‘Lean thinking’ highlighted at NIBM prospectus launch

The National Institute of Business Management (NIBM) held the launch of its prospectus for 2008 recently at the Water’s Edge, Battaramulla. The institute, which is a statutory body of the Ministry of Vocational and Technical Training, has a long history of catering to the population’s need for training in human resources, management, marketing and the likes.

One of the highlights of the evening was the speech of the key-note speaker for the evening, Sunil G. Wijesinhe, Managing Director, Dankotuwa Porcelain. Speaking on “Lean management”, his speech was based on the concepts of cutting down on all excesses, be it in life or in business.

“Lean people, lean consumerism, lean management” are the slogans under which the ideal is based. According to Wijesinhe, one of the pioneers of living leanly was the Japanese car manufacturers, Toyota. The firm pinpointed the “7 wastes” of their production process that could be eliminated. Ranging from excess motion to excess inventory, the “wastes” were systematically cut out, resulting in an immediate increase in productivity.

Sri Lankan society delights in excess. Be it over-staying official visits or retaining inventories worth millions of rupees or even having unnecessarily large office rooms, exploitation of resources is apparent in every sector of life.

The speaker suggests trying “lean production” first. Cut down on delays and over-production and concentrate on maintaining only a set level of inventories, at all times. “Only operations add value,” he says, adding that if manufacturers actually reduced their equipment and skills, the operations would increase as well. “Lean production is a simple but powerful tool for focusing the mind of productivity,” is his premise.

Skimming down in the administrative sector would be advantageous as well, he says. Have less paperwork, he advises, advocating increased use of computers and IT-related solutions. Reduce the space that you work in and “economically justify every square foot of workspace”. The Japanese ideal of a “work island” could be employed, he says. On the topic, Wijesinhe spoke of a visit to a Japanese factory where he noticed that work desks were grouped together in “islands” of six or seven. The “island” included the CEO and his immediate assistants. It not only reduces unnecessary motion but also improves employee interactions. “Reduce the number of peons and supervisors,” he says adding that most peons just take up space and that the ‘supervisor concept” is archaic.

The “lean” theory shouldn’t be limited only to the corporate sector. Discussing an idea that most people are sure to find unpalatable, he suggests cutting down on clothing. “Why have all these multi-coloured shirts when what is required is a set of white shirts”? The idea is to skim down to the bare basics. In the light of the current cost of living crisis, the overall reduction is the best bet, he insists. Even the day-to-day factors like speech, ceremonies and the government should be controlled and minimized, he says.

Some of the ideas may be hard to grasp, but as Wijesinhe says, one has to only look at countries like Japan which have embraced the ideal to see blatant success stories. As he says, a drastic paradigm shift may be needed but, “This is the time for us to think; for lean thinking”. (TR)