SEKISUI Alveo hosted the 6th European KAIZEN Convention from 15th to 17th November in Geisenheim, Germany. The “triadic” slogan of the event “wine, stone and health” not only represented the diversity of the emblematic landscape and its surroundings, but defined the course of the internal competition, which was held in the premises of the AKZENT Waldhotel Rheingau.
In case you are not familiar with the term KAIZEN: It is a continuous improvement activity in Japanese manufacturing culture. With this activity SEKISUI aims at competitiveness and cost effectivity through knowledge sharing by presenting projects and learning from best practices. Therefore, employees in each workplace form small groups to address various topics such as improvements in quality and productivity as well as increasing operational efficiency. They also take on different subjects through policy management striving for innovation and expanding profit.
KAIZEN in Europe
The first KAIZEN event in Europe took place in 2011. Since then, the quality of the projects by European companies as well as the demands the teams set themselves improved rapidly. This led to substantial improvements in workflows as well as higher margins and additional profit. But following the lines of KAIZEN the process is as much important as the result itself.
The success story of the KAIZEN event was continued in Geisenheim. The best team of each company was send to Germany to compete against each other by presenting their innovative projects. Moreover, the best project received a nomination for the global KAIZEN competition in January 2017 in Japan. But since every participant gives their best for the constant improvement of SEKISUI, everyone plays an important role in the KAIZEN activity.
Six teams in alignment with KAIZEN
At the 6th KAIZEN convention in Geisenheim six teams presented their projects. This year’s event was opened by Hitoshi Kobayashi, Head of Total Manufacturing Management Center from SEKISUI CHEMICAL CO., LTD., and Markus Roemer, Plant Director & Production Manager from the host company SEKISUI Alveo, followed by opening remarks by Akira Hikono, Senior Advisor Manufacturing Development Innovation Center.
To keep the competition fair, every presentation was limited to 11 minutes, followed by an 4 minute long Q&A session by judges and other attendance made up of SEKISUI members from Europe and Japan. Changeover and evaluation took 2 minutes, then the next presentation began. A ring showed the presenters how much time they had left. Two concluded presentations were followed by a short coffee break in the lobby giving the attendance time to take a breath and the chance to get to know each other.
Every team presented their project in a clear and unambiguous matter within the giving time frame making it easy for all attendees to follow their detailed explanations. In their talks the competitors explained how they found possibilities for improvements through detailed analyses of the current situations and which concrete measures they took for optimisation.
Moreover, the judges’ questions following each presentation led to interesting exchanges between the participants. Because of the great performances the judges were facing a difficult decision and met afterwards in a separated room to determine the winners. All in all, it was a great experience with great achievements by everyone involved.
The wine part starts in the evening
Markus Roemer opened the award ceremony at the hotels’ restaurant in the evening. Hitoshi Kobayashi and Akira Hikono guided through the ceremony, announced and congratulated all winners and handed over the trophies.
The evening started in compliance with the wine part of the three-part slogan “wine, stone and health”. It was greatly received by the attendees who used that opportunity to get in touch with colleagues in a relaxed atmosphere.
The third place goes to …
… two winners. Due to the fact that the judges were facing a difficult decision it was hardly surprising that two teams shared third place.
SEKISUI S-Lec Resin Plant convinced the jury with their presentation “Increase steam condensate”. Learn more about the project: KAIZEN 2016 – 3rd place: SEKISUI S-Lec Resin
The KAIZEN team of SEKISUI Alveo from the plant in Bad Sobernheim scored with their presentation “Increasing OP Ratio in lamination process”. Learn more about the project: KAIZEN 2016 – 3rd place: SEKISUI Alveo
The second place goes to …
… SEKISUI Specialty Chemicals Europe for “Improve The Accuracy In Cover Ratio Analysis”. Learn more about the project: KAIZEN 2016 – 2nd place: SEKISUI Specialty Chemicals Europe
And the winner is …
… SEKISUI S-Lec Film plant. Please note that the project cannot be presented for legal reasons.
The next day: “stone” and “health”
The KAIZEN Convention was concluded with a bus trip to the factory site of SEKISUI Alveo in Bad Sobernheim on the next day. The surrounding vineyards that the group passed during their ride to the factory symbolized the stone component of the “triangle” slogan. Once the group has reached its destination acommemorative photo was taken in the plant of SEKISUI Alveo.
After a short refreshment break the group was divided into four subgroups. Each of the four groups were guided by a local employee through the factory. At the end of the guided tour every participant received a “Menschel Lehm” peeling mask representing the health aspect of the overall slogan.
All in all, the 6th KAIZEN Convention in Geisenheim was a great experience to get in touch with SEKISUI colleagues. It offered a great opportunity for a multinational exchange of knowledge aiming at the continuous improvement of SEKISUI. Jan Lemmens, juror and plant manager at SEKISUI S-Lec, stated that the KAIZEN activities should be extended even more to other business areas like marketing in the future. Plenty of reasons to be excited about the next KAIZEN convention in 2017. And, of course: Good luck SEKISUI S-Lec Film plant for the Global KAIZEN Convention! The winning team said: “We will do our best to win in Japan”.
