Project News

The new Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, H.E. Ambassador Daisuke Matsunaga visited Ethiopian Shipping and Logistic Service Enterprise (ESL) and Ethiopian Kaizen Institute (EKI) on November 02, 2018.

In the last seven years, JICA has been fostering consultants at EKI, first with basic level K, such as 5S, Kaizen Philosophy and some Industrial Engineering; and then with intermediate level Kaizen, such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Toyota Production System (TPS), and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). The trained consultants are to serve companies in the manufacturing sector as well as other within the public service sector. ESL is one of the enterprises that received basic kaizen training and consultation.

During the visit, ESL's Kality Land Transport Branch shared the achievements of the last eight months of kaizen implementation. It was reported that as a result of kaizen, the Enterprise has managed to save money; the attitude of employees has changed, and the efficiency of maintenance activities has improved.

Mr. Roba Megersa, the CEO of ESL appreciated the Japanese Government and EKI, saying that the Enterprise has for many years been vulnerable to wastage and that working areas were uncomfortable. However, after kaizen, the Enterprise is able to sort out and find resources from the wastage.

Mr. Mekonnen Yaie, Director General of EKI also shared his organizations kaizen dissemination activities in Ethiopia and its achievements. He emphasized that the EKI has become a big organization now, with 120 kaizen consultants, 44 of which are female. In the last six years, EKI introduced basic kaizen to 600 companies and trained more than 100,000 management personnel, resulting in savings of 2.7 billion Birr.

Kaizen has been customized to fit the Ethiopian context. Mr. Seiji Sugimoto, Chief Project Advisor highlighted the difference between 5S in Japan and the one that is being applied in Ethiopia.

At the end of the tour, the Ambassador visited EKI to learn more about the Master's program (MSc) in Kaizen Management. The program has been running in cooperation with the Ethiopian Institute of Technology of Mekelle University (EiT-MU). Currently, the fourth batch of the MSc program is on-going, and 21 EKI consultants are attending the courses. From next January, these consultants will start taking intermediate level kaizen training, which consists of one-month classroom training (CRT) and six-month in-company training (ICT). Some of them will go on to provide intermediate kaizen training for the ELS Kality Branch.

Mr. Roba Megersa, making welcome speech, at ELS

The guests observing the ESL's kaizen site

Presentation by Mr. Lingerew, Kaizen Officer at ESL

H.E. Mr. Daisuke Matsunaga's message to ESL

(Front row: left to right): Mr. Seiji Sugimoto, Chief Advisor JICA expert team, H.E. Mr. Daisuke Matsunaga, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Japan to Ethiopia, Mr. Mekonnen Yaie, Director General of EKI
(Back row: left to right): Mr. Takeshi Matsuyama, Senior Representative JICA Ethiopia Office, Mr. Awol Kassaw, Deputy Director General of EKI, Mr. Gebeyehu Tuji, Program Officer, JICA Ethiopia Office, and Ms. Yuka Hananogi, First Secretary, Embassy of Japan.