Kundasale CEB Chief Engineer's office bags Taiki Akimoto 5S Awards

Ridma Dissanayake

The Ceylon Electricity Board's (CEB) Chief Engineer's office in Kundasale received several awards at the Taiki Akimoto 5S Awards 2012 ceremony in Colombo recently.

The CEB Chief Engineer's Office in Kundasle won the Sector Award in the service sector small scale category, Kaizen Award and the first Runner-up award in the TAIKI Akimoto Overall Excellence Award.

The Consumer Service Centre, Dumbara, attached to the Kundasale Chief Engineer's area also won a Merit Award in the Service Sector Small Category.

Taiki Akimoto 5S Awards are conducted annually by the Japan Sri Lanka Technical and Cultural Association. The 5S Competition has a history of 17 years.

Area Kundasle, an ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Certified Organization since February 2012, won the Second Runner-up Award in 5S CEB area office competition in 2011, a Merit Award in the TAIKI Akimoto 5S competition in 2011 and a Silver Award in the National Productivity Award 2010-2011 held by National Productivity Secretariat. The Consumer Service Centre, Dumbara won the first Runner-up award in the CEB Consumer Service Centre Competition in 2012.

Commenting on their success at this competition, Kundasale chief electrical engineer B M U S Bandara said adhering to the 5S concept is the best tool for any organisation to improve product and service quality and cost reduction leading to better staff morale and increased profitability.

He said it also provides a host of progressive and positive opportunities for any organisation to prosper.

Bandara citing his own area as an example, said winning these awards was a fitting recognition for the hard work and commitment of his team.

He said winning three highly recognised awards in a competition like TAIKI Akimoto 5S is unprecedented in the CEB and even in the state sector.

"The award was a result of the collective efforts of the staff," Bandara said.

He said the competition had been extremely rigorous, for instance, a document had to be retrievable by any staff member within 30 seconds and he and his staff had worked meticulously to achieve the required standards.

Bandara said the principles of 5S were implemented in Kundasale with the assistance of Central Province Deputy General Manager engineer Bandula Perera, on a decision by the CEB management to improve quality and productivity in CEB, Central Province.

He said in the long term, it is expected to produce several benefits to the CEB such as recognition and clean work places, releasing of unutilized office space as well as productivity gains.

"The support of the staff has been vital in the successful implementation of 5S in all four Consumer Service Centers in Kundasale.

The implementation of the 5S concepts led to a more customer friendly office environment and created a more conducive atmosphere for staff to be more creative resulting in increased morale, enthusiasm and teamwork amongst them," Bandara said.