaku ketidak puasan hati dengan produk ataupun sikap pekerja. Oleh yang demikian, Six Sigma dapat mengurangkan risiko terhadap pelanggan yang tidak berpuas hati dengan mengenal pasti dan menangani punca persepsi pelanggan terhadap kepuasan produk dan perkhidmatan. Dengan bantuan latihan Lean Six Sigma untuk para kakitangan syarikat, dapat membantu mengatasi masalah dalam proses dan membantu mengembalikan keyakinan pelanggan dengan kualiti dan perkhidmatan yang lebih baik.

Meningkatkan Produktiviti

Adalah sangat sukar untuk sesebuah organisasi memanfaatkan pekerja untuk berkerja dengan lebih efektik pada setiap masa, ianya akan menjadi lebih sukar apabila melibatkan sebuah perusahaan yang besar yang mempunyai tenaga kerja yang besar di pelbagai lokasi Geografi dengan perbezaan bahasa dan budaya. Six Sigma dapat mengatasi kekangan ini dengan mengukur tempoh masa yang diambil untuk sesuatu aktiviti dan mengenal pasti punca kepada produktiviti yang rendah. Dengan mengumpulkan data perniagaan kritikal dari pelbagai aspek, Six Sigma dapat membantu organisasi dalam mengatasi masalah sebenar yang dihadapi oleh sesebuah organisasi.

Mengurangkan Masa Kitaran Hayat Projek

Apabila syarikat memulakan sesuatu projek, kebanyakan masa yang diambil berjalan melebihi tarikh akhir yang disebabkan oleh perubahan skop projek atau perubahan dalam dasar pengurusan. Dengan menggunakan metodologi Six Sigma, ketua projek dapat menubuhkan pasukan eksklusif yang mempunyai gabungan profesional yang berpengalaman dari semua peringkat dalam organisasi dan dari pelbagai jabatan. Pasukan ini kemudian akan ditugaskan untuk mengenal pasti faktor-faktor kritikal yang memberikan kesan negatif kepada projek sehingga dapat menggangu proses sehingga berjalan melebihi tarikh yang telah ditetapkan. Setelah mengetahui punca masalah, pengurus projek dapat menugaskan mereka untuk mencari jalan keluar untuk masalah yang bakal timbul. Dengan cara ini, anda boleh mengurangkan masa kitaran hayat projek dengan lebih rendah.

Mengurangkan Kos Operasi Organisasi

Dalam mana-mana organisasi yang ingin melaksanakan penambahbaikan berterusan, mengetahui bahawa penambahbaikan ini menggunakan perbelanjaan yang tinggi. Oleh itu, dengan memiliki pemahaman mendalam tentang operasi syarikat denga tujuan untuk melakukan penambahbaikan, adalah salah satu cara yang terbaik untuk mengurangkan kos. Dalam metodologi Six Sigma, peningkatan proses melibatkan DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control). Manakala dari segi statistik, metodologi Six Sigma dapat mengurangkan masalah kepada 3.4 kecacatan per juta peluang. Oleh itu, sekiranya sebuah organisasi menggunakan masa yang singkat untuk memperbaiki produk yang rosak, organisasi tersebut dapat mengurangkan kos dengan mencapai kualiti sebanyak 20% dan meningkatkan pendapatan operasi sebanyak 50%. Perkara yang sama dapat dilaksanakan di pelbagai cabang lokasi dan organisasi dapat memastikan operasi mencapai tahan keberkesanan kos yang lebih optimum.

Pengurusan Masa yang Lebih Baik

Syarikat yang menggunakan metodologi Lean Six Sigma dapat membantu pekerja mereka menguruskan masa dengan lebih baik, dapat melakukan kerja dengan cekap dan produktif daripada sebelumnya. Dengan pengetahuan Lean Six Sigma, seseorang dapat menilai kekerapan masalah yang berlaku didalam proses, dan seberapa banyak masalah tersebut memerlukan perhatiannya. Pekerja yang dilatih dengan ilmu Lean Six Sigma dapat mempertimbangkan bagaimana tatakerja seharian dapat membantu dalam usaha untuk mencapai matmalat kerja. Dengan penilaian kendiri seperti ini, seseorang dapat membuat rancangan tindakan dan berusaha untuk menjadi lebih cekap dan mencapai keseimbangan kerja dan kehidupan yang betul.

Membantu dalam Perancangan Strategik Organisasi

Prinsip Lean Six Sigma bukan sekadar metodologi peningkatan proses, walakin begitu ia juga memainkan peranan penting dalam menyediakan perancangan yang strategik bagi sesebuah organisasi. Sejurus sahaja syarikat mempunyai misi dan melakukan analisis SWOT, maka Lean Six Sigma akan membantu organisasi untuk memberi tumpuan kepada bidang yang perlu diperbaiki. Sebagai contoh, jika strategi perniagaan berdasarkan pada penyediaan perkhidmatan berkualiti di pasaran, maka Six Sigma dapat digunakan untuk memperbaiki proses dalaman dan luaran dengan menghilangkan kecacatan pada produk dan memberikan kualiti yang terbaik pada produk dan perkhidmatan.

Bertapak di Malaysia, badan organisasi yang dikenali sebagai MBizM Group menyediakan pelbagai peringkat latihan Lean Six Sigma seperti Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt dan Master Black Belt. Perunding dan pelatih MBizM mempunyai pengiktirafan Lean Six Sigma selama beberapa tahun kepada pelanggan daripada industri yang berbeza. Anak syarikat tersebut pula, LSS Academy Sdn. Bhd. merupakan organisasi penyedia latihan yang berakreditasi oleh IASCC dan Council for Six Sigma Certification. MBizM menawarkan harga terbaik untuk latihan dan pensijilan Lean Six Sigma di Malaysia dengan pelatih yang berpengalaman. Peserta akan diberikan bahan-bahan latihan secara percuma. Sekiranya anda ingin mengetahui dengan lebih lanjut berkenaan latihan dan pensijilan Lean Six Sigma, kunjungi lawan web MBizM di https://www.mbizm.com/ dan hubungi pihak mereka di talian +603 7873 8485. Wakil MBizM bersedia untuk menjawab pertanyaan anda mengenai latihan yang disediakan. 

Corporate Blogging Series: Episode 3- My Experience Attending Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Training

Greetings fellow blog surfers, it’s Fathnie here. On the 11th, 12th, and 13th of August 2020 and 1st, 2nd, 3rd of September 2020, I attended the Green Belt Public Training organized by MBizM Group Sdn Bhd, which was held at the Best Western Hotel Petaling Jaya for the first session and Hilton Hotel, Petaling Jaya for the second session. The participants consist of two green belters and four black belters (there were an additional of five black belters on the 4th day of every session) from various industries and positions. The Green Belt Public Training & Black Belt Accelerated training was a whole day programme from 9 am to 6 pm. The Green Belt public training aims to improve process performance, deliver medium to high impact projects and achieve significant cost savings.

Introduction

The public training was handled by MBizM Group’s consultant, Dr. Muraliraj. The first session of this training was held in Best Western’s Hotel seminar room. In order to follow the standard operating procedure before entering the seminar room, the temperature was taken to make sure everyone was in pristine health condition. Dr. Muraliraj, as the trainer, introduced himself to the participants, and an ice-breaking session was carried out where each participant was asked to introduce a person sitting next to him/her, their name, place of work, and what they expect to learn throughout the training. To be frank, I am quite nervous about attending this training as I never had any experience with Lean Six Sigma before, but I believe it is going to be an exciting learning journey for me.

First Session

After the introduction and ice-breaking were done, Dr. Muraliraj started on the first chapter about the history of Lean and Six Sigma. He also explained about what Lean is and its purpose. Since it is just the first day, we have not gotten into the tough part of the training just yet, so I was relieved! Other than that, we learned about three types of process; Value Adding (VA), Value Enabling (VE) and Non-Value Adding (NVE), seven types of waste, and the Critical to Quality (CTQ). On the second day, I learned about the Six Sigma methodology to solve business problems on existing processes, which is Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC). Dr. Muraliraj taught us about the Define phase and the tools to use to define problems and goals. The tools that we learned during the Define phase were the Drill Down Tree, Pareto Charts, Kano, SIPOC and Financial Benefit Estimation, Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ).

On the second day, we learned about the Measure phase; How to measure current process capability or performance with root cause analysis tools; fishbone, 5 why, 3×5 why and XY Matrix. Not only that, we also learned about data collection plan, detailed process map and risk assessment by using the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). After lunch, we did some activities about the root cause analysis to understand how to use the fishbone diagram better, we were divided into two groups and each group consist of 3 participants.

Actvities done during the first session

The measure phase is when we started to learn about basic statistics. I was quite nervous! Looking at the word statistics made my heart beat fast because the last time I learned about statistics was years ago back in the university. Luckily it was just the basic ones where Dr. Muraliraj explained about mean, median, mode, and average. He also taught us about understanding the normal curve and standard deviation in process capability and diagnosing capability issues using Cp, Pp, Cpk, and Ppk. On the third day, we learned about the Analyze phase in DMAIC. This phase is to analyze factors by identifying the vital few factors. This was the day when we learned about statistics fully and using Minitab for data analysis. We also learned about graphical analysis (picture, infographic, run charts, box plots, histograms, dot plots, scatter & matrix plots, and multivari charts) and statistical analysis (hypothesis and regression analysis) to understand the procedures of deciding on whether to accept or to reject the hypothesis to have a valid conclusion. 

Second Session

On the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of September, the training resume, but this time was in Hilton Hotel, Petaling Jaya. I kid you not, I bet everyone was so excited when they received an email informing us the venue is changed. Due to unforeseen circumstances, MBizM Group Sdn Bhd decided to change the venue to give all participants the best training experience.

All eyes on the monitor!👀

In the morning, Dr. Muraliraj recapped the lesson we had learned previously to see whether everyone still remembers what they had learned a few weeks back. On the first day of the second session, we continue learning statistics, yes again. This was the day when we squeezed our brain to the limit. I came from a social science background. Hence, statistics can be pretty hard to swallow. I kid you not! But phew, luckily, Dr. Muraliraj has been a great help as he will try his very best to ensure all the participants will have a clear understanding of implementing statistics in Lean Six Sigma by using Minitab. On the second day, we learned about the Improve phase to improve vital few factors by eliminating its defect and to understand how to generate creative ideas. On the last day of the training, we learned about the Control phase, to be able to establish control plans for continuous management for improved process. As the final rounds came closer, Dr. Muraliraj taught us about Statistical Process Control Introduction (SPC), how to attribute control chart using Minitab. Lastly, Dr Muraliraj taught us about Develop Best Practice transfer and Transferring to Process Owner. On the last day of the second session, exam was held for the green belters.

Participants doing Kanban activity together to understand the push and pull method

It’s a Wrap!

In conclusion, I can say that joining this Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Public Training by MBizM Group was an eye-opening. I can now understand that Lean Six Sigma Methodology can be applied not just in the manufacturing industry but also in other industries. I am very satisfied, especially with Dr. Muraliraj’s performance throughout the training. He is very dedicated to all the participants and very keen to explain Lean Six Sigma until we can truly understand it. I am also very satisfied with the venue. Well, who does not like it when training was done in a 5-star hotel, right? Overall, I am very happy that I joined this training as I gained Lean Six Sigma knowledge thoroughly.

Testimonials are in…

At the end of the training, we had a short interview sessions with the participants to ask for their opinions about the training. Here’s one from Azida working in pharmaceuticals:

“The training meets my expectations. I learned a lot from Dr. Murali. I also learned a lot of new things, since I am involved in the continuous project improvement at the hospital. I would definitely apply a lot of the things I have learnt at this Lean Six Sigma training. I actually enjoy the activities very much; it helps me to appreciate the concept and made me remember the knowledge better. Dr. Murali give a very good delivery, I really appreciate, he is very helpful. He always relates to our own cases and projects so I really like the way he delivers. Definitely 5 (from scale 1 to 5) I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to other people too.”

– Ms. Nur Azida, Pharmacist

Lean Manufacturing Strategy: Is It a “Humane” Approach?

Concept of Lean Manufacturing does encourage transfer of workers from one job to another in rotation.

This article is set to argue whether lean manufacturing strategy is a “humane” approach to the management of organisations. The main theme of this paper is to present arguments regarding the effects lean manufacturing has in a lean organisation in terms of the impact to workers and the organisation as a whole. Dimancescu et al. (1997) argues that the glue binding the main organisational elements (i.e. strategy, structure, process, roles & responsibilities) together is the sense of long-term purpose and values communicated to the whole organisation by its leaders [1]. Dimancescu et al. (1997) further exemplifies using a disastrous incident that effective communication leadership brought all employees in a company to act as a unified team in reacting to the calamity they unexpectedly faced. Effective leadership is vital for a cultured lean organisation to manage and ‘bind’ people together to work in a unified way and to look after each other.

Lean Manufacturing can be looked as means to introduce Teamworking. The author believes that teamworking is essential part of a human’s daily life and by this it means that a person can be more successful both at work and socially through teams (groups). This statement can be argued through a recent research that shows more advanced systems of teamworking which can raise levels of worker job satisfaction and labour productivity [2]. Advanced form of teamworking in a lean organisation may be in the form of multi-skilling and job rotation (job enrichment). Concept of Lean Manufacturing does encourage transfer of workers from one job to another in rotation. With their jobs enriched, workers can enjoy incremental growth in the level of responsibility, complexity, autonomy and discretion in decision-making.

Furthermore, recent study by Niepce & Molleman (1996) suggests that the principles of human values in a lean environment emphasises the satisfaction of the needs of employees and stresses on the importance of a high level of quality of working life [3]. Niepce & Molleman (1996) stresses that lean production does not emphasise a fundamental redesign of jobs to make them more appealing and concludes that quality of working life in lean production firms is not low. It was argued that lean production in Japan has been successful, as in Japan, values and norms towards quality of working life seem to differ from those that are supported in the West. Furthermore, assumptions concerning work and human values are not necessarily the same for Japan and the West. In Japan, the need for social relations seems to be more intense than the need for personal achievement and independence. Niepce & Molleman (1996) further argued that conversely, in Western countries, personal growth needs often exceeds the need for social relationships. The need for autonomy is stronger than the need to belong to a group. Thus, this leads to relatively more attention being paid to work content.

Lean Manufacturing does empower employees to take ownership of their machines and production equipment. However, problems can occur while introducing empowerment whereby workers may raise concerns over the increase in responsibilities. This is inline with recent survey carried out by Sam Houston State University small businesses to study employee empowerment [4]. The survey indicated that there is lack of discretionary power experienced by the employees. Problems arise mainly when their recommendations are not listened to or implemented. Workers interpreted empowerment as means to shouldering more responsibility for less reward and it was thought as a cost cutting exercise. However, management of an organisation must outline the benefits of empowerment by establishing that communications can be improved as well as effective use of people by de-layering and using minimal supervision. By incorporating empowerment, employees will have greater motivation, their talent can flourish and jobs will be more secure. This can be considered as a benevolent (humane) approach.

According to Kaizen Institute’s recent case study, Gemba as defined by Kaizen Institute is where value is added and where problem solving is delegated i.e. in the real workplace [5]. According to Bokern (2000), always go to the shop floor (Gemba) first and talk with the workers (operators) and usually the workers will show what kind of support they need to perform a better job and in return to achieve cost savings for the organisation. Hohmann (2001) argues that kaizen activities can be carried out endlessly, but only Kaizen on ‘the real place’ is likely to yield some efficient improvements [6]. Hohmann further argues that the workplace if often left out and not recognised as the means to generate revenue, as far more emphasis is placed on such sectors as financial management, marketing, sales and product development. Therefore it is always ‘humane’ to go to shop floor level first when defining an action plan and gain a thorough understanding of workers perception of lean manufacturing and the impact it has on their daily duties.

Furthermore, an inhumane aspect of lean manufacturing in an organisation is the amount of stress involved in understanding the major lean principles to enable employees to work in teams.  Boer et al. (2000) argues that turning shop floor teams into Kaizen Teams can be a lengthy and painful process [7]. Boer explains that inconsistencies between top-down control and bottom up learning are inevitable and must be managed carefully and openly to get the right balance in view of the company’s particular industry and environmental situation and specific organisational conditions.

Furthermore, idea of developing teams in a lean organisation is supported by the recent findings of Delbridge & Barton (2002) [8]. The findings show consistency with industries that have adopted team working as a widespread response to development in contemporary manufacturing and clearly outline the distinction between production teams and groups that are formed specifically for problem solving and continuous improvement activities. This is important in differentiating between production and continuous improvement teams to leverage duties and reduce vast amount of individual workload in applying lean manufacturing in organisations. A recent article featured on Business Week Online does support the argument that lean concepts can help in securing jobs as well [9]. The article stresses that workers (Boeing) do not have to walk long distances to fetch tools, parts or blueprints and this has made workers job easier whereby walking long distances used to wipe out two hours of the worker’s day. Furthermore, the article sets to point out that Boeing was losing business due to its rival, Airbus. Using lean techniques, Boeing started retooling its most complex manufacturing practises while shaking the complications out of its supply chain process. With the idea of ‘selling’ the philosophy to its workforce, Boeing aimed to use lean manufacturing to leapfrog ahead of Airbus assembly practises. The goal was to implement gigantic moving assembly lines, which were first of their kind in the commercial aircraft industry and this could speed up production by 50% and restore profit margins.

Referring back to lean operations itself, Lean operations results in higher employee satisfaction, as work environment become cleaner, more organised, safer and greater employee involvement is encouraged. This idea is supported by a recent study (Nicholas, 1998) where the study shows that Japan was able to make significant manufacturing gains because the workers had responsibility for improvement and were trained and coaxed to seek out problems and resolve them [10]. Lean operations helps employees and management to create a ‘journey’ to lean by realisation of zero waste, zero defects and zero incidents. Waste comes in many forms and one of the main forms is from a poorly designed manufacturing process that requires parts to be moved from one side of the building to another resulting in wasted time, movement and wasted capacity. Womack & Jones (1996) reviews the work done by Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990) on seven types of waste (muda) [11]. These wastes can be described as waste from overproduction, waiting, processing, transportation, motion, inventory and re-work. Workers can identify these wastes in their workplace with lean manufacturing concepts and implement a way forward to reduce fatigue due to wasteful activities. One such way of identifying these waste are by Value Stream Mapping (VSM) which enables realisation of the complete picture of manufacturing material and information flow as a product makes its way through the whole process. In a recent Value Stream Management study (Hines et al. 2000), it was found that generally out of 100%; only 1% is actually Value Adding (VA) activities and 49% is Non-Value Added (NVA) activities [12]. There rest (50%) are Necessary but Non-Value Adding (NNVA) and one such example are inspection activities. Thus reducing wasteful activities (NVA) can actually help workers to work in a more simplified and structured manner.

Lean Manufacturing does help to reduce or even eliminate ‘blame culture’. An inhumane environment is where workers tend to blame each other for defective products. To keep the production in control, autonomation (Jidoka) and mistake proofing (Poka-yoke) are key elements of lean concepts applied in industry. The ultimate aim of using these techniques in the production process is not to pass a defective product downstream. Lean Manufacturing encourages workers to devise practical use of automation to mistake-proof the detection of defective products and encourages workers to solve defect problems on the spot. This not only empowers workers to produce good products but at the same time helps to reduce or eliminate the ‘blame’ culture of passing defects through to next worker in the production lines who may have to carry out excessive re-work on the defective parts. Nicholas (1998) reviews the work done by Ohno where each worker had been given powers to halt the entire line by pulling a cord and to fix the problem immediately.  By doing this, workers can start solving problems on the spot and will slowly begin to notice significant drop in number of defects, increase productivity and above all this creates job satisfaction.

Interestingly, however effective Kanban production pull system is, there are still limitations in an inhumane (uncivilised) way. A recent case study (Cusumano, 1994) shows suppliers that deliver components through the application of Kanban cards (frequent physical exchange of parts delivery tickets to ‘Just In Time’ assembly lines) did not work well in congested urban areas [13]. This is due to the fact that as more factories in Japan adopted this practise, traffic worsened to the point where the Japanese government mounted a media campaign encouraging companies to reduce the frequency of their parts deliveries. The case study further stresses that traffic congestion pollutes the environment and wastes time while people are stranded in traffic and in manufacturing plants waiting for components to arrive. Furthermore, Cusumano (1994) also argued that increase in product variety through lean manufacturing concept of small-lot production has caused some problems. Too much product variety has caused environmental concerns. Typical case is where due to product variations, Japanese automakers have been introducing replacement of existing models every four years in addition to continually expanding their product lines. Coupled with Japanese government regulations and mandatory fees or maintenance charges, consumers were encouraged to replace their vehicles every four or five years. Due to the high domestic demand for cars there was a need to dispose of all the replaced vehicles and problem lied with how to recycle automobile materials effectively. Without proper recycling, environmental concerns were getting deeper.

Recent case study (Berggren, 1994) has shown constructive comparisons between Lean manufacturing (in NUMMI) and group working (in Volvo – Udevalla Plant) [14]. It showed a major difference where Udevalla plant focused the plant on job redesign and “humanistic manufacturing” whereas NUMMI (Lean) contributed to a limited job redesign and thus causing failure to adapt to ergonomic conditions to long-term human requirements. The case study further emphasised that Udevalla plant benefited (although was not performing as efficiently as NUMMI) from empowerment whereby workers could question proposed assembly line systems or methods and develop innovative solutions. NUMMI on the other hand had workers that were not highly skilled and were incapable of contributing towards process improvements. This was the major trade-off for NUMMI (Lean Manufacturing) that due to standardisation, this resulted in poor ergonomics coupled with uncomfortable and sub-efficient ways of working. However, on the contrary NUMMI did benefit from different aspects of Lean Manufacturing. Compared to Udevalla, NUMMI (Lean) had high performance teams and management aimed at supporting production teams with problem solving expertise and it was able to become an effective learning organisation. Udevalla plant lacks the skills to translate its impressive individual learning to organisational performance.

However, a recent publication (Adler & Landsbergis, 1997) argues on impact that lean production has on workers health [15]. In the discussion, Dr. Paul Adler stresses that workers at NUMMI (Lean Production Facility) suffered ergonomics problems not because the lean production system of work design was so regimented but because this system was not implemented properly. The arguments stresses that lean production type work organisation, based on detailed standardisation and short work cycles can considerably degrade ergonomic outcomes if it is implemented poorly and without sufficient safeguards for workers health. However, the publication also points out major contributions the workers unions has done and these includes:

• Improved staffing through a Temporary Assignment Pool of workers to fill in for absent or injured workers
• Fairer access to training
• Increased transfers between departments
• Joint committees on health & safety, ergonomics and training
• The right to elect or recall team leaders
• Team leaders duties in contract
• Increasing work loads due to absenteeism is forbidden
• Temporary assignments offered to workers on the basis of seniority
• Some limits on line speeds and job standards
• Ergonomics programs
• No reprisal for reporting injuries

Womack & Jones (1996) argues that Toyota managed to deal with a key weakness of its system i.e. the failure to evaluate the actual level of human effort involved in each production job and not just its feasibility within a given cycle time [16]. Work teams were asked to precisely determine the amount of fatigue and stress caused by each motion and then summarising for each job, Toyota for the first time could talk objectively about the level of effort required. This permitted the company to make jobs comparable (or adjusting the effort level for older workers or those with physical problems) and to answer the critics that claimed lean production system demanded impossible work pace from workers. Furthermore, if unacceptable levels of stress and fatigue are discovered, the work team ‘Kaizened’ the activities to redesign jobs and develop simple autonomation systems.

In a recent article entitled Change Management-ignore your people and your lean journey will run out of gas, Berger (2002) argues that one of the greatest challenges management faces in implementing lean manufacturing is ensuring that real behavioural changes takes place at all levels of the organisation otherwise without a solid change management programme, their plant will revert back to old and familiar ways [17]. Workers tend to see that lean manufacturing leads to job losses and therefore in an ‘humane’ way, management must see the world through the eyes of those being asked to embrace the lean initiative as Berger (2002) advises. Berger (2002) also stresses the following 10 points to be considered when embracing the lean initiatives as an educated way, which can be summarised as:

• Development of a shared vision that clearly identifies how lean manufacturing initiative supports that vision.
• Ensuring that there is strong management commitment and ensuring actions are consistent with words.
• The lean implementers must understand the nature of change and carry out regular reviews to understand workers needs.
• Senior Managers should completely focus themselves on the lean programme and given adequate training.
• Sufficient time for implementation is given.
• Performance measurement systems in place to define what a successful lean implementation looks like.
• Create communications plan that provides regular updates to everyone combined with a feedback mechanism for those managing the lean program.
• Education and training must be provided with details of the nature and benefits of the changes anticipated.
• Anticipation of resistance to change and a plan developed for managing the resistance.
• Rewards for early adopters of lean manufacturing.

Recent paper by Kinnie et al. (1998) that discusses issues of downsizing related to lean manufacturing and lean organisation [18]. Kinnie et al. (1998) stresses on statements made by various other authors that downsizing was perceived as one way of achieving leanness.  Lean came to be associated with using less personnel and hence downsizing came to be seen as a way to become lean regardless of the question whether or not originally Japanese ways of working were used in the new lean organisation. Further arguments were made on the fact that downsizing is invariably promoted under the guise of improving productivity and reducing organisational complexity, which are both desirable attributes of lean organisation. Further findings of Kinnie et al. (1998) that shows the main reason for de-layering is to reduce costs (Ezzamel et al., 1993) although other reasons include reducing bureaucracy, speeding up communications and improving responsiveness to customer demands. This argument is further strengthened by the fact that lean concepts that includes the use of TQM and JIT is accompanied by the introduction of new technology which itself may involve job losses and new working practises (Wilkinson et al., 1996).

Recent scholars have argued about major differences between lean manufacturing and mass production in terms of human resources. Forza (1996) argues that in order to be able to function in a lean system, all the resources being used in the production process have to be foreseeable and reliable and above all, they have to be totally subservient to production needs. Success of the company’s adoption to JIT (Lean Manufacturing) depends totally on the willingness of workers to collaborate [19]. Forza (1996) further argues that work organisation in lean production deals with more than job design as it emphasises management styles, skills, values and aims to incorporate job design into the organisation’s employment strategy. This shows that recruitment and workers job design is characterised by cooperativeness, group problem solving and attitude control in the social organisation of work which comprises of a sophisticated control system of employee behaviour. In a particular job in a lean production system, employee involvement is important and according to the findings of Forza (1996) this can manifest particularly through:

• The right duty of the workers to interrupt production flow whenever they notice anomalies or defects.
• The exchange of positions within the work group and the habit of “giving each other a hand” in moments of difficulty.
• The adaptation of work team to variations in job duties and in the production flow.
• The commitment of each worker to the continuous improvement of each production factor.

Keeping on track with the complications that has been caused by the impact of lean manufacturing on human resources, recent publication does consider that lean manufacturing (part of New Wave Manufacturing – NWM, which also includes TQM and JIT) gives consideration to human resources issues [20]. Harrison & Storey (1996) argue that there are five areas of social prerequisites that need to be satisfied for the success of NWM, which includes lean production (LP). This can be summarised as:

Figure: Social Prerequisites for the success of NWM & LP

The first is to overcome the barrier of treating NWM (includes lean production) approaches as simply a series of technical fixes; second, the need to improve integration; third, the need for premium levels of commitment from employees; fourth, the need to widen the managerial agenda beyond the firm to encompass the entire supply chain; fifth, the need for a change in company culture. However, Harrison & Storey (1996) stresses that organisation and human resources issues are at least given some attention during the implementation phase of NWM strategies. Furthermore, the paper also discusses the Shimada’s (1993) concept of humanware, which defines the integration, and interdependence of machinery and human relations. The article points out that Shimada regards humanware as a useful concept to differentiate between different types of production systems. The model shown below implies a close co-ordination between hardware (machines and systems) and the principles and practise of social organisation.

Figure: Japanese “humanware” model

Although the model is built around hypothesised inter-connections, Harrison & Storey (1996) argues that Shimada (1993) postulates that three indispensable attributes (skill, adaptability and motivation) must be developed in the workforce, and that these provide the foundations for the enhancement of “human control”. In turn it is argued that human control is one of the three key features of the Japanese production system i.e. lean production. When workers attributes are taken into account in the lean production system design, the author believes that this is a humane approach and it is particularly important for any organisation to bear this in mind when confronting with human resources issues.

Too often management commitment to lean manufacturing and issues on training workers to be skilled in the concepts of lean manufacturing fades away too quickly. The main question lies in the thought that if it is humane or not to spend money investing in workers who are some day going to mould the company in becoming a competitive manufacturer. Boyer (1996) argues that commitment to JIT and TQM in name only is not beneficial as it takes a supporting commitment to develop the underlying capabilities of the workforce and the manufacturing infrastructure [21]. Boyer (1996) further studies arguments made by Hayes & Pisano (1994) that most companies “focus on the form of their organisational assets – for example the mechanics of JIT or TQM – rather than on their substance, the skills and capabilities that enable a factory to excel and make it possible for various improvement programmes to achieve their desired results”. Therefore, lean organisations can become humane by realising that skills and knowledge embodied in the workers are critical elements for lean production. Focus must be put on analysing the relationship between a company’s commitment to lean production and the actions taken by management to develop the skills, knowledge and training of its workforce.

In summary, it can be concluded that many organisations find that lean manufacturing actually helps to improve productivity while workers feel that lean manufacturing concepts increases their workload, thus it is an inhumane approach. Others think that lean manufacturing actually helps a worker to achieve career growth and increase their skills, thus is a humane (civilised) approach. As this paper discusses many elements of lean manufacturing concepts, it is obvious that majority of the concepts discussed have both positive and negative impacts to the organisation as a whole, as an organisation is built on people.

[1] Dan Dimancescu, Peter Hines & Nick Rich (1997), The Lean Enterprise; Designing and Managing Strategic Processes for Customer Winning Performance, pp. 23-29, New York, AMACOM.

[2] Source: European Industrial Relations Observatory Online (EIROnline), www.eiro.eurofound.ie/1997/07/feature/UK9707151F.html (1997).

[3] Willem Niepce & Eric Molleman (1996), A Case Study: Characteristics of Work Organization in Lean Production and Sociotechnical Systems, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 77-90, MCB University Press.

[4] Source: http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/Research/1994/SSBIA

[5] Source: Bokern J. (2000), Go to Gemba First, Kaizen Institute  (www.kaizen-institute.com/case-a.htm)

[6] Source: HC Online Engineering Forum (http://members.lycos.fr/hconline/kaizen_us.htm)

[7] Boer H., Berger A., Chapman R., Gertsen F., CI Changes: From Suggestion box to Organisational Learning, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2000.

[8] Delbridge R. & Barton H. (2002), Organising for Continuous Improvement: Structures & Roles in Automotive Components Plant, International Journal of Operation & Production Management, Vol. 22, pp. 680-692

[9] Stanley Holmes (2001), Boeing Goes Lean, Business Week Online, 4 June 2001, http://www.businessweek.com

[10] John Nicholas (1998), Competitive Manufacturing Management, Boston, McGraw-Hill.

[11] James P. Womack & Daniel T. Jones (1996), Lean Thinking; Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, London, Simon & Schuster UK.

[12] Hines, P, Lamming R., Jones D., Cousins P. & Rich N. 2000, Value Stream Management, pp. 60-65, London, Prentice Hall.

[13] Michael A. Cusumano (1994), The Limits of Lean, Sloan Management Review, pp. 27-32. . (Obtained from Coventry University Management of Lean Organisation Lecture Notes).

[14] Christian Berggren (1994), NUMMI vs. Udevalla, Sloan Management Review, pp. 37- 45. (Obtained from Coventry University Management of Lean Organisation Lecture Notes).

[15] Job Stress Network (1997), A Dialogue Between Paul Adler and Dr. Paul Landsbergis on “Lean Production”. (Obtained from Coventry University Management of Lean Organisation Lecture Notes).

[16] James P. Womack & Daniel T. Jones (1996), Lean Thinking; Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, pp. 238-241, London, Simon & Schuster UK.

[17] Source: David Berger (2002), Change Management; Ignore your people and your lean journey will run out of gas, Advanced Manufacturing Magazine,  (www.advancedmanufacturing.com/January02/lean.htm)

[18] Nicholas Kinnie, Sue Hutchinson & John Purcell (1998), Downsizing: is it always lean and mean? Personnel Review, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 296-311.

[19] Cipriano Forza (1996), Work Organisation in Lean Production and Traditional Plants; What Are The Differences? International journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 42-62

[20] Alan Harrison & John Storey (1996), New Wave Manufacturing Strategies; Operational, Organisational & Human Dimensions, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 16, pp. 63-76

[21] Kenneth K. Boyer (1996), An Assessment of Managerial Commitment to Lean Production, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 16, No. 9, pp. 48-59.

By: Dr. Satnam Singh, PhD (Managing Director MBizM Group)

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Post COVID-19 Era: The Importance of Lean Six Sigma Knowledge in Organization

Importance Of Lean Six Sigma Knowledge

A year ago, the entire world was affected by the Corona Virus pandemic or Covid-19. In Malaysia, we have gone through a series of lockdown from MCO 1.0, CMCO, RMCO in 2020, and we are back to square one this year when we are still undergoing another round of MCO 2.0. it is no doubt that this pandemic has affected us all, regardless of what industry we are working in. For the past year, we have witnessed businesses going down the drain. Due to the series of lockdowns and movement restrictions that have been enforced to curb the spread of this virus, client-centric roles such as tourism, airlines, event management, wedding planners, hotel, food and beverages and sport event are badly affected due to the restrictions of mass gathering and communal activities. This has caused retrenchment and downsizing in business, and unfortunately, we see many companies are closing down as there are no ways for them to continue operating. However, some businesses can pivot quickly into a digital and online business model to sustain their business. Business owners must be prepared for the post COVID era. They must think fast, be agile but not fragile, and understand the circumstances in business they might face during these trying times.

Challenges We Are Facing Post COVID Era

There are certain challenges that we are facing due to the COVID-19 outbreak that has affected us mentally, physically and financially. In the post-COVID-19 era, we have to bear the fact that COVID-19 is no longer a deadly threat. With the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines recently, the government aims to vaccinate at least 80% of adults in Malaysia to achieve herd immunity among the public. One of the challenges that we might face post COVID-19 era is the adjustment to the new norm. Although the vaccine has arrived in Malaysia, we still need to remain vigilant and take precautions exceptionally. We have been living with the virus for almost a year now. I believe that we are already getting used to the new norm SOPs such as social distancing, wearing a face mask, temperature checking upon entering any premise, and soon we all have our vaccine passport. Hence, businesses will have to operate with limitations during the COVID era, either by regulations or free will. How can Lean Six Sigma help? Business needs to streamline the process incorporate the additional requirement on top of the Business-As-Usual process. Business owners need to ensure that they are well prepared to operate during this COVID era, with full equipment and a task force to ensure customer experience (CX) is sustained. Hence, businesses have to ensure they are doing it right and avoid mistakes from happening to ensure the operations will run smoothly. Make sure there is dedicated personnel that will take care of the temperature taking, registration upon entering premises and all.

Business owners need to re-evaluate or revamp their business plan and be prepared to make a radical change.

Another challenge is that businesses are operating in an environment full of uncertainty or volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). We, unfortunately, cannot do business the same way as we used to during the pre-COVID-19 era. Hence, we can see how organizations struggled during the lockdown and movement restrictions. They have to change their business plan to ensure the business is still running during turbulent times. Business owners need to re-evaluate or revamp their business plan and be prepared to make a radical change. Lean Six Sigma can help in strategic level to evaluate your business plan. For example, the food and beverage business has shifted their business method to online and delivery services. Another example is, AirAsia is now not only an airline business, they have ventured into food and beverage with delivery services during this COVID era. The increased demand for online and remote product or services is one of the challenges during these trying times. Online business and services have been around long before the COVID 19 has struck our country. Now, online business and services are part and parcel of business. Companies that can manage to revamp their business online will make it through during this pandemic.

How to Improve / Face Post COVID Era with Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology designed to eliminate waste, problems, and inefficiency in product or services. It aims to improve working conditions to provide a better end product to fulfil customer’s needs. It combines the tools, methodology and principle of Lean Six Sigma to improve the organization’s operations. Lean Six Sigma is a team-oriented approach that has proven results in maximizing and improving profitability for businesses worldwide. Lean Six Sigma also proved that its methodology is still relevant during the post COVID era. The Post-COVID era needs companies to innovate a lot, especially digital. The term ‘work from home’ is part of the new norm in business from online supermarket to food delivery services. Some of us are now working in the comfort of our own home with the accessibility to the internet connection. It is possible to improve skills using the Lean Six Sigma knowledge and methodology.

Due to the expectation that companies will be busy revamping their sales and production later on, now is the right time to invest time on mastering Lean Six Sigma knowledge.

Why this is the right time for you to gain Lean Six Sigma Knowledge? Working from home means you no longer have to commute every day and face massive traffic jammed. I believe that there is one spot at your home with the best ambience that gives you peacefulness with the most relaxing environment. This will help you focus and learn new knowledge, probably the best decision you will ever make because you probably have more time on your hands now. Moreover, this is the right time for you to learn Lean Six Sigma as there will be no time to develop these skills due to the expectation that companies will be busy revamping their sales and production. Hence, workloads will be piling up once you are back in the office. The management will surely want to focus more on increasing business productivity and sales after months of closure and business changes due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

In LSS Academy, we provide online learning modes for our clients: E-learning and instructor-led virtual training. For E-learning, you will be given narrated e-learning modules, quizzes, tests and exams. They are all delivered through a system that you will have access to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Course access for all programmes is 12 months from the registration date. This E-learning is 100% from your efforts at your own pace. Meanwhile, instructor-led virtual training will be one-on-one learning with our certified consultant, and you will be finishing the training according to how days required based on the belt you are taking. Do visit our website https://lss-academy.com/ and contact us to speak with our representative at +603 7873 8485 to learn more about our Lean Six Sigma programmes.

Benefits of Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Training & Certification during Lockdown

One can gain Lean Six Sigma Green Belt knowledge as part of their upscaling and upskilling strategy in order to thrive in these trying times while preparing for a better career prospect.

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Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology which is designed to eliminate waste and reduce variations in any given operation or business functions. It hinges on the premise that behind every underlying organizational problem is a problematic process and that the problem could be mitigated through structured improvement of the governing process. Lean Six Sigma advocates for process standardization, which is defined as an organization’s capability to provide products or services consistently as per customer requirements within a stipulated timeframe. From its humble beginning in the manufacturing industry, Lean Six Sigma has witnessed widespread adoption by services-oriented industries and gained prominence among many notable companies such as General Electric (a Fortune 500 company), Samsung, Phillips, Honda, HSBC Holdings and more. Nowadays, the marketplace is highly competitive as businesses are striving to survive ever since the onset of COVID 19 pandemic. Many organizations were forced to conduct their businesses online while reeling away from revenue losses. In such circumstance, the need to reduce operating cost while maximizing existing resources remain a top priority for many organizations. This is where the knowledge and application of Lean Six Sigma comes in handy. Lean Six Sigma helps organizations to innovate and pivot their traditional businesses to digital mode while reducing operational expenses. Hence, individuals with Lean Six Sigma competency are much sought after in the job market. One particular certification which would be of value is the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. During the lockdown, you can gain Lean Six Sigma Green Belt knowledge as part of your upscaling and upskilling strategy in order to thrive in these trying times while preparing for a better career prospect. There are many benefits which you can acquire from getting a Lean Six Sigma Green belt training and certification.

Developing Analytical Mindset

Lean Six Sigma methodology promotes data-driven analytics and decision-making. At work, you are expected to make decisions based on facts and figures while providing justifications on your actions. This is a vital competency which enhances one’s career growth and makes a good point for a shot at managerial prospect. Instead of jumping directly into conclusions or speculating about a solution in the face a problem, you will first deploy scientific reasoning and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) tools to identify potential root causes of the problem. This results in the development of an analytical mindset which is crucial in addressing many complex workplace problems which require more than quick-fixes.

Honing Problem-solving Skill

Lean Six Sigma methodology enhances one’s problem-solving skills. Once potential root causes of a problem have been identified, potential solutions which address the problematic root causes are structurally ideated and shortlisted for deployment. Knowledge of Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training and certification could help to push you through the limits of your present problem-solving capability to find better ways to create more values to customers through continuous improvement. When you become Lean Six Sigma certified, you are equipped with necessary knowledge to detect any defects in processes or products. Thus, you will be able to use different approaches to solve the problems in the future.

Aspire leadership role

A Lean Six Sigma certification would be greatly complementing a decision-maker or any member of the top management as key decisions are made in tandem with organization’s vision and mission. Acquiring Lean Six Sigma Green Belt knowledge is not just about the tools and methods. However, it is about identifying, analyzing and solving problems while managing changes, and delivering medium to high impact projects with significant cost savings. Bear in mind that Lean Six Sigma knowledge is a skill that you have to practice for you to learn and understand continuously. Hence, if you are the leader of the team, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification and training knowledge would help you in understanding vital changes in management while helping you to reach your highest leadership capability for you and your team. As a leader, you must be meticulous and observant to enable you to measure the process capability in business.

Career advancement / career transition

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification serves as a testimony of your operation excellence competency. Lean Six Sigma knowledge may vary from other knowledge which you have gained in the university. Once you acquire the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification, you will gain knowledge to identify if there are any flaws in business processes. With all the knowledge which you already have, the Lean Six Sigma certification can help in your career advancement, regardless of the industry which you would like to venture into further improve your ability to confidently discuss complex subjects and solving them effectively.

Lean Six Sigma certification can help in your career advancement regardless of which industry you would like to venture.

MBizM Group Sdn Bhd provides various stages of Lean Six Sigma training such as Yellow Belt, Green Belt, Black Belt and Master Black Belt. Our consultants and trainers are Lean Six Sigma certified and they have conducted training for many years to clients with different industries. For your information, MBizM Group Sdn Bhd is an Accredited Training Organization, Curriculum Provider and Examination Center by IASCC and by Council for Six Sigma Certification. We offer the best price for Lean Six Sigma Training in Malaysia with certified trainers and complimentary training materials.

Here is the best part! If you wish to gain knowledge in Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training and certification during this lockdown with experienced trainers at an affordable price, we have good news to share! We are currently offering Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Accelerated (5 Days) – Special Session at a discounted rate. This is the right time and moment for you to gain a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification at the comfort of your own home.

Click here to register and to learn more about this offer!

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Post COVID-19 Era: The Importance of Lean Six Sigma Knowledge in Organization

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By: Nurul Fathnie, (Copywriter MBizM Group)

A year ago, the entire world was affected by the Corona Virus pandemic or Covid-19. In Malaysia, we have gone through a series of lockdown from MCO 1.0, CMCO, RMCO in 2020, and we are back to square one this year when we are still undergoing another round of MCO 2.0. it is no doubt that this pandemic has affected us all, regardless of what industry we are working in. For the past year, we have witnessed businesses going down the drain. Due to the series of lockdowns and movement restrictions that have been enforced to curb the spread of this virus, client-centric roles such as tourism, airlines, event management, wedding planners, hotel, food and beverages and sport event are badly affected due to the restrictions of mass gathering and communal activities. This has caused retrenchment and downsizing in business, and unfortunately, we see many companies are closing down as there are no ways for them to continue operating. However, some businesses can pivot quickly into a digital and online business model to sustain their business. Business owners must be prepared for the post COVID era. They must think fast, be agile but not fragile, and understand the circumstances in business they might face during these trying times.

Challenges We Are Facing Post COVID 19 Era

There are certain challenges that we are facing due to the COVID-19 outbreak that has affected us mentally, physically and financially. In the post-COVID-19 era, we have to bear the fact that COVID-19 is no longer a deadly threat. With the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines recently, the government aims to vaccinate at least 80% of adults in Malaysia to achieve herd immunity among the public. One of the challenges that we might face post COVID-19 era is the adjustment to the new norm. Although the vaccine has arrived in Malaysia, we still need to remain vigilant and take precautions exceptionally. We have been living with the virus for almost a year now. I believe that we are already getting used to the new norm SOPs such as social distancing, wearing a face mask, temperature checking upon entering any premise, and soon we all have our vaccine passport. Hence, businesses will have to operate with limitations during the COVID era, either by regulations or free will. How can Lean Six Sigma help? Business needs to streamline the process incorporate the additional requirement on top of the Business-As-Usual process. Business owners need to ensure that they are well prepared to operate during this COVID era, with full equipment and a task force to ensure customer experience (CX) is sustained. Hence, businesses have to ensure they are doing it right and avoid mistakes from happening to ensure the operations will run smoothly. Make sure there is dedicated personnel that will take care of the temperature taking, registration upon entering premises and all.

Business owners need to re-evaluate or revamp their business plan and be prepared to make a radical change.

Another challenge is that businesses are operating in an environment full of uncertainty or volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). We, unfortunately, cannot do business the same way as we used to during the pre-COVID-19 era. Hence, we can see how organizations struggled during the lockdown and movement restrictions. They have to change their business plan to ensure the business is still running during turbulent times. Business owners need to re-evaluate or revamp their business plan and be prepared to make a radical change. Lean Six Sigma can help in strategic level to evaluate your business plan. For example, the food and beverage business has shifted their business method to online and delivery services. Another example is, AirAsia is now not only an airline business, they have ventured into food and beverage with delivery services during this COVID era. The increased demand for online and remote product or services is one of the challenges during these trying times. Online business and services have been around long before the COVID 19 has struck our country. Now, online business and services are part and parcel of business. Companies that can manage to revamp their business online will make it through during this pandemic.

How to Improve / Face Post COVID era with Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology designed to eliminate waste, problems, and inefficiency in product or services. It aims to improve working conditions to provide a better end product to fulfil customer’s needs. It combines the tools, methodology and principle of Lean Six Sigma to improve the organization’s operations. Lean Six Sigma is a team-oriented approach that has proven results in maximizing and improving profitability for businesses worldwide. Lean Six Sigma also proved that its methodology is still relevant during the post COVID era. The Post-COVID era needs companies to innovate a lot, especially digital. The term ‘work from home’ is part of the new norm in business from online supermarket to food delivery services. Some of us are now working in the comfort of our own home with the accessibility to the internet connection. It is possible to improve skills using the Lean Six Sigma knowledge and methodology.

Due to the expectation that companies will be busy revamping their sales and production later on, now is the right time to invest time on mastering Lean Six Sigma knowledge.

Why this is the right time for you to gain Lean Six Sigma knowledge? Working from home means you no longer have to commute every day and face massive traffic jammed. I believe that there is one spot at your home with the best ambience that gives you peacefulness with the most relaxing environment. This will help you focus and learn new knowledge, probably the best decision you will ever make because you probably have more time on your hands now. Moreover, this is the right time for you to learn Lean Six Sigma as there will be no time to develop these skills due to the expectation that companies will be busy revamping their sales and production. Hence, workloads will be piling up once you are back in the office. The management will surely want to focus more on increasing business productivity and sales after months of closure and business changes due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

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For more information on affordable and comprehensive Lean Six Sigma programmes, we recommend training by https://www.mbizm.com, a critically-acclaimed Lean Six Sigma training provider based in Malaysia.

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Improving Delivery through Kanban Production Control

By: Dr. Satnam Singh, PhD (Managing Director MBizM Group)

Addition of Kanban Production Control will not only enable a company to deliver to its customer’s on time but also would improve delivery from suppliers.

Kanban is a form of communication for managing and ensuring Just-In-Time (JIT) production. Addition of Kanban Production Control will not only enable a company to deliver to its customer’s on time but also would improve delivery from suppliers. Two most common and successful methods that are used to improve delivery consist of:

Kanban refers to a card or sheet (or sometimes light signal) that is used to authorise production or movement of an item. This can be shown as below:

When Kanban has been fully implemented in a company, it must operate according the following three rules:

• All production and movement of parts and material takes place only as required by the downstream operation i.e. all manufacturing and procurement are ultimately driven by the requirements of final process step before delivery.
• Only Kanban signals will be used to authorise production or movement. Kanban must have various format and content as appropriate for their usage; for example, a Kanban for a supplier is different than a Kanban for an internal machining operation. Again a Kanban for customer demand is different from supplier or machine.
• The quantity authorised per individual Kanban is minimal. The number of circulating or available Kanban for an item is determined by the demand rate for the item and the time required producing or acquiring more. This number generally is established and remained unchanged unless demand or other circumstances are altered dramatically. In this way inventory is kept under control while production is forced to keep pace with shipment volume.

It is suggested that Kanban would eliminate the use of large inventories and inevitable supply directly to its customers. To do this, a company would need to establish a pull system that will enable order of raw material and finished goods delivery synchronised. Recent research has shown that more appropriate view of JIT logistics role is that it should increase deliveries of purchased components to the point of use and ultimately eliminate warehousing activities. This is only possible through the application of Kanban triggering the movement of material to orchestrate the production process.

Below is a formula that a company can adopt for Kanban sizing, which may be used for Kanban bins or locations to have enough parts to feed the demand while the empty containers or locations are being refilled.

D=Demand for final product/day

Q=Quantity of each part in final product

R=Replenishment time to replenish the parts (hours)

H=work hours available for Kanban replenishment

P=Package size or quantity from supplier.

Due to large number of suppliers, a company will also need to ‘leverage’ existing number of suppliers and carry out Supplier-Customer Connection. The method of supplier connection is as below:

• Study the current supplier list and look for suppliers that can deliver multiple products
• Negotiate with vendors smallest possible lot size and frequent deliveries
• Determine the maximum quantity to be stored for each item based on daily requirements, lead-time, vendor location, cost, size of item and lot size.
• Organise the supermarket into fixed locations by part numbers or product family
• Organise the supermarket for rapid and easy material movement
• Materials to be located on racks for easy replenishment by suppliers
• Prepare Supplier Kanban Status Board and Kanban Re-order cards as required.

For more information on Kanban Production or Lean Six Sigma practice, we recommend training by https://www.mbizm.com, a critically-acclaimed Lean Six Sigma training provider based in Malaysia.

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JMP Data Analysis Software

Lean Sigma Experts is proud to announce that we now have a new affiliate with world renowned data analysis software JMP. JMP – pronounced as ‘jump’ – is a statistics software or a tool for data analysis provided for the many enthusiastic data explorers; e.g, scientists and engineers, across the globe as it focuses on exploratory data analysis and visualization. Ever since its development in the 1980’s by the business unit of the SAS Institute, this software has become a powerful statistical analysis and discovery software, available around the world as it is compatible with both Mac and Windows desktop through its graphical user interface (JMP assignment help by statistics experts; JMP, n.d.). In addition, JMP is well-known for its user-friendly application as it:

1. Provides a convenient way to import data from various file types and even databases, and use robust recoding and restructure tools to prepare said data.
2. Helps compute Regressions and ANOVA, or operate multivariate analysis (e.g, Principal Component analysis or Cluster analysis)
3. Assists new users to gain rapid insights from their data analysis through its interactive and intuitive ‘point-and-click’ interface.
4. Helps in comprehending complex relationship using its link analysis and graphics.
5. Provides advanced graphs and capabilities to create effective and fascinating data visualization.
6. Enables dynamic output in which after carrying out a procedure, the additional statistics  and graphs can be either added or deleted in the results window without needing a re-run process.
7. Supports for design of experiments and design generation.

JMP Software History

JMP was first introduced, with scientist and engineers as the target audience, by John Sall (SAS Co-founder and Executive Vice President) in 1989 with the aim to give them an opportunity to explore data visually. The pronunciation of ‘jump’ in JMP implies a “leap in interactivity, a move in a new direction” (About us, n.d.). Throughout the years since its debut, JMP has thrived from a single product into a family of statistical discovery products. Today, people from various industries all over the world are utilising JMP due to its empowering capabilities in facilitating interactive analytics on the desktop.

Products of JMP

Throughout the years since its launch, JMP has built its own family of statistical discovery product to choose from depending on their unique capabilities such as;

1. JMP
2. JMP Live
3. JMP Pro
4. JMP Graph Builder for iPad
5. JMP Clinical
6. JMP Genomics

Main Capabilities of JMP

Combining all of its products developed from time to time, JMP now has a list of main capabilities provided for those in need of it. These main capabilities include;

1. Data Acquisition
2. Data Visualization
3. Text Exploration
4. Design of Experiments
5. What-If Analysis
6. Quality and Process Engineering
7. Sharing Results
8. Making JMP Your Own
9. Data Cleanup
10. Basic Data Analysis
11. Group, Filter and Subset Data
12. Statistical Modelling
13. Reliable Analysis
14. Consumer and Market Research
15. Automation and Scripting
16. Analytic Hub: Integration with SAS, MATLAB and R

Prepared by: Aizatul Aisyah Binti Mohd Idris

Understanding Process Improvement with Simulation

Process Excellence Programme (Government Agency)

On the 10^th, 11^th and 13^th of February 2020, as interns of MBizM Group, we were assigned to attend a process improvement simulation organized by MBizM Group which was held at a government agency. The participants consist of 27 to 30 staff members from various divisions throughout the three separate sessions. The “Process Excellence Programme” is generally a whole-day programme from 9am until 6pm, in which focuses on introducing the participants on the methodologies that they can apply to achieve ‘Process Improvement’ in the division.

Introduction

The programme was handled by three of MBizM Group’s consultants; Dr. Muraliraj, Mr. Mohammad Faisal and Miss Wong Sze Yin as well as us fellow interns. The programme was situated at the agency’s Training Room and before the programme starts, all three consultants began to prepare materials for the participants and presentation. Dr. Muraliraj, as the speaker, introduced himself and the other consultants of MBizM Group. Then, an ice breaking session was carried out where each participant are asked to introduce one person around him/her such as their name, division/department and past experience in process improvement.

Morning Talk

Once introductions were done, Dr. Muraliraj started on the importance of ‘Process Improvement’ which is the theme of the talk. Here, he explained how an organization can only achieve dynamic organizational capability by having better processes. To illustrate, he stated that processes synthesize factors like performance, financial health, budgetary allocation, workforce, technology and infrastructure, which will ensure better organizational capability as well as organization’s vision and mission realization. Furthermore, participants were also taught how an organization is composed of a network of routines and efficient processes are important. One interesting quote from Dr. Muraliraj that I have recorded is “With bad processes come bad mistakes that may cost millions and time”. Moreover, he also taught how culture resides in a person’s mindset that determines a person’s behaviour which in turn influence a community’s behaviour and way of thinking. This concept can be applied to an organization where an organization’s routine or culture can only be changed by engaging in something consistently.

Simulation

Before the simulation started, the participants were divided into two groups that represent their divisions of QS Finance. Members of the divisions are given their respective roles and they are asked to follow the descriptions that came with the roles, while eight of them who volunteered played the role of ‘customers’. The simulation consists of 4 rounds where in each round, a certain period of time is given and after every round, the time is reduced. Here, both divisions need to compete and complete their tasks as fast and accurate as possible since at the end of each round, an evaluation session is carried out where the consultants calculate the profits and losses of each division. Moreover, after every round, both divisions need to improve the process of their task to reduce processing time and meet customers’ demand and satisfaction. This simulation expects every member of each division to work together since all play a crucial role to achieve sustainability in their processes leading towards establishing an organization capability that is agile.

Participants discussing and working together during the simulation

Evening Talk

As the final rounds came closer, Dr. Muraliraj first taught on the methodologies that may help the participants have an idea on how to improve their processes in meeting customers’ demand more efficiently. Using the ‘Swimlane Diagram’, he introduced the approaches and applications of ‘Business Process Management’ (BPM) that consists of Designing, Modelling, Executing, Monitoring, and Optimizing, as well as ‘Value Analysis’ that involves Value Adding (what customer is willing to pay), Value Enabling (necessary to help gain value adding activities) and Non-Value Adding (what customer are not willing to pay and not necessary for process staff). Not only that, participants also learned how to detect non-value adding tasks through the TIMWOOD (Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over-Processing, Over-Production, and Defect) Approach.

Dr. Muraliraj introducing the ‘Swimlane Diagram’

Conclusion

After all rounds are done and both divisions’ process performance were evaluated, it can be proven that the simulations for all three sessions were a success as all divisions for the sessions gained new momentum by showing great improvement at the end of the simulations. In addition, it can be seen that participants have experienced an enjoyable time during the simulation while also gained new perspective in improving their work process flow much more efficiently and effectively without consuming any unnecessary time and cost. This will likely be a great help to them for their work at their agency.

Prepared by: Aizatul Aisyah Binti Mohd Idris