This year’s GEMBAKAIZEN™ Congress took place on October 23.-25. in Wroclaw. It was the 13th Congress and yet again a great success. Over the last 13 years 166 lectures were held, over 450 companies participated with more than 2,135 participants, 88 Benchmark Tours were offered, and 10 books about KAIZEN™ were published in polish language.
The main topic of the Congress was “Developing a KAIZEN™ Culture, Daily KAIZEN™”. Over 200 participants joined the Congress. Jayanth Murthy, Director of Kaizen Institute India and Africa held the main speech, which turned out to be a great inspiration for the participants. He was followed by speakers from 5 other companies such as Carlsberg Poland, KGHM Polish Cooper, VOLVO Poland, Mondelez Poland Production and Jeronimo Martins (HEBE). All case studies were based on real solutions functioning in the organization and that’s why they were so valuable.
Additional workshops of different KAIZEN™ themes were offered (case studies and good practices from Kaizen Institute India and Africa, Phoenix Contact Wielkopolska, Volvo Poland, Carlsberg Poland, PROFES, Eco-efficiency, Tagatic). Participants had the chance to learn the approach of individual companies and experts in details. A Gala Dinner and Award Ceremony completed the first successful Congress day. The main TOP KAIZEN™ POLAND 2016 award was presented to JTI Poland. Other companies that were also awarded for their successful implementation of KAIZEN™ methodologies and cooperation with Kaizen Institute Poland were: FIAT Chrysler Automobiles, Carlsberg Poland, Mondelez Poland Production, LEONI Cable Poland, ArjoHuntleigh Poland, Velux Poland, WABCO Poland, Flextronics Poland and Ceramika Paradyż.
During the Benchmark Tours on the second day the participants visited 10 companies which have already implemented KAIZEN™ tools and culture. The participants had the chance to have live and practical insights to the theory they had learned the day before. The third day, which was a workshop day, was a new part of the Congress. Kaizen Institute Poland organized two workshops in two different companies (Volvo Poland and LEONI Cable Poland) where participants could learn some KAIZEN™ tools and explore KAIZEN™ solutions implemented in the company.