Japanese way of cost efficiency

Japanese way of
                            cost efficiency

 

 

                    

                    

                      

                        The
                          Taj hotel group had invited Mr. Masai Imai
                          from Japan to hold a workshop for
                          its staff. 

                          

                        The
                          staff members 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 gathered as planned for the workshop
                          in the conference hall sharp at9
                          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." 

                          

                        AaHaa!
                          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?" Asked the 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?" asked 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
                          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."
                          answered the 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 requires 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, met in a jungle. 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 responded, "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.", concluded Mr. Masai. 

                      

 

                      

A fantastic
                            sentence written
                            on every Japanese bus stop.

                            Only buses will stop here – Not your time.

                            So Keep walking towards your goal.