Top Japanese expert to share key insights to total quality management and maintenance

The Institute of Lean Management Pvt. Ltd, (ILM) is hosting Central Japan Industries Association, Japan, ChuSanRen for a one day workshop on Total Quality Management and Maintenance on 5 April 2011 at Galadari Hotel, Colombo.

The facilitator is Isao Akiho, General Manager, Senior Management Consultant, General Consulting Division of ChuSanRen. 

He is an internationally Certified Management Consultant (CMC) (Production) by IMCI and a Japan certified Master Management Consultant (JoMCMC) (Production).  He has specialised in offering consultancy in TQM, Facility Maintenance, 5S and Business & Work floor Kaizen and especially Toyota Production System. Akiho has over 20 years experience as a management consultant and a trainer and has shared his valuable expertise with over 130 companies in Japan ranging from huge to family sized and in house and open seminars. He has travelled extensively and conducted many programmes in Korea, Iran, Pakistan and many South Asian countries.

Today, many companies choose to pay for the poor quality which is known as “Price of Nonconformance.”  A number of industries have costs involved in doing nothing, paying for direct and indirect costs of quality problems. Managers have to play a big role in the process of cost reduction. Implementation of TQM philosophy can directly improve productivity in a company of any size, regardless of whether it is a start up, a struggling company in the survival mode and facing extinction or an older family firm looking for an added edge against the competition. It is a must for organisational survival and growth.

Central Japan Industries Association, ChuSanRen established in 1948 has grown to be a nationwide organisation specialising in management services with a membership of over 900 companies, and has its own think tank developing programmes with update management know-how and two thrusts of service, consultation and training for the development of the industries in diverse fields. ChuSanRen has contracts with many international corporations such as Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS), Korea Management Association and Chinese National Federation of Industry and Commerce.  

The host, The institute of Lean Management Pvt. Ltd is aimed at serving the national productivity by strengthening the industrial, plantation and service sectors in Sri Lanka by improving business processes and development of human resources in order to improve productivity, quality, cost, delivery, safety and morale. ILM introduces the way to do more and more with less and less human effort, less equipment, less time and less space while coming closer to providing customers with exactly what they need and transforms any operation in any sector opening up new strategic opportunities. It specialises in offering consultancy and training in Japanese Management systems such as, Advanced 5S & Kaizen, TPM and Lean Management and so far many leading companies have benefitted from its programmes.

ILM Chief Executive Officer Thilak Pushpakumara states that the institute has invested on hiring a consultant from ChuSanRen not only to create a better awareness and a need to implement TQM for the survival of national industries, but also to enrich the knowledge of TPM and Lean practitioners in Sri Lanka because, ILM strongly believes and is convinced that quality comes before lean. In a developing country people look for quality and not the price. Sri Lanka is now moving towards a developing country very fast and there is no doubt that   quality would play a big role in both local and overseas markets. Thus as a nation, everybody should focus on quality at a reliable cost.