MUDA OUT OF OUR LIVES.

 MUDA The Taj hotel group had invited Mr. Masai Imai from Japan to hold a workshop for its staff.The staf were very skeptical - the hotel is doing excellent business, thisperson from Japan has no exposure to hotel industry - what exactly is hegoing to teach?But everybody gathered as planned for the workshop in the conference hallsharp at 9 am.Mr. Masai was introduced to them - a not so impressive personality, nor theEnglish all that good; spoke as if he was first formulating each sentence inJapanese and then translating it into rather clumsy English."Good morning! Let's start work. I am told this is a workshop; but I seeneither work nor shop.So let's proceed where work is happening Let's start with the first room onthe first floor."Mr. Masai, followed by the senior management, the participants, the videocamera crew trouped out of the conference room and proceeded to thedestination.That happened to be the laundry room of the hotel.Mr. Masai entered the room and stood at the window, "beautiful view!" hesaid.The staff knew it; they need not invite a Japanese consultant to tell themthis! "A room with such a beautiful view is being wasted as a laundry room. Shiftthe laundry to the basement and convert this into a guest room."Aa Haa! Now nobody had ever thought about that!The manager said, "Yes, it can be done.""Then let's do it," Mr. Masai said."Yes sir, I will make a note of this and we will include it in the report onthe workshop that will be prepared." Said the Manager"Excuse me, but there is nothing to note down in this. Let's just do it,just now." Mr. Masai."Just now?" Manager"Yes, decide on a room on the ground floor/basement and shift the stuff outof this room right away. It should take a couple of hours, right?" asked Mr.Masai."Yes." Manager."Let's come back here just before lunch. By then all this stuff will havegot shifted out and the room must be ready with the carpets, furniture etc.and from today you can start earning the few thousand that you charge yourcustomers for a night.""Ok, Sir." The manager had no option.The next destination was the pantry. The group entered. At the entrance weretwo huge sinks full of plates to be washed.Mr. Masai removed his jacket and started washing the plates."Sir, Please, what are you doing?" the manager didn't know what to say andwhat to do."Why, I am washing the plates", Mr. Masai."But sir, there is staff here to do that." Manager Mr. Masai continuedwashing, "I think sink is for washing plates, there are stands here to keepthe plates and the plates should go into the stands."All the officials wondered - did they require a consultant to tell themthis?After finishing the job, Mr. Masai asked, "How many plates do you have?'"Plenty, so that there should never be any shortage." answered the Manager.Mr. Masai said, "We have a word in Japanese -'Muda'. Muda means delay, Mudameans unnecessary spending. One lesson to be learned in this workshop is toavoid both. If you have plenty of plates, there will be delay in cleaning them up. The first step to correct this situation is to remove all the excess plates.""Yes, we will say this in the report." Manager."No, wasting our time in writing the report is again an instance of 'Muda'.We must pack the extra plates in a box right away and send these towhichever other section of Taj requires these. Throughout the workshop nowwe will find out where all we find this 'Muda' hidden."And then at every spot and session, the staff eagerly awaited to find outMuda and learn how to avoid it.On the last day, Mr. Masai told a story."A Japanese and an American, both fond of hunting, met in a jungle. Theyentered deep jungle and suddenly realized that they had run out of bullets.Just then they heard a lion roaring. Both started running. But the Japanesetook a short break to put on his sports shoes. The American said, "What are you doing? We must first get to the car."The Japanese responded, "No. I only have to ensure that I remain ahead ofyou."All the participants engrossed in listening to the story, realized suddenlythat the lion would stop after getting his victim!"The lesson is: competition in today's world is so fierce, that it isimportant to stay ahead of other, even by just a couple of steps. And youhave such a huge and naturally well endowed country. If you remember tocurtail your production expenditure and give the best quality always, youwill be miles ahead as compared to so many other countries in the world.",concluded Mr. Masai.It is never late to learn...let us take out all the MUDA OUT OF OUR LIVES.