Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
SME Course 2—Africa Wants More
How It Began:
Familiar with the quality of the Toyota Production System (TPS), TDLC coordinator Eiko Wataya pondered prospects of a distance learning course for developing countries. She approached the Central Japan Industries Association (ChuSanRen)), a nationwide management specialists’ association comprising 800 companies and organizations, to provide course content on TPS, 5S, and case studies of good practices, and coordinated with GDLN Africa to look into prospective local interest.
With help from JICA‘s Ethiopia office in calling on interested parties in Addis Ababa, participants immediately responded from both the public and private sectors.
Who is ChuSanRen?
ChuSanRen was established in 1948 under the auspices of Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), initially to support post-World War II reconstruction and industry development in central Japan. ChuSanRen Management Consultant Hisazumi Matsuzaki, expert in marketing, manufacturing management, human resource development, organizational management and communications, lectured through video connection from TDLC to participants in Africa, from both government and the private sector.
The Course:
TDLC and GDLN Distance Learning Centers in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia were linked weekly for the lecture series.
The videoconference sessions were also recorded and made available to participants during the seminar period through TDLC’s Video on Demand service.
Testimonials:
With the course now completed, here are some testimonials which have been provided by participants on their distance learning experience:
“I am really grateful for Japan to think about third world countries and to share their experience about success in manufacturing with us. The information is very useful for the productivity and success of our nation. I hope if we try practicing we shall be successful like Toyota. I wish you could organize more sessions. “
– H.M., Uganda Management Institute
“This goes with my profession, it adds value to my capacity, and can be applied anywhere. I will try to advise companies in my area to apply these concepts.”
– H.W.J., Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
“I can implement Kaizen (improvement) project in our company.”
– S.G., Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
“It has been a wonderful presentation and I know at the end of the course I shall be able to make change at my workplace, especially on cost reduction. In my company, sales price = cost + profit. This has made our products very expensive compared to other companies. I have learned that the Toyota production system prefers profit = sales price - cost, and is the best operating system as far as pricing is concerned. ”
—A.G., Uganda
“I am a member of Kaizen (improvement) Project in Ethiopia that will start at the end of August. I will implement my experience from this course at different factories.”
– Y.S., Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
“We discussed the problems that all the factories in Africa are facing for not delivering on time, one of the problems in our company. Your explanation is very interesting to let us understand.”
– Ali, Ghana
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