October - November 2012 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

Business
Then they return to their original country and work on lean
projects there. The program focuses on learning by doing and
helps the participants to develop themselves into managers
who will be able to take up middle management functions
such as managing a warehouse. In this way, lean thinking is
integrated deeply into the company’s operations. Each year,
20 to 30 employees are identified and enrolled in the program.
The LEAN program was first developed and implemented
in The Netherlands. Since then it has been rolled-out in four
regions: Northern Europe, the Americas, SEMEA (Southern
Europe, Middle-East and Africa) and Asia Pacific. Jolle is
responsible for the roll-out in the Asia Pacific region, which
extends from India to Japan, and includes Australia and New
Zealand. His main focus is on managing the program on a
day-to-day basis. However, he is also involved in training and
coaching of employees in the region, as well as the further
development of the program. “Especially in the Asia Pacific
region, the cultural differences are huge. Training in India
is completely different from training in Australia. It is an
interesting challenge to integrate and sustain the lean way of
thinking in all our sites in the region.”
Jolle extrapolates, “one big advantage of having this
worldwide LEAN program is that a lean community is being
created. In the first year, trainees work on 5 to 6 different
projects in different project teams in different countries. They
build up an extensive network within the company, which
they use to discuss problems and share ideas. In this way best
practices are being developed, which are translated into what
we call ‘CEVA SMART solutions’, which in turn are being used
to provide our customers with the best possible solution for
their logistical requirements.”
The Power of Lean
The origins of lean can be found in the car manufacturing
industry. Lean thinking was developed by Toyota in the years
after World War II and fueled Toyota’s growth in the last few
decades. Isn’t it strange that a concept from the car industry
is being applied in a non-manufacturing environment?
“No,” answers Jolle, “Lean is a very powerful management
philosophy, that can be applied everywhere. The ‘kaizen’
aspect of lean, which focuses on continuous improvement,
applies not only to, for example, productivity, but also to
quality, safety or environmental issues.”
To consistently provide their customers with operational
excellence, a focus on continuous improvement is a must.
This is an integral part of the lean methodology. Jolle gives
an example to elucidate upon the improvements that can
be realized by using lean. “At one of our sites, the number
of picking errors in the warehouse was too high. As some
products looked very similar, workers would easily mix up the
products and pick the wrong item. After analysing the issue,
it became clear that the products only differ slightly in size.
The employees suggested using a mold during the picking
process. Then they could easily determine whether they had
picked the right product. After the idea was implemented,
the number of picking errors was drastically reduced by 89%.
Of course, our customer was impressed by this considerable
improvement in quality.”
That is what CEVA’s LEAN program is all about. Thanks
to this company-wide program, lean thinking and the focus
on continuous improvement is at the heart of what every
employee does. By making employees responsible for their
own processes and results, eliminating waste becomes part
of their daily routine. In the end, it is the customer who reaps
the benefits. Isn’t that what business is all about?
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