Core objectives |
|
1. To demonstrate a model for education that can transform our global society based on responsibility and trust.
David Hutchins with children from the City Montessori School Lucknow India after they had presented at a conference in Hong Kong |
This objective will be covered graphically by Professor Richard Ennals, Dr Vineeta Kamran and a team of School Children especially flown here from the City Montessori School in Lucknow India.
During the past two decades there have been any number of quality related initiatives that seem to have been successful for while and then fade away. One possible reason is that the concepts do work when they are properly supported but fail when management turns its attention to something else. Then why do they turn their backs on something that produces results?
One strongly supported theory is that managers revert back to first learned instinctive experiences when things get tough. They do this even though the methods they revert to are clearly inferior because they are then back in their comfort zones. If this is the case then the challenge will be to ensure that for future generations, the first learned experiences are the best ones. Where better then to begin than at school.
Richard Ennals will begin this discussion with his paper 'From slavery to citizenship' where he will contrast the extremes in the education system from 'slavery' where students are treated like robots that are simply fed with information through to the other extreme where the students are treated with respect and made jointly responsible for the outcome of their own learning programmes.
This will be followed by Dr Vineeta Kamran Head of The City Montessori School on Lucknow India. The CMS is famous as being in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest independent school in the world with more than 30000 students in a single city. However, the School first came to our attention in 1994 when a group of 10 year old students from the school made a stunning presentation at a large business conference in Hong Kong.
As a Degree college, the school takes children from Nursery age right through to Graduation. Right from the beginning the children become involved in Quality Circle type activities on projects designed to improve their own educational performance, appreciate their role in future society and to respect both themselves and others. The whole school is run on the principles of Total Quality and Dr Kamran will explain how they operate and what they are achieving.
Proof of the pudding! This will be followed in the afternoon by a presentation by a team of students from the School and afterwards, participants will have the opportunity to talk both to the students and Dr Kamran.
|
2. To show how inspiration combined with innovation can create prosperity in a society that no longer produces its own goods.
Dr Towe conducting a participative session on a DHI Six Sigma Training course. |
The move of our manufacturing base to China and India is well established and probably beyond the point of no return. Some are comfortable with this but perhaps they are only looking at the end of their noses.
If they have children or grandchildren perhaps they might consider the possible medium term consequences. It would appear logical that if it is cheaper to produce in the Far East due to low labour rates then conduct Design and Development here and shift production over there. However, this assumes that the situation will remain as it is now but this is both shortsighted and erroneous.
It is well known that the standard of living in China is improving at an astonishing rate. The same is true for India too. As this continues, the differences in labour rates will disappear but at the same time local demand for superior quality products will increase and with it the need for locally designed innovative products. This will create a demand for higher levels of education in their universities and Design and Research Institutes will emerge at an ever increasing rate.
Sooner, rather than later, we will find them competing with us on their terms and there will be no going back. We only need to look at what happened in Japan after World War 2 to see what happened there. 50 years ago, westerners complained that Japan had an unfair advantage in manufacture because their people lived on a bowl of rice a day. Now, their standard of living is at least equal to ours and they produce many more patents a year consistently.
If we are to depend on superiority in design and development, we had better be sure that we can maintain the situation and it is a tough challenge. In this section we have Peter Jassall Corporate Director and Head of R&D at Intersurgical Ltd. to explain how his Company has addressed this challenge and what we can learn from the experience. Their design Function uses the principles of Six Sigma to maintain its lead in the market.
Professor Norman Towe will follow Peter with a humerous and lively session on how to manage Inspiration and innovation.
He will be followed on Day 2 by John Tuck Head of Group Strategy at our hosts Brintons Carpets. He will explain how Brintons have confronted severe international competition in their market and how they plan to meet the challenges of the future.
|
3. To create networks that can identify and beat the best of the best not simply the best in our locality.
DHI Benchmarking Study Tour to Japan
|
Our third objective is to help participants obtain the best from networking. This is one form of benchmarking which is vital to success. Many participants will already be members of networks but in many cases these can be incestuous particularly if they do not extend beyond a given locality. In such cases, companies run the risk of believing that because they are as good as or better than others in their locality they are good. This can lead to mass mediocrity and eventual disaster when confronted with real competition.
In our event we have encouraged the participation of some of the UKs leading Networking organisations to explain how they operate and the benefits they can offer. We also offer to extend this to include international benchmarking through our strong connections in Japan. DHI can and do organise Industrial Study Tours to the best companies in Japan and this will also be demonstrated at the event.
|
4. To develop business management systems that really do produce the results they claim.
John Dansey conducting a DHI ISO 9001:2000 Lead Auditor Course
|
Business Management Systems. All successful businesses have effective management systems but what constitutes an effective management system and how can it be evaluated? This is not only for our own organisation but also for our suppliers.
We have of course ISO 9001:2000 but many say that the certification industry is in disarray. This is a very controversial subject and a debate has been arranged for Day 2 for those who have an opinion on the matter to challenge the views of others. This promises to be a lively session.
|
5. To experience Team based management at all levels and a demonstration of the most powerful tools in the Six Sigma based improvement approach.
Dr Norman Towe, Mathmatician, Statistician and expert in making it all seem simple!
|
In parallel with the ISO 9000:2000 session there will be an opportunity for participants to experience the use of the most powerful tools in the Six Sigma process. Using the Trebuchet (catapult) mechanism an experient will be conducted to demonstrate both the simplicity and effectiveness of the Taguchi method for the Design of Experiments. In the same session David Hutchins will show how problems may be effectively solved using the DMAIC approach.
|