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Small and medium enterprises continue to grow

The number of small and medium enterprises in Laos has been increasing ever since the country began making the transition towards a market economy in 1986.

This statement was made by the General Director of the Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion and Development Office (SMEPDO) of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Mr Somdy Inmixai, during a training course on the Japanese 5S and Kaizen methodologies for productivity improvement in Vientiane yesterday.

The objective of the training was to provide new knowledge on production improvement for government officials, and small and medium enterprise owners.

He added that the government has encouraged the export of goods produced in the country and promoted integration with foreign markets.

Trade in the country has expanded and some goods are exported to foreign markets, and as a result small and medium businesses have increased, Mr Somdy explained.

According to statistics from 2007, nationwide there were 88,045 business units, while in Vientiane alone there were 25,950 business units.

Trade accounted for 38.2 percent of total business units, industry factories for 17 percent, and food services and residences for 12 percent.

Mr Somdy observed that some small, medium and large enterprises still lack adequate systems to manage and check the quality of goods they produce, and that techniques are still low compared to neighbouring countries.

He said he hoped all trainees would learn new lessons on goods production in order to improve the quality of their work.

During the training all participants learnt productivity improvement techniques from Japan, namely 5S (seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsyuke) and Kaizen.

The 5S methodology is a structured programme to systematically achieve total organisation, cleanliness, and standardisation in the workplace. A well-organised workplace results in a safer, more efficient and more productive operation. It boosts the morale of workers, promoting a sense of pride in their work and ownership of their responsibilities.

Kaizen, which means “continuous improvement”, was created in Japan following World War II. It comes from the Japanese words “kai”, which means “change” or “to correct”, and “zen” which means “good”.

Kaizen is a system that involves every employee at a workplace, from upper management to cleaning crew, encouraging them to come up with small improvement suggestions on a continual basis. Kaizen is based on making little changes on a regular basis: always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness while reducing waste. The system takes into account both home and business life, as well as social activities. It is a concept that is applied to every aspect of a person's life.

The Kaizen system of running a business incorporates such aspects as quality circles, automation, suggestion systems, just-in-time delivery, and adherence to 5S. Many Japanese businesses credit Kaizen as pivotal to their success.

 

 

 

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update September 02, 2010)