Plastics and JICA sign MOU for KAIZEN™
JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) and DTIC have embarked on the first KAIZEN™ Train-the-Trainer Project for South Africa and Plastics SA is a proud member of the National Quality and Productivity Network (NQPN), which has been established to roll out and manage the KAIZEN™ Project in South Africa. Anton Hanekom, Executive Director of Plastics SA, attended the auspicious signing ceremony on the 14th of September 2023, celebrating the introduction of this invaluable business philosophy to the South African plastics industry.
Plastics|SA’s Academy for Learning and Development is honoured to be involved with the JICA Project. Together with the KAIZEN™ Team, we invited companies in the automotive component sector of the industry, or who may be entering this sector in the future, to host candidates on the programme, in order to carry out their practical projects, on the company’s plant. Part of this valuable learning component was the involvement of a KAIZEN™ expert to guide participants. The practical component runs over 6 weeks with a weekly consultation.
Discussions on participation in this partnership between the DTIC and JICA, and signing the MOU to join the National Quality and Productivity Network for the Kaizen Project in South Africa, were led by Kirtida Bhana, the Head of Plastics|SA’s Academy.
Koos Phalane, a Technical Trainer at Plastics|SA’s Academy in Gauteng, was selected as part of the first group of trainees on the Train-the-Trainer Programme for Kaizen implementation. He started his training in July 2023 and considers this an opportunity of a lifetime.
Plastics|SA is very excited at the prospect of having a fully trained Kaizen Expert to serve our industry. We hope to have more Plastics|SA’s Academy Trainers in the next cohort.
What is KAIZEN™?
KAIZEN™ is a Japanese business philosophy that focuses on gradually improving productivity and making a work environment more efficient.
KAIZEN™ supports change from any employee at any time.
KAIZEN™ translates to change for the better or continuous improvement.
KAIZEN™’s small changes can involve quality control, just-in-time delivery, standardised work, the use of efficient equipment, and the elimination of waste.
The KAIZEN™ methodology underscores that small changes now, can have future big impacts.
Encouraging workers to keep adding value to the organization not only boosts morale, it also gives everyone ownership of continuous improvement efforts, which contributes to the successful implementation of kaizen.
Today KAIZEN™ is recognized worldwide as an essential pillar of many successful organizations’ long-term competitive strategies and we are very excited about the prospect of this philosophy being introduced to the operations in the South African Plastics Industry.
