Introduction
The objectives of the study include an overview of the GASCO company, the analysis of the effects that the kaizen philosophy and the use of 5S have had on it, and recommendations for its further progress. To be more specific, an analysis of the industry in which the company operates, i.e., the oil and gas domain, will be conducted. The place that Abu Dhabi takes in the identified realm will also have to be determined so that the significance of the issue could be defined. Finally, the effects that the change will have on the improvement of the DELTA workshop and its contribution to GACO’s current global performance will be analyzed.
The report includes the following parts: Background, Findings, and Conclusion. The Background section will shed light on the subject matter, particularly, on the oil and gas industry in the context of Abu Dhabi, as well as the kaizen philosophy and its 5S principles as the foundation for promoting corporate sustainability. The Findings, in turn, will describe the effects that the application of the philosophy will ostensibly have on the efficacy of the DELTA workshop. In the Conclusion section, the essential results of the study will be reiterated, and the recommendations for the further progress of the DELTA workshop will be provided.
Background
The oil and gas industry is the focus of the research. According to a report published recently to shed some light on the changes in the identified domain, the gas and oil industry remains an essential growth factor for the UAE, with the growth rates reaching the inspiring 2.8% in 2016 (“Annual economic report 2016,” 2016, p. 18). Therefore, the industry can be deemed as the leading area of the state economy that sets the pace for the rest of the industries and defines the position of Abu Dhabi in the global market.
At present, Abu Dhabi is at the helm of the area, contributing to the staggering 94% of the total amount of crude oil (“United Arab Emirates: Business opportunities. Supply oil & gas industry,” 2012). Therefore, the industry needs a more detailed analysis so that the tools for identifying possible impediments and addressing them in a manner as efficient as possible could be created successfully. The fact that the identified domain is currently one of the primary areas to which the UAE owes its economic success is the reason for choosing the target area.
As a philosophy that leads to corporate sustainability, kaizen has been known for quite a while (Bichai, 2014). A framework created in Japan, the identified notion implies that the principles of sustainability should be included in a company’s supply chain and incorporates the following concepts known as 5S: “seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, shitsuke” (Bichai, 2014), which were roughly translated into English as sorting the essential items and processes, setting them in order, carrying out sanitation, standardizing corporate processes, and sustaining the order in the company.
GASCO, Ltd. has been known as a firm operating in the context of the Abu Dhabi oil & gas industry since the 1970s (Sarin, 2013). However, the lack of an appropriate housekeeping technique had been driving the company to its inevitable demise until the principles of kaizen were introduced into its framework. Furthermore, the lack of an efficient housekeeping framework has led to the development of the lack of responsibility among the staff members causing them to lose tools.
The latter issue, however, can also be attributed to the fact that the tools used in the workshop have not been sorted and, therefore, need categorization. Finally, the space issue needs to be resolved successfully; particularly, the removal of clutter and the adoption of a new and improved strategy toward the management of space will have to be adopted in the course of the DELTA workshop. As a result, the employees will be provided with opportunities to excel in their performance and improve the quality of the end product significantly. Consequently, the enhancement of the company’s performance in the target market is expected.
Findings
The research results indicate that the application of the 5S technique has had a positive effect on the performance of the staff, the efficacy of the SCM processes, and the overall performance of the organization (Ha, 2015). Particularly, the 5S framework contributes to getting the company’s priorities straight and introducing a better approach toward managing space and promoting orderliness in the context of the organization.
A closer look at the way in which the kaizen philosophy, in general, and the 5S principle, in particular, will help improve the operations at DELTA workshop will show that a rapid enhancement of the productivity of the SCM processes is likely to follow the adoption of the strategy in the context of the organization. The first and most obvious, the sorting issue will finally be managed with the help of the seiri principle (Hai & Mai, 2014).
Particularly, the use of the seiri principle will allow for an elaborate classification for the tools used in the workshop, as well as the devices utilized by the staff members during the production process within the organization. Consequently, a significant improvement in the repeatability and reproducibility of the employees’ performance will supposedly be observed. In addition, the concept of orderliness (seiri) will have to be reinforced by using a new system of values. For instance, the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which will help reduce the incidences of tasks mismanagement, will be promoted to the employees.
Consequently, the threat of an error and a drop in quality will be reduced, and the chances of improving the levels of repeatability and reproducibility as the primary markers of quality will appear (Ha, 2015). As a result, the foundation for an enhanced production process will be built, which is essential for improving the quality of the DELTA workshop performance. Similarly, the space management problem will be handled with the help of the seiri notion that implies orderliness and promotes the relevant values.
The focus on the enhancement of corporate values such as responsibility, timeliness, etc., will help make sure that the employees should accept the new value system and meet the quality requirements accordingly. Naturally, it is expected that the members of the DELTA workshop may develop resistance toward the changes since the latter will demand an impressive effort and imply a greater responsibility. The seiton principle will help promote the relevant philosophy that will convince the staff to accept the new value system.
Although the 5S principles must be viewed as the means of promoting change and, therefore, must not be separated from each other, the seiketsu principle, in particular, will allow shaping the staff’s attitude toward the idea of proper usage of their inventory. As stressed above, regular loss of tools is a current problem that affects the general performance rates in the organization to a considerable extent. The adoption of the seiketsu notion, in its turn, will allow standardizing the essential processes within the company. Therefore, the use of tools can be standardized as well, with a set of rigid instructions concerning storing, retrieving, and placing the tools back as the crucial guidelines for meeting the workplace responsibilities.
The issue of space management should also be viewed as an essential addition to the regulation of SCM-related tasks. There is no secret that the lack of available space serves as massive obstacles to a range of SCM processes, especially the ones associated with the stages of storing, rearranging, moving the required materials and end products, etc. Therefore, the reconsideration of the current space management approach, which the 5S framework promotes, can be deemed as a significant contribution to the improvement of the workshop operations. The identified changes can be implemented by applying the principles of seiton a well since the latter implies that configuration-related changes should be set in motion; in other words, alterations should be made to the current approach toward space management.
The significance of the shitsuke principle is not to be underrated, either, since it will help address the issue of householding since it will contribute to the development of the tools that will allow sustaining change in the context of the organization. By maintaining the change consistent (i.e., implementing the shitsuke principle), the participants of the DELTA workshop will be able to follow the newly designed strategies and encourage lean production successfully (Hai & Mai, 2014).
Though the identified changes are only the first steps toward the enhancement of GASCO’s operations and the development of the DELTA workshop, they must be considered crucial to the further success of the workshop since they lead to the enhancement of the staff’s productivity by affecting their intrinsic motivation and, therefore, encouraging them to excel in their performance. Furthermore, more efficient use of the available resources will help reduce the waste levels, which are usually quite high in the oil and gas industry (Zakaria, Ibrahim, & Othman, 2017).
The focus on the enhancement of the corporate values such as responsibility, timeliness, etc., will help make sure that the employees should accept the new value system and meet the quality requirements accordingly. Naturally, it is expected that the members of the DELTA workshop may develop resistance toward the changes since the latter will demand an impressive effort and imply a greater responsibility. The staff may assume that the transfer to a new system of values is not worth the effort.
Therefore, it is crucial to develop an approach that will help handle possible resistance toward change. The application of the leadership style that will contribute to an increase in staff motivation levels is strongly recommended. Particularly, the transformational leadership style should be viewed as a crucial tool in improving the employees’ engagement and motivation rates. As soon as the members of the DELTA workshop realize that their needs will be met regardless and that their efforts are appreciated by the organization, they are likely to accept the change and start developing the skills required for efficient time management, enhancement of their performance quality, and other important alterations that the 5S framework will entail.
Conclusion
Allowing for a significant enhancement of a company’s SCM processes, the kaizen philosophy, in general, and the use of 5S principles, in particular, has a tremendous effect on a firm’s productivity, as the case of GASCO has shown. The approach serves as the device for improving the quality levels in the company, as well as boosting the performance rates among the staff members. Furthermore, kaizen may act as the device for redesigning the corporate philosophy and introduction of new values.
Therefore, it is crucial that the ideas on which the kaizen philosophy is based, particularly, the 5S framework, should become part and parcel of the Delta workshop. Seeing that the latter is an important step in the expansion process and the exploration of the opportunities that lie ahead of GASCO in the environment of the global economy, it is crucial that the corporate resources, including its workforce and the available time, should be used efficiently. 5S, in turn, will help build the premise for a new and improved time management framework that will enhance the motivation of the employees and encourage them to excel in their performance.
Furthermore, the tool can be used as an essential method of introducing new ways of managing the inventory and promoting a different set of values to the staff members so that they could avoid losing equipment and use the available space in a more rational manner. Thus, a rapid increase in the company’s efficacy and its further success in the oil and gas industry are expected.
Therefore, it is required that the kaizen philosophy should be utilized as the means of improving the essential corporate processes. When considering the benefits of the identified approach, one must bring up the fact that it allows for a massive improvement in several domains of the firm’s operations at once. For instance, the enhancement of the time management techniques will provide the basis for the increase in the performance efficacy rates by reducing the time spent on the production processes and the levels of waste.
References
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