The
Taj Hotel Group Mumbai had invited Mr. Masaaki Imai from Japan to hold a
workshop for its staff.
The
staff were very skeptical - the hotel is doing excellent business, this person
from Japan has no exposure to hotel industry - what exactly is he going to
teach?
However,
everybody gathered as planned for the workshop in the conference hall sharp at
9 am.
Mr.
Masaaki was introduced to them - a not so impressive personality, nor the
English all that good; spoke as if he was first formulating each sentence in
Japanese and then translating it into rather clumsy English.
"Good
morning! Let us start work. I am told this is a workshop; but I see neither
work nor shop. So let's proceed where work is happening, let’s start with the
first room on the first floor."
Mr.
Masaaki, followed by the senior management, the participants, the video camera
crew trouped out of the conference room and proceeded to the destination.
Mr.
Masaaki entered the room and stood at the window, "beautiful view!"
he said.
The
staff knew it; they need not invite a Japanese consultant to tell them this!
"A
room with such a beautiful view is being wasted as a laundry room. Shift the
laundry to the basement and convert this into a guest room."
Aa
Haa! Now nobody had ever thought about that!
The
manager said, "Yes, it can be done."
"Then
let's do it," Mr. Masaaki said.
"Yes
sir, I will make a note of this and we will include it in the report on the
workshop that will be prepared." Said the Manager
"Excuse
me, but there is nothing to note down in this. Let's just do it, just
now." Mr. Masaaki.
"Just
now?" Manager
"Yes,
decide on a room on the ground floor/basement and shift the stuff out of this
room right away. It should take a couple of hours, right?" asked Mr. Masaaki.
"Yes."
Manager.
"Let's
come back here just before lunch. By then all this stuff will have got shifted
out and the room must be ready with the carpets, furniture etc. and from today
you can start earning the few thousand that you charge your customers for a
night."
"Ok,
Sir." The manager had no option.
The
next destination was the pantry. The group entered. At the entrance were two
huge sinks full of plates to be washed.
Mr.
Masaaki removed his jacket and started washing the plates.
"Sir,
Please, what are you doing?" the manager didn't know what to say and what
to do.
"Why,
I am washing the plates", Mr. Masaaki.
"But
sir, there is staff here to do that." Manager Mr. Masaaki continued
washing, "I think sink is for washing plates, there are stands here to
keep the plates and the plates should go into the stands."
All
the officials wondered - did they require a consultant to tell them this?
After
finishing the job, Mr. Masaaki asked, "How many plates do you have?'
"Plenty,
so that there should never be any shortage." answered the Manager.
Mr.
Masaaki said, "We have a word in Japanese -'Muda'.
Muda
means delay, Muda means unnecessary spending.
One
lesson to be learned in this workshop is to avoid both.
If
you have plenty of plates, there will be delay in cleaning them up.
The
first step to correct this situation is to remove all the excess plates."
"Yes,
we will say this in the report." Manager.
"No,
wasting our time in writing the report is again an instance of 'Muda'.
We
must pack the extra plates in a box right away and send these to whichever
other section of Taj requires these. Throughout the workshop now we will find
out where all we find this 'Muda' hidden."
And
then at every spot and session, the staff eagerly awaited to find out Muda and
learn how to avoid it.
On
the last day, Mr. Masaaki told a story.
"A
Japanese and an American, both fond of hunting, met in a jungle. They entered
deep jungle and suddenly realized that they had run out of bullets. Just then
they heard a lion roaring. Both started running. But the Japanese took a short
break to put on his sports shoes. The American said, "What are you doing?
We must first get to the car."
The
Japanese responded, "No. I only have to ensure that I remain ahead of
you."
All
the participants engrossed in listening to the story, realized suddenly that
the lion would stop after getting his victim!
"The
lesson is: competition in today's world is so fierce, that it is important to
stay ahead of other, even by just a couple of steps. And you have such a huge
and naturally well endowed country. If you remember to curtail your production
expenditure and give the best quality always, you will be miles ahead as
compared to so many other countries in the world.", concluded Mr. Masaaki.
It
is never late to learn...let us take out all the MUDA OUT OF OUR LIVES.
