Annual Report 2009 - Asian Productivity Organization

Company, Lanka Balloons, and Country Style Foods
Lanka, all in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Institutional Strengthening of National Productivity
Organizations through the Development of Productivity
Practitioners
Subsequent to the DON Need Assessment Survey
completed in January 2008, the DON Program was
undertaken at two levels: DON Strategy and DON
Implementation. DON Strategy identifies new and
emerging topics, issues, and challenges of APO
member countries. DON Implementation is to build
the capacity of NPOs following the results of DON
Strategy. The new approach aims to align APO
services closer to individual member countries’ longterm
development strategies and direction. In pursuit
of this approach, the Secretariat introduced in-country
training programs for developing a pool of productivity
practitioners and training technical staff of NPOs in
2009. NPOs participated in this initiative by involving
their professional staff in the intensive tailor-made
in-country productivity and quality training offered
through this program.
Group exercise for teamwork improvement, Cambodia
In 2009, six in-country training programs were organized
in association with the participating NPOs to
provide productivity and quality practitioners with
firsthand exposure to the tools and techniques of
productivity improvement, thereby enabling NPOs to
build a critical mass of practitioners in their countries.
These included training programs in Fiji, 25 May–6
June, with 35 participants; Indonesia, 22 June–4
July, with 20 participants; Cambodia, 10–22 August,
with 28 participants; Thailand in two phases, 12–16
October and 30 November–4 December, with 35
participants; Bangladesh, 24 October–5 November,
with 26 participants; and Lao PDR, 9–21 November,
with 23 participants. Each program was followed by a
comprehensive examination, and in most site visits to
industries were organized for practical insight.
Development of Productivity Practitioners: Basic
Program
The training courses on the Development of Productivity
Practitioners: Basic and Advanced (DPP:
Basic and Advanced) were launched by the APO in
response to the urgent needs of NPOs. The entire
course was reviewed and its contents improved and
standardized by the APO in 2008. DPP: Basic aims to
equip participants with basic, fundamental knowledge
of productivity so that they can perform the roles of
junior productivity practitioners. They must be able
to diagnose the current productivity performance in
any organization and then adopt and implement the
appropriate solution for improvement. To provide
sufficient time for field practice and in-depth study on
productivity tools and techniques, the course duration
for DPP: Basic was extended from three to four
weeks.
In collaboration with the DAP, the APO conducted
the 14th DPP: Basic from 6–31 July, which was attended
by 20 participants from 14 member countries.
At the end of this entry-level course, participants were
expected to be able to identify, use, and explain basic
productivity approaches and tools; adopt an integrated
productivity framework for diagnosing productivity
problems and developing and implementing solutions;
and provide training, consulting, and promotional
services to NPO clients. The APO deputed two
international resource persons, and the DAP invited a
pool of local resource persons comprised of in-house
and external trainers.
Program coverage: Productivity concepts and implementation
strategy; Productivity tools and techniques;
Productivity practitioner development; and Developing
individual productivity and quality action plans.
Four companies hosted the participants for inplant
diagnosis and suggestions for improvement:
Bahay Pastulan, a producer of local food items; Lean
Processes Inc., a cosmetic toll packer; College of
Economic, Management, and Development Studies,
Cavite State University; and Lamoiyan Corporation, a
toothpaste producer.
Development of Productivity Practitioners: Advanced
Program
The training courses on the Development of Productivity
Practitioners (DPP): Basic and Advanced have
been conducted since 1994 and 2001, respectively.
These two courses equip productivity professionals
from NPOs with basic and advanced productivity and
quality tools to strengthen the institutional capacity
of NPOs. With rapid developments in national and
global markets, which demand higher-quality products
and services, there is a continuous need for NPOs to
have personnel who can deliver training effectively
APO ANNUAL REPORT 2009 39
INTERFACE SECTOR