Project News

From October 10th to October 27th, 2013, K-TOP conducted the training on equipment management in Kassala Vocational Training Center (KVTC), and 15 KVTC staff have participated. One may say, "If the equipment management is not going well, you can just tell the persons in charge to manage it well." The thing is not that easy. People will not take proper actions only by being told. We need to think of practical method for the solution.

Background

K-TOP provided some equipment (e.g. tools and devices) for KVTC to offer better vocational training. Other aid organizations such as UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and GTZ (German Technical Assistance Agency: Presently, GIZ) had also supported KVTC by providing equipment in the past. As a result, the numbers of equipment have been increased. However, KVTC is faced with a challenge on how to manage them systematically.

What kind of challenge?

In KVTC, many kinds of equipment were utilized in the training. However, there are some cases that some equipment were kept inside a warehouse by the store manager who wants to keep the equipment safe. Because of his carefulness, even a machine provided in the late 1980's is also in usable condition.

On the one hand, instructors need tools for the training, and on the other hand, the store manager wants to keep it in the warehouse because he is afraid of losing it. According to the interview which K-TOP conducted, they recognize that this is a problem of equipment management. However they were not unaware of the issue. They knew there was a problem, but they had no specific idea on how to solve it.

Why Kaizen?

Based on the result of interview, K-TOP decided to adopt "Kaizen" method in the equipment management training. Kaizen is a method to improve work efficiency by reducing waste in the process of doing things. By practicing it, you can analyze the problem, identify root-causes, then be able to plan specific actions for the solution, and carry out the actions. Kaizen is a suitable method to lead the KVTC staff's awareness of the problem to take actions for the solution.

Lesson-learned from the training

The training was consisted of one day lecture and two weeks of Kaizen implementation. On the first day, the training started with the lecture of Kaizen and the equipment management method. For the Kaizen lecture, Mr. Ahmed, an officer in the General Directorate of Economic Planning and Development (DPD), a leading institution of Kaizen in Kassala, was invited as a lecturer. After the lecture, the Kaizen action plan was prepared based on the consensus among the participants. For two weeks, the participants implemented the action plan, and on the last day, they checked and compared the results with the situation before Kaizen.

In two weeks implementation, in order to make a common process for borrowing equipment from the warehouse, a workflow guideline and application format for using equipment were designed. This system enables instructors and store manager to use the equipment based on the agreed rules. Moreover, 5S activity (Basic tool of Kaizen: Sort, Set, Shine, Sustain, Standardize) were proactively carried out in the warehouse, and the storage condition was improved so that you can easily find the necessary equipment.

In addition to the improvement in equipment management, an important achievement was that KVTC have successfully completed improvement without any budget. Making improvement with no or little cost is one of the important Kaizen features. This time, the training topic was limited to ‘equipment management' but KVTC staff demonstrated their ability to improve their management through Kaizen. I believe that KVTC staff will continue not to give up the improvement due to the limited budget but to keep taking actions for better vocational training for Kassala people.

(Reported by Mr. Ryoichi Kimura, JICA expert on Automobile Maintenance)

KVTC warehouse before Kaizen. Numerous tools and equipment are spread out inside the warehouse. It takes time to look for the equipment you need.

The first step of Kaizen: Bring everything outside of the warehouse for clean-up.

The second step of Kaizen: Sort the tools depend on the type and decide certain place to put.

KVTC warehouse after Kaizen: All equipment is kept in order and you can find necessary equipment easily.