Investing in your employees’ learning and development is key to ensuring a smooth transformation. Team dynamics play a vital role in the organisation’s culture. Each member of a team’s role impacts other team members and the group as a whole.

Doing a full learnership is always a good idea, as there are so many benefits attached to it, HOWEVER, there certainly are times when a shorter intervention is required, to obtain some quicker gains for the organisation.

The Skills Programmes offered by ODI have been carefully selected to ensure maximum benefits.

Manage Basic Team Dynamics and Techniques (for Continuous Business Improvement) is a 4-day Skills Programme that addresses five performance areas (PA’s):

1. Goal alignment as a best practice strategy
2. Use a mini business to meet organisational goals
3. Manage the activities of your mini business
4. Increase efficiency in your mini business through the implementation of the 5S approach.
5. Problem-solving and decision-making

A group of first-line supervisors who recently completed this Skills Program had the following to say:

• I enjoyed being here. I’ve learned that there are different ways to look at problems and problem-solving
• I’ve learned a lot. I don’t regret being part of this program, it was really a win-win. I’ve learned that you’re never too old to learn something. It was incredible.
• I’ve learned many things that I haven’t known before. I’ve learned how to apply it and how to provide leadership to my team
• The training was very good and inspirational. I have learned a lot and it was great to be here.
• Effective. Eye-opener. Cultivate and implement better ways of organisational & Skills Development.
• Very spot-on training to implement in your area for improvements. Problem solving and 5why’s was very useful to implement.
• Learned about how to get our mini business to a point where all team members can understand what the patterns in the workplace are, and how we can make it better
• I’ve experienced so many things that I never knew before that I can use now to improve my work-area. I’ve learned what it means to run/manage a mini business.

To give you a better idea of what is covered in this Skills Programme, we’ll discuss each performance area.

PA1: Goal alignment as a best practice strategy, deals with:

• The organisation strategy, includes the vision, mission and values.
• The strategic direction of the organisation
• The key success factors including:
• Diverse customer base
• Financial stability
• Access to and retention of key skills
• Ability to manage risks.
• Operational efficiency
• Continuous improvement
• Best operating practices
• Organisation structure
• Benchmarking
• The difference between benchmarking and best practices

PA2: Use a mini business to meet organisational goals, deals with:

• Organisational goals and objectives
• How you measure success
• What one intends to do or achieve
• The purpose towards which an endeavour is directed.
• The specific target towards which an organisation is striving.
• How individual goals are aligned with departmental and organizational goals.
• The CAPDo cycle
• Aligning goals to legislative requirements
• Establish a mini business following the steps below:
• The team as a system within the organization
• Supply chain
• Understanding customer service excellence
• Service Level Agreements (SLA’s)
• Customer Satisfaction Survey
• Improve customer service through the CAPDo cycle.
• Building supplier relationships

PA3: Manage the activities of your mini business, involves:

• Communicating goals, objectives, and standards to team members
• Holding regular meetings to discuss performance against standards.
• Monitoring and evaluating performance
• Keeping records of team performance
• Managing and prioritising your time

PA4: Increase efficiency in your mini business through the implementation of the 5S approach.

Efficient workplace organisation is about applying techniques to make work easier and safer, and creating a functional, good-looking workplace.

Everybody in the organization should be involved, and implementation at first-line team level is especially important, as they are closest to day-to-day operations.

With the 5S technique (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain), you will learn how to create, and maintain an organized workplace.

• Sort: The first step in making work safer and easier; finding and getting rid of all unneeded items in the workplace. You should look at all items in your work area including:
• material,                  
• equipment,
• tools,
• parts,
• information,
• stationary,
• furniture,
• signs
• Set-in-order: Once all the unneeded items have been removed from the workplace, arrange the needed items, so that it is easy to see:
• Where things are
• What is out of place, missing, or too much.
• Where things should be returned to

The aim is to create a safe and visual workplace. Remember there is a golden rule: A place for everything and everything in its place.

• Shine: to create a bright and pleasant workplace. Shine, or cleaning, also focuses on removing dirt, dust, and grime from the workplace. Cleaning should become a part of daily work habits.
• Standardise: Method used to maintain sort, shine, and set in order. Means to maintain cleanliness and orderliness; to prevent things from slipping back to the way they were is done by:
• Writing simple procedures
• Assigning responsibilities
• Preventing things from getting dirty and disorganized
• Doing workplace audits, using the 5S check sheet.
• Sustain: has to do with self-discipline; following the standard, specified procedure. It is about creating a culture of doing things the right way; putting things back where they belong, replacing a misplaced item, picking up a piece of paper in the corner, etc. People at all levels of the organization need to be won over to the 5S culture. The following methods can be used:
• Communication
• Education
• Recognition
• Time
• Structure

PA5: Problem-solving and decision-making

Some problems never seem to go away; they keep on coming back. That’s because the real problem has not been solved, only the symptoms of the problem. These persistent problems are the most frustrating to deal with, and they need a systematic approach to get to the bottom of what is causing them. Use the CAPDo- cycle to solve problems:

• Check
• Step1: Define the problem. A problem is the gap between the current state and the desired state. Problems can be identified through:
• Own observations and experience
• Comparative/benchmarking studies
• Quality and safety audits
• Complaints
• Performance reporting
• Customer satisfaction surveys, etc.
• Analyze
• Step2: Analyze for causes (Identify all possible causes, collect data about causes, interpret data, identify most probable cause)
• Step3: Generate solutions.
• Step4: Select best solution.
• Plan
• Step 5: Plan to implement best solution.
• Do
• Step6: Implement best solution.
• Celebrate success.
• Step7: Evaluate results.

Continuous improvement and constantly finding new and better ways of managing your business should be the basis of any improvement initiative.

Author: Valery Hansen: Facilitator at ODI

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Digistics (Pty) Ltd. offers Supply Chain Management and Value-Added Logistics Execution. They operate out of six Distribution Centres in Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg and has become a significant player in leading multi-temperature distribution operations throughout South Africa.

Digistics’ journey began in 1995, when ASP Distributors (Pty) Ltd opened up in South Africa, in partnership with Spar. With a national infrastructure, ASP pioneered multi-temperature distribution within the South African Quick Service Restaurant industry.

A management buy-out in 2003 led to the establishment of Digistics (Pty) Ltd. With an aggressive growth plan, the company secured a number of new, long-standing contracts.

Due to significant growth over a short space of time, the decision was made to bring a partner on board. 51% of the shares was sold to Super Group Holdings in 2012, making the business a Super Group subsidiary company. In 2017, Super Group bought out the balance of the remaining shareholding.

It is said that people are an asset; Digistics believes that everything revolves around people. In order to do what they do, Digistics need leaders to build a best-in-class customer-focused business. They do have those leaders on their team. You will find leadership at every level, and each employee in their team of more than 795 makes decisions every day to put their customers’ businesses first.

Striving for world-class supply chain management and operations excellence, Digistics enrolled members of staff to complete ODI’s NQF3, 4 and 5 Generic Management Learnerships facilitated by Mbali Tshabalala, Michael Foxon and Maryke Bergh.

Learners were welcomed by their HR Executive – Cheryl Farley.

ODI’s Mbali Tshabalala, facilitated the NQF3 Generic Management group of learners.

Micheal Foxon facilitated the NQF4 Generic Management group of learners.

Maryke Bergh facilitated the NQF5 Generic Management group of learners.

The learnerships offered by ODI are carefully selected, to support companies on their journey of Continuous Improvement. To find out how ODI can help your Continuous Improvement initiative, contact us, by clicking here.

The post NQF3, 4 and 5: Digistics & ODI striving for supply chain operations excellence appeared first on ODI.

This qualification aims to prepare first-line managers in a manufacturing environment to undertake a broader management role in their organisation. It lays the foundation for further management development and movement into more senior positions.

Facilitating this group of learners, is ODI’s MD: Huibie Jones.

To read more about ODI’s Operational Management & Improvement Coaching system, click here.

ODI has been in business since 1989 and has successfully implemented the 20 Keys, and supporting programmes in a large number of companies, in a wide variety of industries, and across the world. We are passionate about supporting you on your journey to Continuous Improvement and life-long learning.

The post CTP/Sondor/Wispeco, NQF 4 Management in Process Manufacturing & Huibie Jones appeared first on ODI.

• Largest manufacturer of aluminium extrusions in Africa, with its own melting and casting facility, nine extrusion presses, international quality certified surface finishing plants (powder coating and anodising).
• Market leader in architectural systems development and innovation.
• Wholly owned subsidiary of Remgro Ltd with ±1000 employees.
• Registered training provider offering fabrication training to customers, the previously disadvantaged youth, and deaf learners.
• Thirty official distributors in Southern Africa.
• Ecospecifier Green Rating on Wispeco aluminium profiles due to the extensive recycling of post-consumer and industrial aluminium waste.
• BBBEE level 4 offering 100% for procurement spent.

Wispeco strongly believes in an informed and equipped team and enrolled members of staff to obtain a national qualification with ODI.

• NQF 2 National Certificate in Production Technology, click here.
• NQF 3 in General Management, click here.
• NQF 4 Process Manufacturing, click here.

A great sense of achievement was felt all around as learners attended a recent awards ceremony in Cape Town.

Nico Kapank (NQF 2), Carlo Kuyer (NQF 3) & Waleed (NQF 4) represented their respective groups, thanking Wispeco & ODI for the opportunity.

“To Huibie and Joan, no words can describe how I feel as I’m looking forward to the future now… Thanks to Cisco for all the support and most of all, thanks to my classmates for helping me achieve this goal. I wish everyone the best for the future!”

“I’m extremely honored to be receiving such an important award. I am honestly grateful for the recognition I have received for my work, because I am positive  that every other learner in the class of 2019 NQF 3 feels the same way for this achievement.

We have faced several challenges on our way here but each one of them has helped strengthen us to make us the people  we are  today, a thorough professional who now exactly knows what they want, people who set their eyes on a goal and does not lose sight of it unless it is achieved . By finishing this qualification or course, it would not have  been possible without the motivation we received from our moderators Cisco, Joan and especially Huibie , for whom I have the highest respect for.  I sincerely thank each and every  one of you for helping us reach a stage where we can proudly hold up this qualification as tick on our list of achievements. I thank you.”

Carlo Kuyer

To read more about obtaining a national certificate with ODI, click here.

The post ODI/Wispeco Aluminium Cape Town 2019 Awards Ceremony appeared first on ODI.

Feeding the people who feed the people. GWK works daily to move the boundaries of agriculture, to help people discover new and better ways. People who work in hectares, not hours. The modern entrepreneurs of our time. The people who accomplish the impossible and who share their passion for nature. People who bring the natural goodness of the farm to the consumer. These are their people, and they are feeding the world. GWK. Innovate agriculture.

Comprising of 6 modules, this qualification – NQF4 National Certificate in General Management, lays the foundation for further management development. To read more about this qualification, click here.

ODI’s Valery Hansen facilitated this group of learners from GWK.

The post GWK, NQF4 National Certificate in General Management & Valery Hansen appeared first on ODI.

This is the start of a combined group of learners, made up of Wispeco, Rickard Air and Sondor, completing their NQF4 Process Manufacturing qualification.

This qualification aims to prepare first-line managers in a manufacturing environment to undertake a broader management role in their organisation. It lays the foundation for further management development and movement into more senior positions. First-line managers may include team leaders, supervisors, foremen, and section heads.

This programme is facilitated by ODI’s MD, Huibie Jones.

To read more about ODI’s Continuous Operations Improvement Systems, click here.

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