Operational Excellence for Business Excellence

Kaizen/Lean concepts & methodologies have changed the landscape of manufacturing/serviceorganizations who have adopted it. KAIZEN is globally proven approach to drive and sustain anoperational excellence culture within any organization. Kaizen helps organizations to improve itsprocesses, quality, reduce waste and thus costs. Kaizen improves employee participation in dailyproblem identification and solving. Kaizen is a culture that drives continual improvement.Business environment is getting competitive day by day and if organization continues to do what theyhave done in past, organizations may not survive! Organizations must manage their operations withgreater efficiency in order to continue to provide high level of service to their customers. Companieshave started preparing for this year which is unknown for the business community. Some companiesare taking drastic changes as to reduce their overall costs & some are taking planned measures. Mostof the companies have put operational excellence on their agenda this year and are going to besuccessful or improve their performance in the longer run.Improve or Perish is the harsh reality!Operational Excellence for Business ExcellenceThe way Plan is to Strategy, Do is to Operations. Although Operational Excellence for BusinessExcellence is a strategy but it has to do with Operations. Operational Excellence cannot be achievedby sitting in the conference room and planning for it. Companies will have to focus on Gemba (Englishworld for Shop floor). Gemba is the real place where companies can identify real problem, meet realpeople & offer real solutions. It helps organizations to unlock high business performance in difficulttimes. The best way going ahead is to be operationally fit all the time.What is Operational Excellence?Operational Excellence…it is DOING your DO Well! Infact in the PDCA cycle, Operational Excellencecovers DCA, while P is the typical strategy part. We have innumerable examples of great strategiesfailing due to poor execution (of course the reverse happens too!). Irrespective of the size of thebusiness or the industry it belongs to, OE is mission critical.Often times, it is a pity that Operations is given a step motherly treatment. Strategy is the leader’s

domain! It is seen as enriching, something that nourishes the visionary instincts inside the CEO orsenior managers. As soon the strategy is set; operations is often left to the ‘boys’ below to tackle! Inother words operations are seen as trivial, not so engaging or inspiring! But success lies in the details,it lies in ‘doing’ your plans well! I am of the firm opinion that an even simple plan, executed withminimum waste delivers excellence!Operational Excellence is not rocket science. It is about identifying undesirable elements from acrossthe processes…which manifest as Waste and Variation. Waste in the form on rework, over processing,waiting, unnecessary motion and such others, results in broken processes. Broken processes can’t

deliver products or services on time or in full. On the other hand processes variations results in costlyerrors or at times in total failure!OE is our challenge and opportunity! We often know what to do, we often have great policies andplans, but we fail when it is time to put plans into action.A How can an organization achieve Operational Excellence?True organizational transformation happen when the very bones…the skeletal structure is challengedand changed. When old paradigms and structures are questioned and replaced when needed. Onecan’t fool oneself or others by mere ‘dressing up’! Sadly, often time, this is the case within manyorganizations who adopt LEAN/ 6 Sigma or any other transformation approach. Especially this appliesto manufacturing or transformation related to operations as in LEAN/ LEAN Sigma or similarimplementation.Often organizations get started with tools like 5s, SMED, AM, Cellular Layouts etc, these are tools thatare launched and implemented with encouraging results, but many a times the efforts start and endwith these tools. These tools are a means to an end. The end being Sustainable Growth and Profits!NEVER ever can these disjointed, tool focused approach cannot be considered as organizationaltransformation! We do get enthused by book like The Toyota Way, which does offer more than a peepinto Toyota’s culture transformation under way since some many decades (they say it is still work inprogress! Kaizen!). But not many of us are not able to appreciate the deeper organization cultural/habits/ beliefs which drive everything else. Our chairman Sensei Imai san says – true Kaizenis…Everyday, Everyone, Everywhere Kaizen ….continual improvement. It is not few people, few days,

and few places ….driving Kaizen!While tools drive improvements, it is how one builds the underlying cultural transformation that isthe key. From the Kaizen Management System perspective, culture is an outcome that comes bystaying focused on three key elements: (a) system & model for change within the organization (b)building skills / capability across the board to learn & drive change (c) coupled with setting cleargoals, an audit mechanism linked to performance management. It is this judicious combination ofthese three elements that powers true transformation, which in turn, powers sustenance of a Kaizenculture within any organization.As one perfects the tools of change, one should not lose sight on the cultural aspects as mentionedabove. There is no meaning in fooling ourselves or other stake holders, by calling a ‘dressed up’ chimpas Homo sapiens! The message is clear….apply tools, but address the culture!In Imai san’s words….LEAN or 6 Sigma is the outcome, whereas Kaizen is the process that drives theseoutcomes!

Why OE?This will results in two benefits:- Business Benefit – Better Flow of production, thus Less Inventories, and On Time In FullError Free Deliveries.- Impact on Culture – Improved Discipline and higher Engagement of People in CompanyWide Efficiency ImprovementsKaizen Institute