Karn G. Bulsuk: Full Speed Ahead

Quote: What Albert Einstein thought about clean desk policies

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Scientists have reported that a messy desk can help you to think more clearly, making you more efficient. It looks like Einstein has been right all along.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

"If a cluttered desk signs a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?"
- Albert Eintein

The Daily Mail recently reported that a messy desk can actually help you to think more clearly and gain more efficiency through more creative solutions. Apparently a cluttered desk forces you to simply thoughts.

It's interesting as the results goes against what we're taught throughout most of our lives, be it in school or via clean desk policies at work. It even goes against the application of the 5S in an office environment, which many Japanese companies seem to favour.

Make small, incremental changes for effective kaizen

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:02:00 +0000

Kaizen is all about making small, incremental changes: small steps which will snowball into something even bigger over time. Here is why using PDCA helps you to maintain the discipline to keep changes compact, but effective.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

In my previous articles about Kaizen, a common theme keeps popping up: kaizen is about incremental changes. Which basically means that when doing kaizen projects, small projects to test the water to slowly make things better is better than a massive project, incurring massive political and monetary costs if it fails.

One of the best ways to maintain the discipline of making only incremental changes is to use PDCA, or Plan-Do-Check-Act. PDCA is a methodology which is as it sounds: when you want to improve something, you make a plan, execute the plan and check what worked (or didn't). In Act, you figure out what went didn't work well, and use the five-whys analysis to figure out why exactly it didn't work out as expected.

The reason why PDCA helps to maintain this discipline is because of the last steps of PDCA: Check and Act. If you've managed to plan and do a massive project, the second you start performing analysis of what went wrong, you will realize there are so many problems to fix that it becomes another massive undertaking on its own.

What you will end up seeing is problem after problem after problem: enough to overwhelm even the best of intentions and most hardened of project managers. It's no fun to be performing 5-whys analysis on fifty problems. It gets boring very quickly.

Kaizen is supposed to be encouraging, by allowing you to see the fruits of your labour. By using PDCA, you are continually reminded that you don't need to do something big and epic to make kaizen work. All you need to do is make incremental improvements. Take small steps, one at a time. Before you know it, you would have built something even bigger and better than before, without the stress.

Photo credit: Aldo Cavini Benedetti

New website design gone-live!

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:13:00 +0000

Welcome to the new and improved bulsuk.com!

By Karn G. Bulsuk

This blog has always used one of Blogger's standard templates. In the past two years I have focused solely on content, pretty much throwing design to the wind. Yes, the design was old and completely out-of-date, but I wanted to first build readership and the number articles and tools for use.

While I had been looking here and there for an updated template to use, non had really piqued my interest. In around October 2011, I came across the Arthemia template, which I found to be elegant and very visually pleasing.

Although the process has been slow, I gradually customised the template to make it suit my requirements. Social networking, plug-ins and other things were added to the template so that it would work well and have staying power on the internet.

So here we are guys - the new look for bulsuk.com. There are still some kinks to be worked out so if something doesn't work, please do let me know.

Best wishes

Karn

BlackBerry may license OS to Samsung. Interesting.

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:26:00 +0000

To shore up the fortunes of the BlackBerry, I suggested in my editorial last year that they should bundle BlackBerry Messenger with Android. If the latest news is correct, RIM may be looking to license their operating system outright. This is an excellent move.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

Earlier last year I wrote how RIM would be better served by placing BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) onto Android and Windows Phone 7, in order to shore up their user base and act as a trojan horse to pull people into the BlackBerry platform.

If the latest rumours from Reuters is correct, then it may seem that RIM is in talks with Samsung to license their newest QNX operating system to Samsung - the next logical step from what I had originally suggested.

It's a bold move which may help to prevent the demise of the device seen in corporate offices throughout the globe. Despite all its faults, the BlackBerry is still a highly secure platform which, at the present moment, is the only one universally certified for use in the most secure of corporations and governments.

Even if they license QNX, placing BBM onto Android and Windows Phone 7 phones would still be an excellent strategic move to pull people onto the BlackBerry platform. The latest projections from IHS, a research firm, has suggested that by 2015 the top two mobile operating systems will be Android and Windows Phone, holding a total of over 75% of the market. This would be an opportunity that should not be ignored.

Photo credit: Stephan Geyer

The beginning of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:10:00 +0000

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

It's the end of another year. Here's a thank you to all of you out there, and also what we have in store in the next 366 days in 2012.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

Dear all

It's the beginning of another year, and thank you to all for continuing to read my articles and support my writings throughout the years. 2011 has been the most productive year for writing since I started in 2009, developing and writing more articles than the past two years combined. The number of people coming to read my blog, and the number of subscribers and social shares have gone up dramatically as well, and it is thanks to you that I have the encouragement to continue to write.

When I first started writing, it was a small blog which I wanted to share the concepts of the Toyota Production System (TPS), as well as solid tools for use. While the TPS articles continue to be written, it has expanded to a whole range of articles including analysis, and travel articles.

Some of the most popular articles this year was the whole series on the Thai floods. It was extremely good to know that those articles had actually helped people during the time of extreme crisis.

2012 will definitely a time of change. People will move on, and so will my articles. For the next year, I will continue to write the Toyota Production System (or Toyota Way) series of articles, while expanding my repertoire to include travel, as well as showcasing of my photography.

For the past few months I've been working on a new design for the blog as well, which can be seen live on http://karntest2.blogspot.com. I'm still working out many areas, but I am planning for go-live in 2012.

In any case, thank you for a great year! Let's hope for an even better one.

Have a Happy New Year!

Best regards

Karn

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 04:36:00 +0000

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope Santa brought you what you wanted this year!

Lao and Thailand: Same same, but different

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:36:00 +0000

Thailand and Laos have long been considered as sibling countries, having had a shared history before the colonial era. Here are some of the ways the two places are almost the same...

By Karn G. Bulsuk

If you've lived in Thailand for a period of time, stepping into Vientiane in Laos is like stepping into another dimension. Vientiane has the feel of a small country rural town in Thailand, but there are still subtle differences that remind you that you're in a former French colony.

Crossing over the Mekong River, Vientiane is literally a 30 minute drive away from the nearest Thai city. The people on both sides of the border look the same, speak a similar dialect and even the food is similar.

Listening casually, you could almost swear that people in Laos were speaking Thai. When you actually listen carefully though, you do realize that although it sounds similar, you can only pick up bits and pieces of the conversation. Some of the words are similar or the same, but there are enough differences to throw you off the meaning.

Even the written language, if just at a glance, looks similar to Thai. If not for the French written below the signs of ministry buildings, you would be forgiven for forgetting you were no longer in the Kingdom of Thailand.

Like Thailand, the roads are covered in a fine layer of red dust. The only reason you remember that you're in Vientiane is when a car almost runs you over: unlike Thailand, Laos retains the vestiges of it's French heritage and they drive on the wrong side of the road. The right side is, naturally, the right.

Laos has it's own unique charms though, and although getting there is expensive, it might be worth paying a visit for a few days to visit one of the more sleepy capitals this part of the world.

Photo credit: Samnang Danou

The Kaizen Mindset: 5 points to develop it

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:00:00 +0000

Kaizen isn't just a methodology - it's a whole new mindset which, if not fully understood, may lead to a failure to implement kaizen. Here are the five most important points to live if you want to develop the Kaizen Mindset.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

In order to succeed in kaizen, it’s easy to focus on other people and factors. What many people may ignore is the fact that you yourself need to embrace the mindset required for kaizen to succeed. Here are several of the most important things to keep in mind if you’re implementing anything from personal kaizen projects, to organizational change.

1) Kaizen is about change

If you’re saying that you want change in one hand, but deep down don’t think change is necessary, you might as well stop kaizen right now.

Translated from the Japanese, kaizen means “continuous improvement”, and any type of improvement involves change. If you have no real intention in allowing any change, no matter how small, kaizen implementation will fail.

Kaizen has been often implemented as a fad rather than a true long-term strategy, and one of the reasons for that is because the people and the leaders themselves do not truly understand that the core principal of kaizen is continual and incremental change.

2) Kaizen is a long term commitment

If you think any kaizen project will be completed in the next six months, then you’re sorely mistaken. Kaizen is a continual process which never ends. Kaizen is the pursuit of perfection. Naturally, perfection is impossible to achieve: you can always make things better, so kaizen too is something that will keep going.

3) Kaizen comes from the bottom

If you feel that kaizen will mean business as usual – a suggestion box in which then top management will consider the merits of each suggestion – then you’re in for disappointment.

As management, you need to realize that the most successful implementations of kaizen are when suggestions and plans for improvements have come from the bottom up, not top down. Only those who are actually in the field doing the work truly understand what works and what does not – those managing simply do not have the exposure to gain this intimate knowledge, and initiatives implemented by them may not lead to true improvements.

In Toyota for example, during car assembly they have a cart filled with every tool they need for that particular job arranged logically: nothing more, nothing less. The idea was so to decrease movement and time required by workers to find and obtain tools, hence increasing efficiency. The idea also originated from factory workers on the floor, who knew what their pain points were, and what needed to be changed to make work more comfortable and more efficient.

4) Kaizen is about freedom to do it

Kaizen isn’t about getting approval to make improvements – it’s about actually doing it. Your people need to be given the freedom to experiment and take actions in which they feel would make things better. Similar to the 20% time and 15% time that 3M and Google provide respectively for their people to freely tinker, experiment and produce improvements and innovations, kaizen also needs to be left open for interpretation and experimentation. Improvements always happen gradually, and to gain real tangible results, a firm needs to encourage it through freedom.

The biggest mistake that management could make is to formalize kaizen to such an extent that getting anything done is a hassle and bureaucratic.

5) Kaizen is about making mistakes

In the Western management system, unfortunately mistakes are often treated as negative experiences, used to punish and discipline. In the Japanese system and in kaizen, mistakes are seen in a positive light, something to learn from. In a Western firm, a Big Mistake would lead to a chat with The Boss, and perhaps disciplinary action or dismissal. In Toyota, a mistake would entail conducting a full, detailed 5-why analysis to determine the root causes of the failures, and identification of countermeasures to prevent it from reoccurring. In Toyota, the guy would keep his job. In America, the guy would lose it.

The Japanese see this as an opportunity to improve, and if you fire or intimidate the guy who knows best where they messed up, what hope would they have to prevent reoccurrence?

Kaizen is about trial and error. Nothing is perfect, and sometimes many refinements need to be made before an improvement is primed for go-live and transfer to other teams and departments. A good leader will encourage such trial and error, or risk developing a team or company with a risk-adverse mindset: nothing improves because unless the improvement were perfect, it would be punished.

* * *

Living these five points will help you to develop the kaizen mindset which allows a true kaizen implementation to work and bear fruit.

Photo credit: Kalyan Chakravarthy

Honda to shift motorcycle production from Japan to Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:36:00 +0000

In April in the wake of the Japanese tsunami, I predicted in an article that the resultant destruction, damage to supply chain and the inherent natural instability of the Japanese islands would lead to Japanese companies increasingly offshoring. Looks like I was right, as Honda just announced a decision to move some of their motorcycle production to Thailand.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

Earlier this year, I argued that the tsunami and resultant destruction and nuclear meltdown would cause an exodus of Japanese companies to move their manufacturing facilities from Japan to safer countries. The process has begun with Honda, who has decided to begin shifting the production of mid and large sized motorcycles to Thailand as reported by the Yomiuri Shimbun.

Despite the recent flooding in Thailand, which has also resulted in the flooding of one of Honda's factories in Ayuthaya, Thailand is still seen as a safer and cheaper place to manufacture.

Looks like I was right. Let's see whether more companies choose to move from Japan.

Photo credit: Ronald Saunders

Bangkok Flooding 2011: How Bangkok has changed forever and the Legacy of the flood

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 13:41:00 +0000

Every natural disaster leaves a legacy. Here are five ways in which Bangkok and its people will be forever changed.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

Every natural disaster leaves a legacy. Japan's tsunami left a devastating legacy resulting in the Fukushima nuclear disaster and tens of thousands who may never be able to return home.

The catastrophic floods in Thailand will likewise leave a terrible legacy of its own. It will remind people that nothing is certain, and that anything can immediately turn into uncertainty in a split second.

Here are the five ways in which Bangkok will change even after the waters recede, houses are repaired and lives go on.

1) Bangkokians will become more humble

People in Bangkok have long felt that flooding is something that is distant to them. The closest that flooding would ever some is Ayutthaya, where it would stop. Sure, rice paddies would be submerged, people’s houses and livelihoods destroyed, but in Bangkok 7-Elevens would still be open 24-hours a day, while shopping malls would still be available for the moneyed middle class to spend the day and enjoy free air conditioning. All in the name of saving Bangkok, the rest of Thailand can flood.

This year, reality has brought the floods too close for comfort and in many cases, straight into people’s houses. For the first time in over a generation, Bangkokians feel vulnerable. It didn't matter how much money you have, how expensive your car is, who your father is, or how "hi-so" you were, you were a possible victim every single moment of the day. Flood waters did not discriminate whether you had a red license plate or whether your house was the swankiest neighbourhood this part of Lad Phrao - rich or poor, if you were in the way of water, the water would pass through you.

For the first time in living memory, Bangkokians have felt the pain of their countrymen living outside the capital. No longer will they be able to dismiss flooding upcountry with a flick of a hand, for it is now a clear and present danger which money, even if stuffed in sandbags, cannot stop.

They have been humbled: no longer will Bangkokians look down on people living in “bann-nok”, nor will they be quick to turn a blind eye to disasters in the country side. They will remember what it is like to lose everything. As business and political leaders are also part of the elite living in Bangkok, hopefully this experience will provide the willpower to finally push implementation unified policies and projects to stop devastating flooding throughout Thailand.

2) Inner Bangkok will be THE place to live in

Still dry here...

Bangkok is a relatively flat city. Compared to other cities such as Hong Kong, there are relatively few tall structures dotted around the place, as there's simply so much space to build on.

After the floods are over, this may change. It appears that the majority of inner Bangkok have escaped the floods because of a ring road which also acted as a massive flood barrier that was built by the King many years ago, in addition to measures that the government has taken to prevent water from reaching the main city.

The lesson learned here is that inner Bangkok, which generates 40% of Thailand's GDP, will be saved. All measures will be taken to prevent it from flooding and businesses being affected even if it involves flooding other, “less important” areas of Bangkok, and entire swaths of Thailand.

People will begin to move en masse into inner Bangkok, where it is "safe". Condos beside the BTS and MRT are already popular, and with this stimulus, it will only become even more popular from here on.

3) During a crisis, Twitter will become the main source of news

The government's credibility and their news outlets have, to put it mildly, suffered a credibility crisis which may never be repaired. Conflicting information, deliberately withheld information and a situation where politicians have become a part of the disaster have forced people to move to a potentially more reliable source of news: Twitter and other social media.

Armed with the power of people with iPhones and other smartphones, news from Twitter accompanied with live photos have again proven to be incredibly fast and powerful, similar to the red shirt protests of last year.

4) Traditional Thai houses may make a return

Traditional Thai houses were built on stilts, because flooding had always been part and parcel of Thai life: a reason why the soil in the Kingdom is so fertile.

A return of the traditional Thai house may be in order, or at least a modern variant of it, as people buying houses in areas submerged this year will undoubtedly want to know whether they could survive the next epic flood unscathed.

5) More people will use public transport

In the past two months as people have parked their cars on freeways, inside tall office buildings and condos to save them from the rising flood waters, people have been forced to use public transport. The little used Airport Link for example, is seeing a spike in ridership as residents find and utilize alternative methods to reach the inner city.

The main problem with acceptance of using public transport in Bangkok is the mindset. People are too used to taking their cars to go anywhere, and the image of public transport is definitely unsexy, nor is it convenient. Public buses here may cost 8 baht, but they are open windowed, hot and quite “lo-so.”

Bangkok has always been a car city, and the psyche of taking public transport has never been embedded into the Bangkok spirit, unlike in other cities such as Tokyo and Singapore.

Forced to use public transport, people may be inadvertently building this habit. With a bit of luck, many will continue to use public transport even after the crisis is over. Hopefully they will see that it is cheaper than driving, and overall a better way to start the day than braving Bangkok's notorious traffic.

* * *

Thai people have a habit of being able to have fun and laugh in the face of adversity. Bangkok may bounce back, houses may be rebuilt, but it has left a legacy: the threat of flooding is omnipresent and no longer is Bangkok immune. This will be one which this generation will never forget.

Photo credits: Jo.sau, Shivya Nath

Note: 100th published article

Bangkok Flooding 2011: Bangkok's transformation during the flood

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:15:00 +0000

Bangkok has transformed itself into a walled and sandbagged city, a nervous wreck of its former glory. Here are some of the ways it has changed in the months during and before the floods wrecked havoc.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

For some, the floods have arrived in Bangkok, for others, it was an agonizing wait for the inevitable. In the weeks past Bangkok has transformed itself into a city of sandbags resembling a warzone sans machine guns, empty shelves and nervous residents.

An endangered species

Like bottled water and canned food, taxis have become a scarce commodity. In a city where you are never more than five minutes away from a taxi, their distinctive yellow-green, bright blue, or neon pink colours are a part and parcel of any traffic.

In the past few weeks, around 50% of taxis have stopped running as their drivers have either gone back home up country to escape the floods, or as taxi companies park their entire fleets on elevated freeways to keep their vehicles safe.

Restaurants have also been heavily affected, as many have their central kitchens located in industrial estates which is now basically a modern Atlantis. Hachiban Ramen was one of the first to be affected by the destruction of their central kitchen, and closed down all their shops throughout the Kingdom until further notice, while other restaurants, such as MK, have been forced to remove items off their menu.

Hachiban Ramen was one of the first victims when the industrial estates in Ayuthaya flooded.

Even many street hawkers have seem to have disappeared off the street. While it does make the pavement easier to walk on, one of the distinguishing features of Bangkok are the hawkers selling everything from fried chicken to orange juice. The absence just adds to the eerie sense of unease floating around the city right now.

Bangkok's elevated expressways which criss-cross the city have also become a refuge for cars of all sorts and sizes. From the old humble Toyota Corolla to even brand new BMW Series 5 with red plates, people have decided to permanently park their cars along the shoulder of the freeway. One the way to Subarmubhumi Airport, you'll notice that Metro Bus has parked over two dozen of their buses there - surely they could have found somewhere better?

While this is obviously convenient for car owners, it has exacerbation the traffic problem that Bangkok is infamous for. The police are powerless to do anything. It would be impossible to tow away the thousands of cars that are now lining the side of the freeways like dots on a ruler, and even if they did, there would be no where to put them.

Cars double parked on the freeway, as their owners try to save them from the floods.

And who of course, could forget the empty shelves? Everywhere from 7-Eleven to Gourmet Market at K-Village, essentials like bottled water, canned food and tissues have been snapped up in anticipation of shortages, which, of course, have made the shortage problem even worse. Malls too are unusually quiet even during weekends, as many Bangkokians are now flooded or have fled the city to places like Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Hua Hin.

The changes that Bangkok has undergone during these difficult times will leave a mark on the psyche of the city. Never again will this generation forget the suffering of flooding which is normally inflicted those outside Bangkok. It is a wake up call, a humbling reminder that we're all in the same boat together, and that only by working together will such devastation be committed to only the annuals of history.

Photo credit: Yan Pritzker

Bangkok Floods 2011: water humor

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:14:00 +0000

The Thais are known to be a playful people, even in times of extreme adversity. Here's a growing collection of some of the funny things floating around on Twitter and Facebook. Last update: 14 November

As spotted by Karn G. Bulsuk

Hey, we *do* promise 30 minutes delivery, come rain or shine or catastrophic once-in-50-years floods!

Whales and water start to stink...

The caption reads: "don't forget to take a shower too!"

You still can go shopping even while the rest of Bangkok is Neo-Atlantis

The end of the world?

2010 refers to the burning of Bangkok during the Red Shirt protests. 2011 refers to this year's flooding. 2012...well, we've all seen the movie haven't we?

River Mermaid?

Relaxing on the flood

Jet ski through the mooban

Pimp your Tuk Tuk

Sources:
http://www.pantip.com/cafe/siam/topic/F11233153/F11233153.html

Bangkok Flooding 2011: Nong Nam has come

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

The floods have taken a comedic turn on it's own, with it being humanized as a girl looking for her lover from the north to the south.

Spotted by Karn G. Bulsuk

The Thai people are known for their ability to laugh and have fun even during the worst excesses of war or natural disaster. It's only natural that they're now calling the floods "Nong Nam", or to literally translate it, "little sister water".

Depending on who you hear it from, Nong Nam is portrayed as a girl who's following their lover who is from the north. But everytime she goes into another province in search of her lover, she cannot find him and has to move further and further down south towards Bangkok.

When she finally reaches Bangkok, she still cannot find him, and so decides to stay a little.

Other people are laughing at the water now. On an TV interview with Bangkokians last night, one lady said that "well, we gotta live with Nong Nam. She made the effort to come all the way here so why not let her stay for a while?"

Laughing in the face of adversity is a strength the Thais are underappreciated for, but it does make living life easier during these times.

Bangkok Floods 2011: Living in a parallel universe

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:33:00 +0000

The government has literally sacrificed the rest of the country and parts of Bangkok and allowed it to flood, in the hopes of saving the commercial center of Bangkok where 40% of the Kingdom's GDP resides. Living in here is like living in another dimension, where the devastation wrought by the floods still seem like a distant nightmare.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

Living near the commercial center of Bangkok, where it is still dry, is like living in a parallel universe.

Our lives have continued unabated, only punctured by the constant checking of news and Twitter feeds on the iPhone to see where the floods are going, and who is next. We still wake up to the glare of the Bangkok sun, trudge to work, eat out, head to the fitness with a bit of brief shopping in the unusually quiet Paragon department store.

Despite now literally being on the doorstep of the city, the floods still seem like a dream. The floods still feel as if they're something on the other side of the earth, something that you only see reported in the newspapers and TV. Images of the devastation still seem so distant from us, and yet in reality, so close.

As the waters rage down on Bangkok, a result of the devastating power of water and half-a-century of man made abuse and neglect, we can only hope that we will all come out of this unskaved.

While we're still dry, while we can hope that the floods won't reach us, for some, it's only a matter of time now before those TV images become too frighteningly real, all too quickly.

Bangkok Flooding 2011: the best explanation on what's going on

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Out of nowhere, a series of short cartoon films are made to explain exactly what's going on with the floods and how it will affect us. Well made, concise and cute, it's a great watch even if you're not on the ground in Bangkok right now. Last updated: 1 November 2011

Spotted by Karn G. Bulsuk

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Quote: A lesson on enemies from Winston Churchill

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:18:00 +0000

"You have enemies? Good. That mean you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."

Kaizen is an extremely powerful change management tool | Thought Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:00:00 +0000

If you want your company to stay relevant in 2050 and beyond, use kaizen: it is the most powerful change management tool in your arsenal which avoids all the problems associated with process reengineering. Kaizen might be slow, but it is sustainable and more permenent given the gradual nature of changes.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

Kaizen is a mindset which involves challenging the status quo. That’s the whole point of it. The basic assumption of kaizen is that things are still not perfect, and can forever be improved and be made better. As a result, it encourages people to rise up to the challenges in the business environment and to adapt and seek new business opportunities.

An organization which has adopted the kaizen mindset and associated tools such as PDCA and 5-whys will also be nimble as they are used to the idea that they need to continually be on their feet and change in order to respond to market conditions. Every day we see organzations crash and burn because they are too slow to respond to change.

If we look at Toyota for example, we’ve seen them constantly respond to changing market conditions, from the development of small, fuel efficient city cars, to the virtual creation of the hybrid car: both of which were started way before oil prices starting their rise to alarming levels. It was the ability for employees to speak up via kaizen which allowed employees to help identify the challenges which would face the company in the next 5 to 10 years, and alert management of that.

Toyota Prius: a hybrid car born
from kaizen.

The main difference between process reengineering and kaizen is that the former is immediate and happens within a fixed time frame. Human by nature resist change, and process regineering has a high risk of failure since the scope and number of changes being pushed through will make many people uncomfortable, if not downright angry.

Kaizen on the other hand is slower, and occurs continuously over the lifetime of the organization. Kaizen makes the improvement process easier and more palatable by making such changes small and incremental until it becomes natural, or better yet, people don't really notice there's been any change.

The PDCA model actively encourages this not by asking people to think about large-scale projects to perform, but by asking them to consider how their processes could be slowly improved. The Toyota Production System believes that as incremental changes accumulates, it leads to much larger changes and a better end product or service in the long run.

Kaizen deals with the very nature of life: change is constant, and will allow organizations to respond much more quickly to the ever changing business realities.

Photos by Tony and Marcin Wichary

Bangkok Flooding 2011: repairing flooded electronics

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 11:02:00 +0000

Earlier on this afternoon, NBT interviewed Professor Veera from Pathumwan University on what to do if your electronics have disappeared under water, and how to get it to work again.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

If your house has been flooded and your electronic devices submerged, all hope may not be lost and you may still be able to use your electronic devices again.

Needless to say, you should unplug all electronic devices and turn off the main switch in the event of flood. Once the flood waters have receeded, do not plug in to test it: besides frying the electronics you may also end up killing yourself in the process.

Ajarn Veera mentioned that Pathumwan Unviersity students were willing to help people with flooded electronics to function again for no cost. They will first have to clean it up, and then dry it by placing it in an industrial grade oven to make sure that there is no remaining water to short circuit the boards. He recommended against trying to do it yourself, considering the risks associated with damaged electronics.

You can contact his people at 08-1438-8486 or 06-6888-4210. If you're an English speaker, you may want to get a Thai friend to help you communicate.

Stay safe people.

Bangkok Flooding 2011: dealing with submerged vehicles

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:11:00 +0000

Tips from Professor Veera from Pathumwan University from his interview on NBT on what measures to take if your car is flooded.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

Unless you own an old Toyota Hilux, which is virtually indestructible, your car will most likely be affected if flooded. Ajarn Veera mentioned that if you cannot move the car to higher ground away from the floods, you should disconnect the battery. It will help to protect the car from being short circuited, especially since cars nowadays are controlled mainly by electronic boards and chips, and less so by mechanical parts.

Once the floods have receeded, do not reconnect the battery or attempt to start the car, as that could damage the engine and fry the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) that controls the car. Instead, you should have it towed to a good garage, where they will professionally dry and service the ECU. Replacing the ECU is very expensive, and this will help to protect your investment.

You should also change the motor oil, brake fluid and all lubricants, and the engine must be serviced before the car can be used again.

Bangkok Floods 2011: electrified water and how to test for it

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:14:00 +0000

If you arrive at a flooded area and aren't sure whether it's safe to go into the water because of the possibility that it may be electrified, here's a way to test for it. Translated from an interview from a professor on ThaiPBS.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

If you’re in a flood area where the electricity hasn't been cut yet, there is a risk that current is flowing in the flood waters. ThaiPBS interviewed a professor earlier today to ask how to deal with this risk, and here's a translation of the main points.

Testing if there is electricity flowing through the water

If you’ve reached a flooded area and want to test whether there is electricity flowing in the water, and you don't have any tools or other options for testing, you can lightly touch the water using the back of your hand. Do NOT use the front, as that will electrocute you. Also, do NOT submerge your hand as it may kill you.

In the event you feel a tingly sensation, it means there is a current still flowing. Identify the source of the current and turn it off before retesting and entering the water.

Reader Contributions

Several readers have kindly added their knowledge to this via the comments section:

Why we should use the back of the hand only:

Why having a Ground Fault Interrupter might be a good idea:

Details on why electrified water will kill you:

Thank you for your contributions. If you'd like to be credited, please do let me know.

If someone has fallen into water with electricity still flowing, and has been electrocuted

Do NOT follow that person into the water, as you too will be electrocuted. Instead, use a rope, dry towel or anything to get the person to dry land. Do not touch the water.

Being electrocuted for more than 0.04 seconds will most likely result in the victim’s heart stopping, so you must take their pulse and immediately perform CPR and pump their heart.

Turning off electricity if your house has been flooded

According to the Metropolitian Electricity Authority (MEA) via the Bangkok Post, you should turn off your main switch to the ground floor if flooded. When doing so, make sure you are standing on dry land and NOT submerged in water. Use clothes to cover your hands when switching off for additional safety.

WARNING: live electricity, including when flowing in water is dangerous and can kill you, and you should avoid it where possible. This information is provided as-is based on a good-will translation of an interview on ThaiPBS and has not been vetted for accuracy, and may not be appropriate for your situation. We accept no liability for any damages as a result of use of this information. You should take appropriate precautions in these difficult times.

Bangkok Floods 2011: Supermarket out of bottled water and batteries? Here's a way out.

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 16:46:00 +0000

Supermarket shelves have been cleared of essentials like water containers, bottled water and torch lights. Here are just two things I'm using to get around the shortages - please do share more if you have any more ideas.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

If you haven’t prepared for the upcoming floods or have difficulty finding anything in supermarkets anymore, here are some work arounds you could use.

Storing Fresh Water

One of the first things gone from store shelves was bottled water. The only stuff that is left is expensive mineral water that is overpriced and won’t leave you quenching your thirst without ripping your wallet to shreds.

If you haven’t been able to stock up on drinkable water and you don’t have enough bottles, then you can use plastic bags instead.

The type suitable for storing water are the clear types that you get when buying hot food. I recommend the 14”x22” sized bags as they provide just enough water to last a person for a day for both drinking and basic bathing, and they can be purchased from any Makro for around 190 baht for one pack.

We’ve double lined the bags and filled it just a bit past half-way, otherwise sealing it is too difficult and there’s a much higher risk that they will burst. Three rubber bands working in parallel should be enough to seal the bag and prevent water from seeping out.

Torchlights

Flashlights are in hot demand right now, and both supplies of torches and D-sized batteries difficult to come by.

There are still plenty of AAA batteries on sale out there, so if you need a flashlight, try buying those new LED flashlights. They usually use 3 AAA batteries and it should be sufficient to give you lighting in the event that electricity is cut.

These are just some of the things we’ve come across and developed solutions to. Are there any other work-arounds and ideas you can share?

Bangkok Floods 2011: a first hand account

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:54:00 +0000

Bangkok faces massive flood waters, destroying and submerging everything in its path. Like a slow moving tsunami, it’s testing the nerves of Bangkokians. Here’s an account of what it’s like to be here.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

There is a sense of nervous dread in Bangkok. For the first time in living memory, Bangkok may be flooded as the raging floods breaches defence after defence thrown against it. Like the Titanic, places which were considered “unfloodable”, such as the Rojana Industrial Complex in a neighboring province of Bangkok, are now up to three meters under water.

All of us in Bangkok are on edge and jittery. Because of unrealiable information, we simply have no idea what will happen next. The anticipation kills you: will it flood or won’t it? When will it flood if it does? How bad would it be? 1 meter? 3 meters? Past the roof? The coming flood is like watching a slow tsunami heading in your general direction, but never sure whether you’ll be hit until it’s too late.

This is a photo from Ayutthaya, just 80 km from Bangkok. While Bangkok is not yet flooded, there are fears that parts of it could resemble this.

Information from the government is next to useless, with different people in the government publically bickering over the analysis and advice to be announced. Last week one minister told people to quickly evacuate, only to have that announcement nullified 15 minutes later by another minister. Earlier last week the government said that Bangkok was no longer at risk of flooding, and then a few days later the government made a complete u-turn and said that Bangkok was still at risk.

Such circus-like performances seems to be the norm for the government at this point in time, to the point that Twitter has more credibility than official announcements. In fact, a recent poll stated that 90% of people simply didn't believe what the government was saying. Add political bickering to the row and you've basically shot yourself in the foot.

The government openly admits that it is split into two camps: one that believes all information should be shared with the public, and another which believes it should be withheld. Regardless to say, confidence in the government’s ability to manage this catastrophe is not so good. As the waters have taken each district and industrial estate one by one, all falling like dominos, people’s belief in the government to protect the capital is at an all-time low.

Food, bottled water, supplies and fuel has flown off shelves as people horde to prepare for the possibility that flooding may cause power to be cut and the water supply to be contaminated. In the past few weeks, store shelves have been emptied as quickly as they can fill them up, with canned food, bottled water and fuel being favourites.

I visited Makro yesterday on a Wednesday, only to find that canned food was mostly sold out, while queues to the cashier were 15 minutes long. Each and every cart was filled to the brim with food, water and anything else essential to survival. The empty shelves were disturbing eerie, for a country filled with plenty is now having trouble getting stocks to the stores.

Tonight, there are an unusual number of moths, mosquitos and other bugs joining me in my condo when usually it is practically bug free. Perhaps it's one of those omens that stories of lore seem fixated on. We're hoping for the best, but down inside, we're afraid that there might be worse to come.

Self reflection, or hansei, is an integral part of kaizen

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:00:00 +0000

An excellent story by Errette Dunn illustrating how the concept of self reflection, or hansei, is an integral part of kaizen.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

I came across an excellent story by Errette Dunn on his blog Ideal Way, telling his own experience with the Toyota belief in Hansei, or "self reflection". The concept is when you make a mistake, you reflect on your own actions and see how you can prevent it from happening again.

In Errette's case, he managed to total a company owned car on his first day on the job in Toyota. Instead of being fired or disciplined, his manager simply took him through the steps for him to "reflect" on what he has done, so he remembers it: a key to prevention.

Hansei is one of the keys to kaizen, as the concept itself focuses on improvement as opposed to punishment. When you do something wrong, it is expected that you will derive lessons from it, find how to prevent it from reoccurring and most importantly, remember just how bad you felt about it so you never do it again.

Link: Ideal Way | Hansei: The Day I Destroyed Toyota Property

Why kaizen implementation fails: six real reasons [Thought Leadership]

noreply@blogger.com (Karn Bulsuk) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:35:00 +0000

The Japanese concept of kaizen, or continuous improvement, has been long lauded as a success. However, there have been charges levied against kaizen that it is simply a passing management fad, popular one day but out the next. Such an attitude is a truism: if a company treats it as a fad then it will be a fad. Here are six reasons why organizations fail when implementing kaizen.

By Karn G. Bulsuk

One of the reasons of kaizen failure is that a company is not fully committed to making kaizen the cornerstone of their strategy. Kaizen isn’t simply a set of tools for implementation: it is a long term mind-set in which every single employee is committed to making things better.

From my experience, if you see an organization with one or more of the following features attempting to implement kaizen without changing, then there is a high possibility of kaizen implementation failure:

1) Kaizen is seen as a short term project

The emphasis here is on long-term improvement. Although the concept of kaizen is quite simple to understand, it is difficult to master and will need time before it is fully understood by all employees. The main problem with implementation is that often companies expect a quick turn around and visibility in KPIs within a year, and when it doesn’t appear, write kaizen off as a failure.

In reality, benefits will start to be felt in the small scale, before slowly propagating throughout the organization. When Toyota started producing cars, it was seen as many goods made in China are treated today: undesirable and of low quality. 40 years down the line, Toyota is considered the poster child for quality.

A company needs to be married to kaizen for it to succeed, as it is very much a long term relationship spanning the rest of their lives. Toyota has still not perfected the car and they never will, as kaizen dictates that there’s always something that could be done better or more efficiently.

2) Overemphasis on tying kaizen to KPIs

Kaizen can only succeed in places where there is a true desire to improve. While it is important to tie kaizen to KPIs, over emphasis on it would ignore the fact that improvements are often incremental, not revolutionary. Kaizen is like a snowball rolling down a gently sloping hill – it gathers momentum and increases in size as it comes down. The improvements gradually accumulate over time, as processes are perfected and methodologies tweaked.

3) Implemented in a heavily bureaucratic organization

Lack of commitment is only one of several common reasons why kaizen implementation fails. Kaizen will never succeed in an organization bogged down by a bureaucratic mind-set, filled with rules and procedures with people who would resist any sort of change. Another type is where change is punished and blocked, whether formally or socially, decimating any incentive to improve. Government organizations are often guilty of this, along with many Asian companies where efficiency and financial indicators plays back burner to personal relationships.

4) Management pays lip service to kaizen

The failure of kaizen is also often seen in companies which implement kaizen in wolf’s clothing. For example, a university I once came across implemented a suggestion box which was rarely checked, and called it kaizen. No training was given on how to analyse a problem to the root cause using 5-why analysis, nor any of the other kaizen concepts such as PDCA or the use of mieruka (visual controls) given. As a result none of the suggestions that came in were actually considered, nor were they actionable or could fix the problems at hand.

Worse yet, on the odd chance they did check the box and found suggestions, the top management simply ridiculed the suggestion, and would come up with excuses why the status quo was superior to what was suggested in public. As a result the feedback dried up as quickly as the paint on the box, and the project failed.

5) Where training on kaizen isn’t provided

Kaizen will never work if people do not implement its full suite of tools and concepts, with sufficient training given to take advantage of them. All the tools, especially the 5-why analysis and the mindset that everything can be improved, is an essential part

6) Where management does not support kaizen initiatives

The importance of support cannot be over emphasized: it is essential that management isn’t just fully on board, but essential that they want to fully embrace the long-term commitment of kaizen to the organization. They need to pass on their enthusiasm and demonstrate that even they are continually looking for new and better ways of doing things.

Kaizen is about everyone improving everything, not just a group doing all the work.

Kaizen is all about making things better in the long run, and improving your profits and processes. It is a strategy that needs to be implemented now, for the future. So have you seen organizations fail to implement kaizen? Are there any other reasons they failed?

Photo by David Wall