You Can be Great If You Really Want To

In the manufacturing industry, the concept of continuous improvement is very necessary especially nowadays. As operational costs continue to rise amid higher expenses for labor, raw materials, taxes and other operational necessities, manufacturers are bearing the pressure of continually surviving the challenges of business.

The concept of Kaizen or ‘continuous improvement’ was conceived and first implemented in Japan, where manufacturers are very well known globally for being highly efficient and productive at the same time. Continuous Improvement revolves around the idea that incremental and small changes or improvements in production can definitely lead to major and significant results when done consistently or sustained continuously. Thus, Japanese firms and other global companies adopting the system of Continuous Improvement are characterized for being highly efficient and productive.

If your business is aiming to adopt and implement the principles of the system, it would be imperative that you first be acquainted with the key Continuous Improvement metrics. Integrating the ideals and principles of Continuous Improvement would not be much of a hassle if you would be determined enough to understand before fully implementing the Continuous Improvement metrics.

Continuous Improvement metrics basically focus on the five core indicators of a good manufacturing or company performance. Thus, it would be helpful if you would be more exposed to those Continuous Improvement metrics that are described herein.

Quality. The main concern of all manufacturing operations should be the quality of the produce. Quality is the factor that would make or break a product or a brand. If quality is sustained and ensured to be high, for sure, demand for the products the manufacturer makes would remain high and business would be sustained as long as consumers value and recognize that high quality. Many manufacturers fail because of their inability to sustain quality.

Productivity. When the quality is sustained, of course, manufacturers should ensure productivity. Productivity is the factor that ensures that the business would be able to produce goods that the market demands. If manufacturers are unproductive, they would not be able to produce enough volumes of products that would be distributed in the market. In the end, the business would fail to generate enough revenues and eventually earnings to sustain long-term operations.

Schedule. Good manufacturers are those that are able to meet prescribed or preset timetables. In the manufacturing arena, good scheduling is important because suppliers and distributors are always strict when it comes to nourishing and piling inventories. Productivity and quality would fall futile if timetables are not met and strictly implemented.

Effort. Lean manufacturing is recommended if you are to adopt Continuous Improvement metrics. That means, the efforts exerted on a regular basis within the workplace should be minimized. Personnel can be streamlined. Did you know that manufacturing does not need too numerous head count of laborers if only efficiency is implemented? By that, there is a need to de-clutter the workplace so that workers could move more freely and there would be no possible delays in production. A minimalist interior design of facilities could help lessen unnecessary efforts in the workplace.

Cost. Perhaps the main gist of concerns that bog manufacturers is cost. No company would want to face higher costs, but most of the time, rising expenses are inevitable. When the business pays salaries of employees, purchases raw materials for manufacturing, invests in equipment and technology, pays taxes and shoulders marketing, there is indeed costs incurred. Continuous Improvement principle aims to control of lower costs without compromising effort, schedule, productivity and quality.

If your business is ready to focus on these Continuous Improvement metrics, or already have them in place, for sure, company margins would continue to widen and overall profitability would be bolstered. Success would be within reach.

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Self esteem can be very hard to build and once you have it, it can be a burden to maintain. Everyday life will test your self-esteem; see how much you can take before it finally gets through to you. Never let it get the best of you and never let it destroy you because once you lose all self esteem, you’re back to square one and the journey will be long to regain you esteem. In this article discover 5 things you should avoid to keep your esteem high.

1 – Negative Environment
This is the place where non – appreciative people thrive. Everyone will have one of these in their life may it be work, school or even at home. Any work you do is not appreciated even if you worked yourself to the bone. This environment will have you feeling bad so avoid it at all costs as it will ruin your self-esteem.

2 – Other People’s Behaviour
If someone is in a bad mood leave them alone. People who are in bad moods are most likely to attack if provoked. Anyone that sends out a bad vibe you should immediately back off from as it may affect you too or they could attack (verbally) denting your esteem.

3 – Changing Environment
This isn’t avoidable but it is something you should look out for. Sometime in your life you will experience a change may that be house, school, job or even relationships. Changes will be hard to adjust to and some big changes can seriously hurt your self-esteem (a change to a lower paid job because you weren’t as good at your last one) but remember that with change you can easily adapt to it.

4 – Past Experience
This is a major self-esteem crusher. Some things happen in the past and every now and then we will rethink these events and some will even cry. A good example and probably most common past experience that would crush you would be a divorce from your parent (you feel you caused it) or your parents leaving you for adoption. Sure the past can come back to haunt us, but the past is the past and you have to put that behind you and think about the future.

5 – Negative World View
The world is full of negativity; war, famine, poverty…All this can hurt you as you know you can’t do anything to help but you can. You may donate clothes, food or even money to help people who need it more and you are guaranteed to get a major boost of esteem.

Don’t get knocked on your feet by people who are trying to pull you down. We are given our options and it is us who choose which one =s to take. Follow this guide to make sure that you don’t get pulled down by the world and so that you can keep on top.

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Commit to Constant & Never-Ending Improvement

 

WE HAVE AN INNATE DESIRE TO ENDLESSLY LEARN, GROW AND DEVELOP. WE WANT TO BECOME MORE THAN WHAT WE ALREADY ARE. ONCE WE YIELD TO THIS INCLINATION FOR CONTINUOUS AND NEVER-ENDING IMPROVEMENT, WE LEAD A LIFE OF ENDLESS ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND SATISFACTION – CHUCK GALLOZZI

 

In Japan the word for constant and never-ending improvement is KAIZEN. Not only is this an operating philosophy for modern Japanese business, it is the age old philosophy of warriors, too – and it’s become the personal mantra for millions of successful people all over the world.

 

Human beings are born to achieve and achievement is what differentiates a man from the animal. Achievers – whether in business, arts, sports – are committed to continual and ceaseless improvement. If you want to be more successful, you need to ask a lot of questions to yourself.

 

Going about doing the job at the workplace how can I make it more interesting, better in terms of quality, quick in terms of efficiency, profitable in terms of fulfilling customer’s satisfaction?

 

How can I motivate myself and my subordinates to consistently accomplish superior results?

 

 

The Mind – Numbing Pace of Change

 

In today’s world, a certain amount of improvement is necessary just to keep up with the rapid pace of change. Change is inevitable. We need to keep pace with changing times or you are lost into the oblivion. New information, new technologies, new processes, new methods are being discovered and used more often. New words come into use anytime a trend or fad catches on. And what we learn about ourselves, about our health, and about the capacity for human thought continues almost unabated.

 

Improving is therefore necessary simply to survive. But to thrive, as successful individual do, a more dedicated and concerted approach to improvement is required.

Improve in Small Increments

 

Whatever you set out to improve your skills, change your behavior, or better your family life or business, beginning in small, manageable steps gives you a great chance and opportunity of long-term success. Even if you decide to improve 1% every day, in a year you are going to improve by 365%. Doing too much too fast not only overwhelms you (or anyone else involved in the improvement), it can doom the effort to failure – thereby reinforcing the belief that it’s difficult. When you start small, achievable steps you can easily master, reinforces your belief that you can easily improve. For example: If you have decided to climb 100 steps, you need to take incremental steps to achieve the feat.

 

Decide What to Improve On

 

At work, your goal might be for your organization to improve upon the quality of your product or service, your customer service program, or you’re advertising. Professionally, you might want to improve upon your computer skills, your negotiating skills, or your communication and decision making skills. At home you might want to improve upon your parenting skills, cooking skills. You could also focus on improving your health, fitness, your knowledge of investing and money management. Or perhaps you want to develop greater inner peace through meditation, yoga, and prayer. Whatever your goal, decide where you want to improve and what steps you’ll need to take to achieve that kind of improvement.

 

To keep yourself focused on constant and never-ending improvement, ask yourself everyday, “How can I / we improve today? What can I / we do better than before? Where can I learn a new skill or develop a new competency?” If you do constantly, deliberately, regularly on a day to day basis with a bull dog determination, you will embark on a lifelong journey of improvement that will ensure your success.

 

Do not Dare to Skip Steps

 

He who stops being better stops being good. One of the realities is that major improvement takes time; they don’t happen overnight. What you are today is the sum total of your personality which you developed over a period of time.  For example: If you want to be better in terms of leadership, communication at work place, you need to come out with a different set of thought process which ultimately sets a new behavioral pattern. In other words, you need to unlearn those things which you have learned in the past and put your new learning habits to set a momentum. Learning new things and making a commitment to get better each day, every day you eventually over a period of time become successful in achieving goals.

 

Becoming a master takes even more time. You have to practice, practice and practice! You have to horne your skills through constant use and refinement. It takes several years to have the depth and breadth of experience that produces expertise, insight and wisdom. Every book you read, every class you take, every experience you have, every mistake you correct is another building block in your career and your life.

 

Don’t shortchange yourself by not being ready when your big break appears. Make sure you have done your homework and honed your craft. Actors usually have to do a lot of preparation – acting classes, community theater, bit parts in movies and television, more acting classes, voice lessons, accent training, dancing lessons, martial arts training, learning to ride a horse until one day they are ready for the dream part that is ready for them.

 

Make a commitment to keep getting better and better every day in every way. In doing so, you will enjoy the feelings of increased self-esteem and self-confidence that come from self-improvement, as well as the ultimate success that will inevitably follow.

 

The author of this article / write up is Iyer Subramanian. He has been writing a number of articles in Business Manager, Hospitalitybiz, Express Hospitality. Can be contacted by e mail: iyerpdkgnm@yahoo.com

 

 

       

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