🇺🇦🇺🇦 Ukraine, Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦. The home of some of the greatest Kaizen mind. I am always anxious to hear their never-ending improvements. They live by the principles of Kaizen 24/7. It’s all at “Progress Service”, a mid-sized footwear company based in Lviv led by dynamic and energetic young captain, my friend Pavlo Fedyuk They measure performance by the rate of change. Conducting over hundreds of Kaizen events weekly. They are never satisfied with what they achieved, not enough. Their successful lean stories brought in group of factories following the same maturity path and challenging each other weekly. Implementing lean tools wasn’t enough. Their main focus on practices and practices. True engineering value. It took Pavlo Fedyuk years through continual development to embark the entire worksforce in this Lean Journey driven by shared values. Wish many companies following the same path. Progress Service, set the example on how to lead by value. 👋 Congratulations.

Companies are looking in the wrong places For companies with failed Lean improvement experiences, their cost reduction efforts were mostly limited to physical change to eliminating unnecessary space, reducing level of WIP. The main focus was mainly on connecting processes to eliminate retention and WIP and also on downsizing production lines which improved a bit by cutting waste due to reduction of the number of workers. To do this, they mapped the value stream of specific product to identify waste related to materials and information flow that affects lead time, space and cost.

The shift to Industry 4.0 will change the way factories are managed and operate and everyone will have to address the daily obstacles which ultimately impact the company’s financial performance. Cloud-based processes, allow everyone to interpret data and address problems at every stage of the production supply chain in time to make corrections.

It will even allow factories to better understand design and marketing, the problems facing their customers. IR4 will revolutionize data collection on the factory floor, enabling managers to make instant decisions.

Everyone will be able to act immediately. But this in turn means that managers who currently only possess technical experience gained in the traditional factory set-up will need to develop the appropriate managerial and analytical skills allowing them to make those instant decisions correctly.

In other words, IR4 will allow companies to improve performance as long as their workforces have the appropriate skills. But preparing for the new digital age is a long-term process and companies need to move now in reinventing and redesigning manufacturing platform and directions.

Experience is what you gain after working year after year in the same way often without exposure to better ways of working and usually by following other people who have learned in the same on-the-job manner.

Expertise is what you attain when you also possess a superior level of real knowledge, skills and abilities.

For example, a pilot gains true expertise by applying what was learned at the training academy in multiple situations over a period of time and thereby also builds up top-notch experience.

Professionals often confuse the difference between experience and expertise when they describe their qualifications. Experience is what you gain after working year after year in the same way often without exposure to better ways of working. Expertise is what you attain when you also possess a superior level of real knowledge, skills and abilities. Gladly, we have launched our institute in Vietnam to develop qualified experts possessing true and appropriate expertise doesn’t require years of theoretical education. Our courses are industry-based and have been tried and proven over many years in countless real-life factory situations. Furthermore, our approach is innovative and our techniques are tailored to today's needs. We emphasize advanced management style and engineered creative thinking.

Be the Change that You Wish to See.

With all the brilliant minds that write books and coach manufacturing leaders, there is still a high rate of failure each day in the industry. I still hear managers and corporate leaders blame the workforce for poor performance. When I walk into a factory, that’s the first thing I hear. Now, to be clear, I am all about the company. But the factory is just an entity. The workforce is still made up of people

What are the future sourcing mechanisms? Buyers: no clue. But definitely, companies who expect to thrive need to dramatically shift their focus from superficial appeasement of compliance and ethical standards towards truly achieving world-class manufacturing standards governed by value engineering and solid business sense. The apparel industry has enormous professional talents and values. But in recent years, the world has ignored these achievements, focusing instead on whether factories have been able to reach social and compliance standards. But it is the companies who strive to live and lead by true values who will always outperform those who only play up their ethical achievements. It is time to look at the future based on long-term benefits over short-term gains.

RMG factories can no longer rely on experience gained on the job. it's the time to throw away outdated management style & inadequate skills. No technologies or skilled operators can save the industry. But the Human system does.

Currently the workforce development both in Nationally and Internationally is still based on some old development methods copied across the apparel industry, where it was once possible to meet financial goals basically, through motivation and hard work, mostly this has started in the days of quotas where things were simple and easy but not anymore.

The time has come to roll up our sleeves and get back to work. But first we need to realize that the recession brought on by COVID-19 is different from any previous recession. Some people are calling it suppression since it is forcing us to appraise and save what we have left of our businesses and overall economy.