The Quality Improvement  methods and their practical applications in business sphere in Sri Lanka.

                 When we talk about Quality improvement, it is essential to discuss about what’s quality. Quality in general means the performance of a certain product or a service expected by the consumers. If the performance is weak, the consumers recognize the product as a product with a low quality and they will get rid of that product and if the performance is good and if it perfectly fit to the needs and wants of the customers the consumer defines that product as a high quality product. The quality of the products and the services produced by an organization directly influences its profitability. So it’s very important to produce the good and services with lesser defects and also with a high quality while minimizing its cost.

                  At present the business organizations concerned not only about the quality of the product but also about the quality of the entire process of the organization as it also affect to the quality of the products as well as the company’s reputation. Maintaining and improving of the quality of the entire organization is known as the Total Quality Management or TQM. Process improvement is another important aspect of quality improvement. This method covers the processes used to conduct everyday business operations. This can be anything from the processes used to manufacture various products to those implemented to improve overall customer satisfaction. Here, every aspect of the business is included and proper attention paid to the finest of details to ensure success.
                 There are many number of methodologies for TQM and they have shown high results when they are implemented by the organizations in their operations. Kaizen, SCOR, Zero Defect Program, Six Sigma, PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), Quality circles, 5S…etc. are some of the examples for the quality improvement methodologies.

                 Kaizen is a Japanese concept where every employee, especially at non-executive level, is encouraged to constantly think of small improvements, suggest to the immediate superior, and implement. Kaizen comes from two Japanese words where “Kai” means change and “zen” means better. The companies that want to have a performance must keep their leader position on market by increasing the quality level of services provided, reducing costs and last but not least motivating the whole staff in order to implement the concept of performance oriented organization.

               Kaizen means improvement, continuous improvement involving everyone in the organization from top management, to managers then to supervisors, and to workers. In Japan, the concept of Kaizen is so deeply engrained in the minds of both managers and workers that they often do not even realize they are thinking Kaizen as a customer-driven strategy for improvement. The core of Kaizen is that the people that perform a certain task are the most knowledgeable about that task; consequently, by involving them and showing confidence in their capabilities, ownership of the process is raised to its highest level. In addition, the team effort encourages innovation and change and, by involving all layers of employees, the imaginary organizational walls disappear to make room for productive improvements. From such a perspective, Kaizen is not only an approach to manufacturing competitiveness but also everybody's business, because its premise is based on the concept that every person has an interest in improvement. The premise of a Kaizen workshop is to make people's jobs easier by taking them apart, studying them, and making improvements. 

                 In Sri Lanka, many numbers of manufacturing as well as service sector implement Kaizen as a quality improvement technique for their organization and they have yielded many successful results for their organization by implementing quality improvement methodologies like Kaizen. The Unilever Ceytea Factory, formally known as Premium Exports Ceylon Limited (PECL), is Unilever’s ‘instant tea’ factory located in Agarapathana and functions as a strategic unit of the Lipton Ice Tea supply chain, supplying over 70% of the Ready to Drink volumes sourced by Pepsi Lipton International. With employees across all levels taking ownership of and getting actively involved in the initiative, 5S has helped the factory cut down on stock levels, process times, defects and accidents and create a pleasant and safe environment. Moving beyond the workplace, the Ceytea team has supported the community around the factory to adopt 5S as well. Ceytea follows two Kaizen or continuous improvement methodologies – Genba KAIZENS, small improvements which can be suggested and implemented on the shop floor and Kobetsu KAIZENS, more focused improvement projects which require cross functional involvement. Ceytea has implemented a few hundred of small improvements and over 10 Kobetsu KAIZENS in 2014. Together, 5S and KAIZEN have helped Ceytea boost productivity and deliver outstanding results time and time again.

                 There are many advantages of implementing Kaizen in the organizations as a quality improvement methodology. Following are some advantages of Kaizen; 1). It is process centered. It is thus able to identify exactly where things are going wrong and change the processes so that mistakes do not occur. Wasteful processes are reduced, and this in turn reduced waste of resources. 2). All people who participate in it get certain responsibilities, thereby giving them more purposefulness. Further, since it puts people on the forefront, employee morale increases tremendously. 3). There is reduced need for inspection since there is less scope for error. 4). Customer requirements are placed at the forefront of company efforts and all products and services are geared to the needs of clients.

                Even though there are many advantages of Kaizen to the quality improvement of the organizations, there are some limitations also. 

            *Some companies need to bring about an immense change in their mind set and style of functioning. This is sometimes very difficult and the initial problems created can be very bad for business overall. For instance, companies need to have a very open style of communication in order to put this methodology into practice. Also, many employees are with narrow minds and are unwilling to let go 'their' work areas. To avoid this situation, the management should carry on orientation programs and other training programs for the employees in order to make the employees aware about the benefits of implementing the relevant methodology for the organization as well as for ‘themselves’ before starting the implementation process.

           * Very often, the commencement of using a new quality improvement methodology will be unsuccessful soon. As a result, companies are not able to get the results they are looking for. Further, it makes people believe that this improvement technique will not work at all. The solution for this problem also is the better awareness of the employees of the organization about the new technique. It is the responsibility of the managers and the board of directors to launch relevant programs to make the minds of the employees and to mould them according to the new methodology.

                   5S is another quality improvement technique used by many of the organizations in Sri Lanka which is introduced by Japan as a Total Quality Management technique.

 The 5s system derives its name from the five Japanese words which define the process, they are: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke. Translated into English they are: sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain. The guiding principles underlying the 5S system involve organization, cleanliness and standardization. Overall workplace cleanliness, created by removing waste from the work area, promotes internal organization and enhances visual communication.

By reducing wasted time and materials, productivity is increased along with safety and costs are reduced.

        The following is a list of the benefits which can be derived from implementation of the 5s system.

Increases in productivity: The productivity can be improved through reducing lead times thereby improving product delivery times, reduces equipment downtime, maintenance and cycle time, improving daily and shift startup times and reduces changeover time and reduces the amount of time wasted searching for tools and equipment.

Increases in quality: Improves quality by reducing the amount of errors/defects, implements standardization thereby achieving output consistency, the pleasantries of the simplified work environment increases employee morale and then the overall quality is enhanced.

Reduction in cost: The cost reduction is happened through providing cost-savings by reducing inventory, storage fees and space requirements, through improving safety thereby reducing the cost of worker injuries and by reducing the amount of scrap thereby reducing production cost.

                       In Sri Lanka most of the private as well as the public sector organizations have implemented 5S methodology as their quality improvement technique as it gives the above mentioned benefits to their organization. To promote 5S at S-Lon, several activities were carried out to build awareness and enthusiasm among staff, with the screening of movies, conducting training programs, crossword puzzles and art competitions for children of the S-Lon staff. With the successful implementation of 5S at S-Lon, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as productivity, cost, morale, safety, efficiency and quality were increased, leading to team work, enthusiasm, belonging and creativity being at all-time high. 5S has championed right from the top of corporate ladder at S-Lon, show-casing commitment that was followed by all employees at the company.

                  Not only that many large scale companies like MAS Holdings, Sri Lanka Telecom, Nolimit, Kelani Cables PLC, Hemas Holdings, Hatton National Bank…etc. have implemented 5S in their organizations and have won awards for the successful maintenance of the 5S methodology. The award given to the companies for maintaining 5S quality improvement strategy in a successful manner is “Taiki Akimoto5S Merit Award”. In 2014, the winner of this award is Prym Intimates Lanka Ltd. and the 1^st runner up and the 2^nd runner up was Nolimit.

                  While implementing 5S in the organizations, they have certain limitations of that methodology also. Some limitations of 5S technique are;

• Resistance to change: This means; change is always difficult and 5S typically brings big changes to the workplace. Habits are difficult to change and people just don't like change. To avoid this limitation, the methodology should be introduced to the organization gradually without implementing it at once and then the employees could get used to the new methodology very easily. For that the management can introduce various orientation programs and training programs for the employees.

·         Not addressing problems in the workplace;  Doing the "same thing" with 5S as someone will not match with our organization. In general 5S provides a framework that is used to eliminate waste in the workplace. But that framework must be used in a way such that it addresses the specific situation in each workplace. For an example if there is a one set of cleaning tools (Broom, dust-bin, dust-pan…) for each and every floor of the business premises, a problem will arise when cleaning the whole building in the morning. So as a solution for that problem the managers can implement 5S methodology to keep separate set of cleaning tools for each floor at suitable place and it will ease the functions of the organization.

·         Lack of management support; without the full support of management it is difficult for 5S to succeed. 5S is not just for manufacturing, it applies to every part of a business or organization – including the sales, marketing and accounting departments... and the executive suite. Management not only needs to provide the financial and staffing support needed to implement 5S; management needs to lead by example.

·         Misunderstanding of what 5S accomplishes; Expecting 5S to do more than what it does will lead to failure because 5S on its own will not accomplish what was expected. 5S is a system that is primarily targeted at eliminating waste by cleaning up, organizing and establishing standards in the workplace. When compared with the cost, 5S may be the most effective lean technique. So the employees as well as the managers should understand what’ actually 5S meant by and work according to that.