ODI members are sharing some handy tips on using the 20 Keys during lock-down. In part 1, Joan Bull, Johan Benadie and Mike Foxon, placed emphasis on Key 6, 7 and 10 respectively. To read part 1 of our 3 part series, click here.

To see more details of each respective Key in the 20 Keys System for Operations improvement, go to our interactive 20 Keys wheel and click on a Key of your choice. Click here to access the interactive 20 Keys wheel.

Maryke Bergh: Senior Manager – Learning and Development

Key 20: Leading Technology helped me to eliminate two of the eight wastes; the waste of time/waiting, and the waste of motions. My recently installed rain meter with Bluetooth helps me to see the readings inside my house. No need to go out in the rain and cold, while we have to stay healthy. I also no longer need to keep records manually; it is all done electronically – daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. Yes – I did grow up on a farm, and rainfall readings are still very important to me.

I can see the temperature inside the house, the outside temperature, as well as humidity, from inside my house!.

Angela Newman – Associate

Of course, for me, Key1: Cleaning and Organising is so important.  Sorting, tidying and getting ourselves organised in order to create two live/on-line home offices, as well as two home schooling sites from a single person workspace, was quite a challenge. Key 18: Using Information Systems helped to ensure that all the relevant software needed were available. Key 5, to be able to change over quickly, has also become a daily activity. This entails various changeovers, depending on whoever is called to the next live meeting. The room can be one home office, then suddenly another one, or become a classroom, or a space for sports lessons, which also takes place using Zoom.

We are definitely struggling with Key 10 though; the discipline for home schooling is not always so good!

Ilse Doyer – Senior Consultant

The visual management concept of Key 2: Goal Alignment helps everyone in the family to align to Mommy’s sanity; I mean vision. Key 5 for quick start ups helps in the morning. Now, no one says they are waiting for Mommy, before they start their chores. Key 16 ensures that work is scheduled in the house, keeping in mind level loading! Key 15: Skill Versatility is also in use, because we are learning Martha’s skills on how to look after the house, just in case she is ever again absent for seven weeks at a time. Wait a minute….!

Gerda Holder – Operations Manager

Key 15: Skills Versatility has been very important during the lock-down period. My colleagues and I had to learn new skills very quickly, to support one another, and to accelerate product development. At ODI, one of our values is to continuously improve; not only ourselves, but also our products and services. This development has been phenomenal to experience.

Key 4: Reducing Work-in-Progress has also helped us, by using the principle of having a fast flow of work, and eliminating build-ups of work. All our work is done on OneDrive, which allows quick sharing, and quick corrections. We follow the CAPDo cycle, with action plans kept updated on OneDrive, which ensure that everyone is aligned, and follows the same plan. At the same time,

Key 11: Quality Assurance, reminds us constantly to eliminate mistakes; it creates a lot of waste when the next person finds an error, which then must be communicated back to the person who did the work in order to correct it; things must be done right, first time, or when an error slips through (we are all human), the correction must be done very quickly.

ODI has always been proud of their administrative function, which delivers quick and quality service, and always goes the extra mile. During this period there are many additional demands related to product development, lock-down legislation, and other tasks, I really enjoy being part of that!

Valery Hansen – Associate

I rely so much on Key 16: Planning and Scheduling now, because I received the green light to move to my new home. This has to be planned carefully, to eliminate having to drive backwards and forwards. It has to be one well planned moved.

Other than that, I touched on Key 15: Skills Development, with a CamScanner that I had to download and use to get my son’s assignment to his teacher. My own personal IT assistant, my daughter, was the coach. The principles in Key 2 of Pulling Together has been well practiced in our house.

Lastly, I realised again during these trying times how important it is to show kindness to others.

While in lock-down, it’s a perfect opportunity to scale-up. ODI is offering the NQF5 Productivity Learnership as an online programme. To enrol for this prestigious qualification, email e-support@odi.co.za

To read more about NQF5: Productivity, click here.

The post The Power of the 20 Key principles to enhance productivity at home during lock-down! (Part 2) appeared first on ODI.

“A philosophy of the workplace where problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership results in the ongoing improvement in an organisation. The process involves focusing on the customers’ needs, keeping the employees positive and empowered, and continually improving the current activities in the workplace.”

Operational excellence involves setting the organisation up for growth, which means understanding what the market wants and creating an uninterrupted value stream that always feeds the need, even if it changes.

Operational excellence is not confined to the executive suite or the factory floor. It involves every person at every level of the organisation, because every role contributes towards adding value to the customer and is, therefore, on the critical path to success.

As part of their operational excellence drive, DBSSSA and GWK enrolled a group of learners to complete their NQF Level 5 certificate in Productivity, as a blended e-Learning option. (Full Accreditation SSETA No. 0228, Learning Programme Approval SABPP)

After a year-long journey, the DBSSSA and GWK group of learners finished their final presentations today.

To view the albums of the learners, preparing to complete this qualification, facilitated by Huibie Jones,  click here and with Ilse Doyer, click here.

The effectiveness of the Operational Excellence Management System, was evident. Every learner had to present on three productivity improvements made, as well as many other aspects of operational excellence.

ODI is very proud of the exceptional efforts made by all the learners.

DBSSSA and GWK management attended the presentations and supported the learners throughout.

Some feedback included:

Simangele Soni – Senior Operations Manager

“The skills learnt through this learnership will take us into the future.”

Coral Wheelock – HR Manager

“It was especially wonderful to hear everyone speak the same Continuous Improvement language today. The value of what was learnt was very evident.”

Jason Peters – Production Standards Manager 

“The attitudes and energy displayed by learners today is exactly what is needed on a Continuous Improvement journey.”

Brendan Maguire – CCP Processor

“The combination of physical classes and the online interface is brilliant. Great overall experience.”

Johan du Plessis – Technical Services Lead

“The theoretical information followed by practical application contributes well towards embedding the real skill to implement Operational Excellence management principles. The evaluation checksheets are the real winners/tools to utilize.”

Forona Stephens: Human Resources Business Partner at GWK

“I really enjoyed the NQF 5 productivity course. The facilitators are competent and always available.”

Clinton Samson – Senior Production Controller

“The blended approach to this learnership, is a good concept. Without the contact sessions it would be very difficult to grasp the course content and complete the assessments. The online tutorials were also of great assistance. The facilitators were very knowledgeable on course content and were very helpful and accommodating.”

Wade King – Senior Production Controller

“Very informative course. All modules are relevant and need to be run continuously at work. The tools that we learned about are extremely useful and made problem-solving easier.”

Chantelle Webb – Production Controller

“The course was informative and changed my approach on how I conduct my tasks at work. Thank you for the journey.”

Petrus Asser – Production Advisor

“The course brought much needed insight and it came at just the right time for the journey we’re embarking on. Huibie was born to transfer knowledge and I enjoyed the manner in which she taught. Ilse presented technical subjects and I really enjoyed it as well. Thank you.”

Leigh-Anne Toffar – Assistant Accountant

“I have definitely grown and developed through this learnership. The learnership has equipped us to embark on this operational excellence journey. Thank you to the excellent facilitators for the knowledge and skills transfer as well as for the continued support over the past year.”

Debra Barnes-Kock – Diamond Movement Coordinator

“I truly found much value in this learnership and will definitely be taking what I’ve learned into the workplace. I intend involving my entire team in this process and would like to express my gratitude towards Huibie and Ilse for an excellent experience during this learnership.”

Victor Joel – Senior Training Officer

“This course gave me many tools that can be used at work. We have seen good results from the implementation of these modules. We thank Huibie and Ilse for their hard work and patience.”

Milly Makhele – Senior Process Controller

“Good content to be applied anywhere in the business. Buy-in and commitment are very important to get through the course.”

Lister Strauch – Diamond Valuator

“I enjoyed the course very much. The implementation part of the course makes the learning practical and very worthwhile because, as you gain knowledge, you learn how to actually implement what you’ve learned.”

Author: Huibie Jones – MD at ODI

Over the period of its existence ODI has successfully implemented continuous business improvement principles in a wide variety of industries.  We have developed a systematic improvement framework for a number of clients, to guide their improvement drive globally, using examples relevant to their industry and company.

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ODI celebrated their 30th anniversary on 29 August 2019 during their annual conference at Emperors Palace in Johannesburg. Ten speakers, from various companies who have had success with the implementation of the 20 Keys programme, made presentations on their experiences and successes. It was the ideal opportunity to rub shoulders with people from various successful companies; sharing success stories, and even getting some tips. Speakers passionately portrayed their experiences and success stories. Forona Stephens (HR Business Partner: GWK Trading) impressed the conference attendees with her presentation, “Think Big, Start Small, Unlock Excellence.” She gave an overview of GWK’s infrastructure and the implementation of Keys 1, 2 and 3, as well as successes.

At Key 3, Forona presented a combination of slogans that practically depicted the principle of the 20 Keys programme.

Learners with exceptional achievements received recognition during the Conference. Abrie Nortje from Barkley-West silos received the best student award for his participation in the NQF 3 Learnership. He is currently busy with his NQF 5 Learnership, and is certainly a person to follow — Abrie does nothing without giving his all!

The message is clear: The 20 Keys system contributes to a company’s success.

To summarize the conference message in one sentence: “If you empower your people through the 20 Keys programme, it will lead to excellence”.

To read more about Forona Stephens writing about GWK Trading and the application of the 20 Keys system, click here.

ODI has primary accreditation with the Services Sector Education & Training Authority, (decision number 0228). ODI also has further programme approval to provide qualifications, learnerships and skills programmes through MERSETA and SABPP. To find out more, click here.

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Forona Stephens: Human Resources Business Partner at GWK writes:

On Friday, 30 August 2019, 10 of us from GWK Trading visited Wispeco Aluminium, and experienced first-hand, the application of the 20 Keys system.

Wispeco, a company that initially suffered great losses, is a success story.  Before they started implementing the 20 Keys, a decision was made to close their doors, and to shut the company down. The faith of Roland Röhrs in the principles of the 20 Keys system has turned the company around, and they are now competing with companies in a country like China. It opened my eyes again to see what recognition actually means to an employee, and ODI also taught me – to share as a mentor and a leader – your knowledge, so that others can also be successful.

At the moment I am busy with NQF 5 National Certificate in Productivity. It is a good motivation for me to work hard as a GWK Ambassador, and to be able to receive the recognition for NQF 5 along with my team. With the return to my Depot, it was a privilege to share my experience with everyone – as if they were part of the conference.

The two days away made me realise how strong our team has become since implementing some of the Keys successfully. Changes in morale and improved communication through management, are so important.

To read more about Forona’s topic of discussion: “Think Big, Start Small, Unlock Excellence”, at last year’s one-day conference, where we celebrated 30 years of operational excellence, click here.

ODI’s vision is to support our clients in becoming world leaders in the services and products they deliver; by strengthening their continuous operations improvement capability in people, processes, and the productive use of technology.

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