About IMexI

Why IMexI

The Integrated Manufacturing excellence Initiative by Kaizen Hansei, Kaizen Institute, India with Patona Consulting, is designed to be a merit driven initiative, with Operational Excellence aspirations of the industry participants in mind.

Today, with rapidly transformative and disruptive changes sweeping across value chains, it is necessary for one to be continually introspective of their readiness into the future. It can be credibly tested only by somebody who has spent sufficient field time in helping existing companies become lean and flexible…. and most importantly, inculcate a culture where transformation sustains.

It not only helps benchmark an existing state of excellence in a realistic way but also provides a seasoned advisory on what needs to be done for emulating the best in the industry.

THE IDEOLOGY

Manufacturing – Supply Chain Excellence is neither an accident and nor is it something that can happen spontaneously or without planning. It happens when visionary planning is complemented by meticulous and resolute implementation excellence and topped with adequate amounts of policy deployment based monitoring.

The program recognises Operational Excellence; no matter what the excellence philosophy. (could be TPM, TQM, Lean Sigma, WCM…or even a Home Grown, yet effective and sustained approach)

The On-site assessment methodology embodies this very principle, with a sound evaluation of the very foundations (The Enablers) that culturally makes up and differentiates various manufacturing organizations. It further goes on to evaluate the direction and effectiveness of deploying this into reality (by means of the Drivers involved as well as the Direction Setting Initiatives undertaken). Process Excellence initiatives are reviewed, so as to assess the Leanness and Flexibility of Operations, including the extended Supply chain. Having a roadmap, adoption of appropriate Technology (Automation/Smart/Predictive Analytics/Machine Learning/AI/IIOT, etc) and the ability to Innovate so as to derive competitive advantage is assessed to complete the site assessment.

THE IMexI ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK *

IMexI Prize Canvas

India Edition 2024

Salient Benefits of Applying

1. This initiative will map your efforts on Operational Excellence and assign a particular maturity zone for the current state. It will further elaborate on where one is doing good and where one needs to improve, so as to build a world-class organisation.
   • 80% of operational excellence initiatives fail midway, either citing lack of worker discipline or loss of management focus. The assessment will strive to identify and highlight their issues, in advance of their becoming threats. Hence the advisories must be taken very seriously,
2. A career move for manufacturing professionals in various organisations to learn from the experts as to what sustains operational excellence.

It is the responsibility of Hansei to do all that it takes to reinforce the brand equity that it represents. Hence there will be no shortcuts and there will be no laxity of deliverables/support to client organisations.

What makes it special?

• Kaizen, is a global brand name and undisputedly one of the finest names that evokes respect in this space.
• IMexI is a premier program of facilitating operational excellence with a firm rooting in the Kaizen ideology.
• It is for those seeking to implement an effective and sustainable Continuous Improvement program in their organisations.
• The assessments are conducted by professionals of repute and who have enormous experience in having transformed and initiated a culture of continuous improvement in supply chain organisations.
• Our value definition allows us to indulge in only those activities and initiatives that add value and facilitates excellence in client organizations.
  • Expect to validate your operational excellence program and projects
  • Expect to identify additional projects which will expedite your journey along this path
  • Expect to add value to your own teamwork, team spirit, and team-based learning
  • Expect to gain out of the experience and wisdom of assessors, industry benchmarking and cross-industry learning… and much more

Who should consider applying?

• All serious disciples of lean and operational excellence.
• All organisations that want to have a quick reality check on the progress and maturity status of their efforts. (this could be an added advantage for organisations that are aspiring the attainment of other global recognitions as well as the ones which have achieved these recognitions in the past, but now want to test if the good practices have sustained themselves ever since).
• Those who want to make a positive statement towards stakeholder value enhancement
• Managements that want to understand the adequacy of and need for additional support by their supply chain organisations.
• Manufacturing organisations that will benefit from an outside-in perspective of whether they are doing sufficient enough.
• Organisations that believe in meritorious and credible recognitions. An accolade should be the natural outcome of an established process….and/but not the end in itself.
• A meritorious and fair based recognition will have a motivating effect on teams and internal initiatives… thus facilitating the cause of continuous improvement.

Qualifying Criteria

All passionate disciples of manufacturing and operational excellence are welcome to participate. They could be following any of the popular streams of excellence that exist today. (The assessment is agnostic to this aspect and treats all efforts equally, as long as they are in the right direction).

All interested applicants are encouraged to self-audit themselves, by requesting for the same from imexi@kaizenhansei.in. You may base your decision of participation on the outcome of the self-audit.

However for the highest category of accolade under the aegis of IMexI (IMexI APEX Prize) the criteria is as follows;

Guidance to Challenge “IMexI APEX Prize”

For finer details, refer below:

• Should have been a participant of IMexI in the past and must have been conferred  a recognition within the preceding three years…or
• Should have been awarded entry-level prize by any of the Global Expert Institute/organisation, which has a global reputation in playing an effective and respected transformative role …within last three years
• Should have engaged with a manufacturing consultant of repute for a period of not less than three years, with an objective of implementing lean principles within the organisation. The said consultant should be one who is renowned for Operational Excellence.
• Should have a transformation secretariat commissioned within their organisation with clear roles & structure, and that must be operating for a period not less than the preceding three years.
  (In case of queries, please ask/write to imexi@kaizenhansei.in)

Self Audit

The Self Audit is designed to be a quick introspective dipstick that organisations can use to assess their maturity status internally. This will help decide on the way ahead. Based on the outcome, the organisation may decide to either go ahead and participate in the ongoing program or defer it to the next year, pending certain improvements. In more than one way, the Self audit acts like an internal consultant pointing directions for improvement.

1. If the outcome is promising, one may also want to request for a SAW, based on observations of the internal self-audit)

For further details about the same and for getting a copy of the self-audit, please write to imexi@kaizenhansei.in.

Simulated Assessment based Workshop

1. SAW is one that is conducted by the committee of IMexI and it is designed to simulate the broad outcomes of the final assessment. It is conducted by senior assessors and experienced consultants….and culminates with them providing a list of to-do activities to the assessee site. This is by way of assisting the site to prepare for the final assessment. The site may use the observations to its benefit.

To request a SAW of your sites, please write to the convener at imexi@kaizenhansei.in. Please note that the outcome of the assessment can influence your decision to participate in the ongoing cycle or defer it to the next cycle

SAW will be conducted within a month of the request being made. To know more refer to the Program Details

Categories

The categories of participation are at two levels;

Organisation

From an acknowledgement perspective there are four specific categories for organisations to Challenge.

First is the Commendation category at an entry level, Next is the Commitment Prize, then the Distinguised Prize and finally the elite band of IMexI Excellence. For the APEX category of participation, rules have been outlined in an earlier para, and the same may be referred to.

Typically a Commendation site is one that scores in the range of 400 to 600, Commitment Prize is in the range of 600 to 800 and Distinguised Prize is in the range of 600-700. The IMexI APEX Prize sites are typically ones which scores over 800 in the assessment.