Dankotuwa Porcelain holds quality circle convention
Dankotuwa Porcelain which was the pioneer in implementing the
Japanese style small group activity Quality Circles will hold its
convention on February 25 at the factory premises. Quality Circles were
first introduced to Dankotuwa in 1990 and has been a significant element
in their employee involvement programme, which has tapped the knowledge
and creativity of their entire workforce. Dankotuwa Quality Circles have
participated in international conventions in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Sri
Lanka, Singapore and Taiwan. Dankotuwa was the second company in Sri
Lanka to hold a company Quality Circle convention as far back as 1993.
Quality Circles originated in Japan in the 1960s and is credited with
having made an important contribution to the Nation's drive to improve
quality of all its products and services, and also make use of the
talents and knowledge of its highly educated workforce. Soon after World
War 2 when Japan introduced American methods of management, they were
seen to create many problems as they were dysfunctional in the Japanese
culture.
Quality Circles commenced when Japan realised that the concept of
"you are paid to use your hands and should carry out instructions to the
letter without any change by you, and you should keep your lunch box and
your brains in the locker before entering the factory," did not work in
the Japanese workplace. The educated Japanese worker was very keen to be
involved in the way work was designed. Therefore workers were trained in
problem identification, in problem solving tools and other graphical
techniques and were encouraged to voluntarily get together and follow a
systematic procedure to solve quality related problems. Quality Circles
are essentially formed of non-executive employees, and select problems
on their own. The solution is presented to management and if accepted
will be implemented.
Since 1984 Dankotuwa Porcelain has been very passionate about
quality. Dankotuwa is well-known for the quality of its products which
is accepted by international buyers as some of the best in the world.
Dankotuwa is well-known for its manual interventions to produce perfect
blemish free products and for the high skill in surface decorations.
International buyers have regarded Dankotuwa as a very reliable source
of high quality products. All these have been possible due to the
passion for quality of the workforce at Dankotuwa Porcelain. This
passion has been a result of many Japanese techniques such as Quality
Circles, 5S, Kaizen suggestions etc. where Dankotuwa Porcelain was a
pioneer.
"We had our ups and downs in the enthusiasm for quality circles" said
Chairman Sunil Wijesinha, adding further, "Enthusiasm declined when the
workers got older and were more focused on their grown up children doing
their O/Ls and A/Ls. However the more recently recruited younger workers
have taken this up with great enthusiasm and would sustain the programme
for the future." The Company says that younger workers need more than
money to sustain their enthusiasm and Quality Circles is one of the best
methods for this, as it provides skill variety, task identity, task
significance and feedback. |