Aggreko and Cameron House Hotel

(NTA article written by UK Skills for the Glasgow Herald)

The idea

A joint venture between four organisations, led by Ross International, culminated in the winning of a prestigious National Training Award 2001 based upon the innovative application of the Kaizen Blitz continuous improvement technique. This Award in the Partnership category involved four organizations coming together in a joint venture to utilise the Japanese technique of continuous improvement and develop an accredited learning programme.

A Kaizen Blitz is a five-day process to apply the principles of Toyota's production system to produce sustainable and measurable improvements. Multi-disciplined teams from the client companies take part in the Blitz week working to identify and eliminate all major areas of waste within the process.

Ross International wanted to take this successful formula further and prepared nationally accredited course materials. So Ross International Ltd and Interactive Business Partnership created two learning programmes. Two very different companies, Aggreko and Cameron House Hotel volunteered to trial this approach.

Results

Aggreko cut defects by 50%, reduced leadtime by 70%, improved workplace organisation and made annual savings of £300,000. Team members each gained a NEBS (now ILM) Management Introductory Certificate.

For its part, Cameron House achieved annual savings in linen costs of £60,000, the quality of linen has improved and staff are less stressed by the responsibility of delivering continuous five star service. The team leader gained a Scottish Vocational Qualification at level three in Management.

Two dozen people were trained in the two pilot projects.