Dear friends,
I came across this small case study/story. Tis is very much relevent to the ENERGY SECTOR we are all working in. Hope it conveys the message, read it propagate it and implement it at ................................
Mr. Masai Imai
The Taj hotel group had invited Mr. Masai Imai from Japan to hold a workshop
for its staff. The staff were very skeptical- the hotel is doing excellent
business, this person from Japan has no exposure to hotel industry- what
exactly is he going to teach?
But everybody as planned gathered for the
workshop in the conference hall sharp at 9 am. Mr. Masai was introduced to
them- a not so impressive personality, nor the English all that good; spoke as
if he was first formulating each sentence in Japanese and then translating
it into rather clumsy English.
"Good morning! Let's start work. I am told
this is a workshop; but I see neither work nor shop. So let's proceed where
work is happening. Let's start with the first room on the first floor."
Mr. Masai, followed by the senior management, the participants, the video
camera
crew trouped out of the conference room and
proceeded to the destination. That happened to be the laundry room of the
hotel. Mr.Masai entered the room and stood at the window, "beautiful
view!" he said. The staff knew it; they need not invite a Japanese
consultant to
tell them this!
"A room with such a beautiful view is being
wasted as a laundry room. Shift the laundry to the basement and convert this
into a guest room." Aa Haa! Now nobody had ever thought about that! The
manager said, "Yes, it can be done."
"Then let's do it.", Mr. Masai said.
"Yes sir, I will make a note of this and we
will include it in the report on the workshop that will be prepared."
Manager
"Excuse me, but there is nothing to note
down in this. Let's just do it, just now." Mr. Masai.
"Just now?" Manager "Yes, decide
on a room on the ground floor/basement and shift the stuff out of this room
right away. It should take a couple of hours, right?" Mr. Masai.
"Yes." Manager.
"Let's come back here just before lunch. By
then all this stuff will have got shifted out and the room must be ready with
the carpets, furniture etc and from today you can start earning the few thousand
that you charge your customers for a room night." "Ok, Sir." The
manager had no option.
The next destination was the pantry. The group
entered. At the entrance were two huge sinks full of plates to be washed. Mr.
Masai removed his jacket and started washing the plates. "Sir, Please,
what are you doing?" the manager didn't know what to say and what to do.
"Why, I am washing the plates", Mr.
Masai.
"But sir, there is staff here to do
that." Manager Mr. Masai continued washing, "I think sink is for
washing plates, there are stands here to keep the plates and the plates should
go into the stands."
All the officials wondered - did they require a
consultant to tell them this?
After finishing the job, Mr. Masai asked,
"how many plates do you have?'
"Plenty, so that there should never be any
shortage." Manager.
Mr. Masai said, "We have a word in
Japanese-'Muda'. Muda means delay, muda means unnecessary spending. One lesson
to be learned in this workshop is to avoid both. If you have plenty of plates,
there will be delay in cleaning them up. The first step to correct this
situation is to remove all the excess plates."
"Yes, we will say this in the report."
Manager.
"No, wasting our time in writing the report
is again an instance of 'muda'. We must pack the extra plates in a box right
away and send these to whichever other section of Taj require these. Throughout
the workshop now we will find out where all we find this 'muda' hidden."
And then at every spot and session, the staff
eagerly awaited to find out muda and learn how to avoid it.
On the last day, Mr. Masai told a story.
"A Japanese and an American, both fond of
hunting, entered a jungle with guns. In the pursuit of game they entered deep
jungle and suddenly realized that they had run out of bullets. Just then they heard
a lion roaring. Both started running. But the Japanese took a
short break to put on his sports shoes. The
American said, "What are you doing? We must first get to the car."
The Japanese said, "No. I only have to
ensure that I remain ahead of you." All the participants engrossed in
listening to the story, realized suddenly that the lion would stop after
getting his victim!
"The lesson is competition in today's world
is so fierce, that it is important to stay ahead of other even by just a couple
of steps. And you have such a huge and naturally well-endowed country. If you remember
to curtail your production expenditure and give the best quality always, you
will be miles ahead as compared to so many other countries in the world.",
Mr. Masai.
+91-9449033505, +91-9243283505, +91-836-2350505 (tel/fax)
email:
mallu...@yahoo.co.ukskype: mallikarjun.kambalyal815
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SUNSHUBH RENEWABLES & RESEARCH CENTRE. #120-122,131 &132, IT park, 'A' Block, Opp Glass House,
HUBLI - 580020
KARNATAKA. INDIA.
OUR POLICY:
DON'T APPROXIMATE, WHEN WE CAN ESTIMATE,
DON'T ESTIMATE, WHEN WE CAN CALCULATE,
DON'T CALCULATE, WHEN WE CAN MEASURE.
MEASURE YOUR ENERGY FLOW, REDUCE EMISSIONS,
LET US LEAVE BEHIND A CLEAN & GREEN EARTH FOR OUR OWN CHILDREN.
'LET US BE PROUD, TO BE SELFISH - CAN'T WE BE'
