Because they’re the ones actually doing the day-to-day work, employees are in the best position to come up with ideas for operations improvement. They know first-hand what’s working and what’s not, and they see all kinds of ways to improve performance, from simple, common-sense ideas for saving time and money, improve quality and safety, to entirely new ways of doing operations. A good start is to coach first-line managers for creating an environment within which their teams are encouraged and motivated to provide innovations and improvement ideas.

At Grain Field Chickens (GFC), who was recently awarded the PDI (Japan) and ODI (South Africa) 20 Keys International Excellence Award, the focus was on strengthening the workplace to have thinking people, with the mindset that innovations and ideas for improvement can, and should, exist at all levels of the organisation.

GFC implemented a structured approach for capturing and supporting the implementation of ideas. Wally Kok, the Key 3 Leader’s role is to support line functions and administer the suggestions tracking system. The line managers are the owners of the system and need to engage team members and stimulate them to think about their workplace, processes and activities in terms of

• safety,
• quality,
• cost,
• productivity and
• delivery.

GFC received 3,065 ideas for improvement over the last year!

Implementing Key 3 is not a once-off project but a never-ending journey of strengthening the maturity where everyone in the organisation, literally every day, is thinking about operations improvement.

Below is a very good example of an idea for improvement, submitted by an employee in the IQF department of the plant – a clear understanding and engagement of staff that is evident in an organisation that enjoys a mature level of the 20 Keys system.

Author: Johan Benadie: Director at ODI, and a 20 Keys practitioner for 24 years.

To read more about Theo van Strijp’s (Managing Director at GFC) topic of discussion at last year’s one-day conference where we celebrated 30 years of operations excellence – “Grain Field Chickens: Road to Excellence Award”, click here.

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GFC started their 20 Keys journey in March 2016, when Theo van Strijp, currently MD, asked me to present the 20 Keys system to him and the rest of the management team.

Theo is no newcomer to the 20 Keys, also having achieved the Award in 2006, while he was a manager and 20 Keys Facilitator at the Earlybird Processing Plant in Standerton.

I did the final Award review on Thursday and Friday, following a gap analysis and pre-review earlier this year. Detailed and thorough reviews were done, and the final review satisfied all the requirements for the award; both in terms of the required maturity levels for the 20 Keys, as well as improvements required, in terms of:

• quality,
• cost,
• productivity,
• delivery,
• safety, and
• morale.

Over the period of implementation, GFC went through rapid expansion and equipment upgrades. Throughout this time, Theo stuck to the implementations, and actively supported it – a best practice example of the role of senior management. I consulted monthly with a 2-day visit each time.

An important success requirement is that adequate resources and support need to be provided for the implementation. This is even more important in a high-speed industry like chicken processing, as there is very little time available to have first-line team members in training and discussion sessions. The process is finely balanced, and when someone is not at a workstation, the production flow is affected.

Landi van der Merwe started off as the 20 Keys Facilitator for the first few years, and was joined in 2019 by Rene Janse van Rensburg; both of them are Industrial Engineers. They did an excellent job of supporting the production and supporting functions with:

• training,
• effective use of tools and techniques, and
• implementation advice.

I am impressed by their eagerness to learn, and their patience to help first-line teams to understand and implement the concepts. The role of Key Leaders is also important; Theo took the responsibility as Key Leader for Key 2 (Goal Alignment) and Key 20 (Technology), while the other Keys were allocated to people involved with the particular functions.

Without exception, a great job was done by the Key Leaders, supporting the implementation based on action plans which were regularly reviewed and updated in line with the requirements of the different levels for the Keys. The system was implemented in all production and supporting functions at the Processing Plant, as well as at GFC Head Office.

Special mention must be made of people in first-line teams. The success of the implementation, results and sustainability are very much determined at this level, where people directly interact with machines, other teams and information. Without their active participation and willingness to learn, an implementation will not be sustainable.

Well done to Theo and the GFC team, from all of us at ODI!

“Dear Theo, I am Yoshi Kobayashi of PDI Japan. I remember meeting you in 2006 in Japan and again in 2008 in South Africa. Thank you very much for all your hard work with 20 Keys. I hope that you will sustain the level and also improve further. Please extend my thanks to the two 20 Keys facilitators – Landi (I met Landi at the last Japan tour) and Rene. Best regards.”

Yoshi Kobayashi :  PDI

Theo van Strijp: MD, replied:

“Good day Dr Kobayashi, Thank you so much for the kind words. I remember you very well and have such respect for you and your knowledge on 20 Keys and continuous improvement. Indeed – the 2^nd Excellence Award for me; with the first one, I did all the hard work as 20 Keys facilitator but this time I was lucky to have people that is committed to do the hard work, and I just gave guidance. I’m looking forward to the day that we meet again, and definitely another picture!”

Theo to Johan Benadie:

“Johan, you made such a big impact on my career when we met many years ago and I have learned so much from you over the years.”

Author: Johan Benadie – Director at ODI

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

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Quality is one of the categories of the *QCDSM Scorecard. The scorecard as a whole focuses on operational excellence.

(*QCDSM is an acronym, which stands for Quality, Cost, Delivery, Safety, and Morale. These items represent an overall strategy that is used to improve business processes throughout many industries. This system is designed to take potentially large issues, and break them down into many smaller ones. These smaller issues can then be prioritized, and the necessary efforts and resources can be assigned to ensure things begin working the way that they should.)

What is quality?

A Peter D Wickens (Author of The Ascendant Organization) quote came to mind:

“The quality of a product or service is the customer’s perception of it, taking into account their total experience of those features they consider important.”

To follow is the 20 Keys relationship diagram

The following Keys Support companies to “ Produce Better” using the QCDSM Scorecard:

Key 11: Quality Assurance – this Key is the main focus of the Quality category

• The critical concept in this Key is to build quality into processes through the involvement of people involved in the process
• The objective is to create a quality focused workplace where the focus is on preventing defects, addressing root causes of quality problems, and mistake-proof devices (poka-yoke)
• The ultimate aim is to achieve zero defects

The two main aspects to consider when improving quality is:

1. To have to right dashboard
2. To continuously strengthen the capability of Systems/Processes, People and Technology

Operations Excellence

Nothing is quite as valuable as doings things right; the first time – every time!

Further critical concepts to consider:

* Your Quality measurement system

• Customer complaints (feedback to teams, analyse for root causes)
• In process measures at critical points (rework, waste)
• Number of non-conformances
• Report only “good” quality production
• Cost of quality measurement
• Measure process capability

* Understanding that the next process is the customer

* Creating a quality-focused workplace:

• “I am responsible for quality”
• Check quality of process at source (and inputs)
• Check for root causes (5 Why’s, root cause analysis)
• Understand the importance and links to other Keys, e.g. -Key 1 : Cleaning and Organising, -Key 3 : Small group Activities, -Key 15 :Skill Versatility, -Key 9 : Maintaining Machines and Equipment

Measuring the cost of quality needs to be understood and typically falls into two categories, A&B:

A. TOTAL COST OF RIGHT THE FIRST TIME QUALITY includes:

* Total cost of prevention, which includes:

• Cost of implementing and maintaining the quality management system
• Cost of supplier quality assurance
• Cost of education and skills training
• Cost of doing statistical process control (SPC)

* And total cost of appraisal (inspection), which includes:

• Cost of inspecting incoming materials
• Cost of laboratory testing
• Cost of inspection of incoming materials and laboratory testing
• Cost of management of third-party certification and audits
• Cost of managing ongoing government regulations
• Cost of auditing the quality management system
• Cost of in-process inspection and testing

B. TOTAL COST OF NON-CONFORMANCE includes:

* Total cost of internal non-conformance, which includes:

• Cost of reworking products
• Cost of scrapping products
• Cost of overfill or overweight products
• Cost of running slowly or incurring downtime (due to quality problems)
• Cost of a yield loss (product down the drain or lost somehow)
• Cost of storing products that needs to be put on hold

* And total cost of external non-conformance, which includes:

• Cost of managing consumer claims and settlements
• Cost of providing customer reclaim credits
• Cost of managing product recalls or withdrawal (from the trade)

Measuring the cost of quality:

In isolation these figures are not always so meanigful, but when used to indicate a trend it becomes a very important tool to work with.

Other Critical concepts that must also be considered are:

• Inspection at source (and check for root causes)
• Immediate corrective action (quick time to detect, quick time to correct (TTD, TTC)
• Prevention of defects (Poka-yoke)
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Planned Task Observations (PTOs)

Standard operating procedure (SOP)

“The best current work method for achieving quality, cost and delivery time in a safe manner.”

Once a task has been standardised, it can be improved.  Therefore, the standard operation is the starting point for all improvement activity.  Once new methods have been implemented the standard operating procedure is updated – always follow the SOP!

And the final Critical concepts to consider include:

• A two-point inspection system
• Autonomous inspection lines
• The Seven QC tools
• 6 Sigma (improving process capability and reliability)
• Using small group activities (SGAs) for quality improvement

ODI/Astral Partnership

At Astral, SGAs are very successfully used for quality improvement. Small group activities are used at a Chicken Processing Plant for improving quality. Click here to read more.

SGA – doing a root cause analysis using the Fishbone Diagram, which is one of the Seven QC tools. Click here to read more.

Below follow the other Keys that support companies to do better

Key 9 of 20 Keys for Continuous Operations Improvement – Maintaining machines & equipment

Main focus:

• Improving the effectiveness of the machines and equipment
• Involve the operators and users of the equipment in daily and routine preventive maintenance
• Let artisans, engineers and other support people focus on implementing the rest of the maintenance strategy

The 3 evils of maintenance

Key 7 of 20 Keys for Continuous Operations Improvement – Zero Monitor Manufacturing / Production

Main focus:

• Equipment monitoring (just watching the machines when they run) is a waste
• If monitoring is performed to detect the production of defects equipment must be improved so that no defects are produced in the first place
• If monitoring is performed to guard against raw material shortages, then the system must be improved to prevent this from happening

Key 12 of 20 Keys for Continuous Operations Improvement – Developing your suppliers

Main focus:

• Developing external suppliers and contractors
• Suppliers are partners in the value chain
• Introduce a formal method for managing and developing suppliers

Supplier development

Key 15 of 20 Keys for Continuous Operations Improvement – Skills versatility and cross training

Main focus:

• About implementing learning and development as part of the business strategy
• Developing individuals to become more valuable and to enjoy greater job satisfaction
• 20 Keys Skills Matrices applied to assess current skill levels and to address gaps in the skills of teams.

All the Keys discussed that support Quality in the workplace is highlighted in yellow below on the 20 Keys relationship diagram.

Below are some extract from companies that highlighted Quality in their presentations during the ODI 30 Year celebration conference, held on 29 August 2019.

The conclusion then is that quality can only be continuously and sustainably improved, by

Continuously strengthening the elements of:

1)

2) Implementing the Keys in a holistic, integrated way. This is where the 20 Keys methodology is so powerful as it provided the vehicle to do so.

As an example of teachings from our National Qualifications and Skills Programmes, ODI (facilitated by Valery Hansen) is currently busy with a group of delegates from CTP Group of companies, completing their NQF 2 National certificate in Production Technology, discussing:

• quality,
• quality control,
• quality assurance,
• similarities and differences between customers and suppliers views of quality.

George Meiring is currently facilitating VKB learners completing their NQF 2 National Certificate in Production  Technology, and they are studying the concepts:

• What is quality?
• What is Quality Control?
• What is Quality Assurance?
• What are the 7 quality control tools?”

To follow is a list of Quality quotes by ODI staff members:

• Valery Hansen: “Quality is what the customer thinks it is”.
• Gerald McKinnon: “Quality is conformance to requirements. The system for causing quality is prevention.”
• Joan Bull: “A commitment to your customer.”
• George Meiring: “Quality is built in by each operator, not inspected in by inspectors after the fact.”
• Maryke Viviers-Bergh: “Quality is pride of workmanship.”
• Michael Foxon: “Quality is value for money…”
• Johan Benadie: “Quality is the entry ticket to operations competitiveness, companies that still struggle with it need urgent attention!
• Johan Benadie: “You can have 100% customer satisfaction in terms of quality and still go out of business.”
• Johan Benadie: “Quality assurance starts with operators having respect for the product they make.”
• Ilse Doyer: “Cost is more important than quality but quality ASSURANCE is the best way to reduce cost.” Adapted from Genichi Taguchi.

Author: Huibie Jones: MD at ODI.

To read more about the 20 Keys partner presentations at the 27th International 20 Keys Conference, click here.

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