Philips Tuner Wins Singapore Quality Award (Singapore)

Mini-Company Experiences Shared on the Net

The following are the collection of information related to mini-company I found on the net. I used google.com. It is nice to know that some received awards, made major stride in business performance, and people finding the destiny at work and their personal lives. I wish all the best! (5/29/02)

Cases of Mini-Company Implementation found on the Net............................................................. 1

GR Spring & Stamping, Inc................................................................................................... 1

Philips Tuner Wins Singapore Quality Award (Singapore).................................................. 2

Wabashnational Corporation................................................................................................. 2

Philips Drachten (The Netherlands)...................................................................................... 2

UBISA (Spain)........................................................................................................................ 2

Nicolas Correa (Spain)........................................................................................................... 2

Robert-Bosch (Australia)....................................................................................................... 3

Windquest on workcells (Michigan)...................................................................................... 3

Junior Achievement - Transition Year Mini-Company Report (Ireland)............................ 3

Papers, Articles and misc. learning opportunities related to Mini-Company found on the Net........... 3

The Use of Work Teams in American Business................................................................... 3

Continuous improvement and the mini-company concept.................................................... 3

Community Learning Enterprise on Mini-Company............................................................ 4

Grand Rapids Community College Offering Mini-company Course................................... 4

Developing More Communication Links on Mini-Company Activities on the Net............................ 4

Cases of Mini-Company Implementation found on the Net

GR Spring & Stamping, Inc.

We have been using the mini company concept for several years following Kiyoshi Suzaki's book The New Shop Floor Management. The basic idea is that everyone working for the company is the president of his or her respective responsibility… Each department is considered a mini company. Everyone in the company as a whole is assigned to one mini company. Each mini company usually has three officers to run weekly meetings and make monthly reports to the internal bankers (the president, general manager, plant manager and engineering manager). ….

http://www.grs-s.com/mini-com.htm

Philips Tuner Wins Singapore Quality Award (Singapore)

Within Philips Tuner Factory, there are eight "mini companies" on the shop floor to give empowerment to individuals. The head of the "mini company" is the banker, followed by the president, line president, group leader and production operators. Mr Chia explained, "The banker budgets for his company’s daily operations and is accountable for its expenses and results. The aim of the programme is to instil a sense of responsibility for one’s actions."

http://www.spring.gov.sg/news/pd/1998_08/98_08_03.html

Wabashnational Corporation

... GROWTH year after year; Principles of WORLD CLASS MANUFACTURING and JIT are taught
and implemented; MINI COMPANY CONCEPT; TEAM TRAINING AND IMPLEMENTATION. ...
http://www.wabashnational.com/profile.htm

Philips Drachten (The Netherlands)

One of the first implementation in Philips Electronics.

"We have a planning driven mini-company which produces parts for inventory, for example, shaver heads or motor units. Then we have an order driven unit which produces certain parts when an order comes in. In that case, the customer is looking for a particular colour or model. The order driven unit then produces, for example, shaver housings in the desired colour and the electronics for the given model are assembled. In order for this system to work properly, all activities are planned in teams with members from each of the mini-companies

http://www.bizzcontact.com/en/who.jsp?action=viewProfile&l=&u=&p=9786

UBISA (Spain)

Managing Strategic Performance
... Context Defining high performance capabilities Case report - Ubisa:The mini-company
structure Key elements of high performance Frameworks for performance ...
http://www.the-infoshop.com/study/bu4785_ms_managing_strategic_toc.html

(UBISA won the European Quality Prize)

Nicolas Correa (Spain)

http://www.correa.es/ingles/presentacion/cont_id.htm

Robert-Bosch (Australia)

* Team work is our future. (Re: AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION)
We will complete the move, really only tentatively begun, towards a team-based work structure. Teamwork is about natural workgroups of employees better understanding costs, customer expectations and their work area as a 'mini-company' as a basis for taking more responsibility for planning and achieving their output.

http://www.osiris.gov.au/html/agreements/18/R0572/0/IA000010.htm.

Windquest on workcells (Michigan)

http://www.iswonline.com/wwp/199908/windquest.shtml .

Junior Achievement - Transition Year Mini-Company Report (Ireland)

http://www.iol.ie/~stpaulsc/ja_aed.htm

((*This is not directly related to the mini-company idea I shared in my book but has relevance to share the achievement here. I believe that the principle is the same. - Kio Suzaki))

This section looks at two reports from the pupils involved in the mini-companies that sold donutsand hotdogs:

This report looks at the business organisation classes that we attended this module, how they were organised, run and concluded, and the different parts we played in it’s maintenance. It is divided into the following six sections:

· Getting organised

· Running the company

· What we learned

· The importance of records

· What went right

· What could be done differently next time

Papers, Articles and misc. learning opportunities related to Mini-Company found on the Net

The Use of Work Teams in American Business

By Rose Ann Swartz, Ph.D

http://ism.ferris.edu/ismnews/swartz/swar07.htm

Continuous improvement and the mini-company concept

By Jan de Leede; Jan Kees Looise

The mini-company concept incorporates the three key issues: it has a self-propelling capacity for CI, involving everyone on the shop floor. A constant and market-oriented source for improvement is found in the clients and suppliers of the mini-company. Results of an in-depth case-study are presented, showing some strong effects of the mini-company concept.

http://angelina.emerald-library.com/vl=18041737/cl=9/nw=1/rpsv/cgi-bin/cgi?ini=emerald&body=linker&reqidx=/cw/mcb/01443577/v19n11/s6/p1188

Community Learning Enterprise on Mini-Company

http://www.cle.org/infocus2.htm

http://www.cle.org/infcsnov.htm

Grand Rapids Community College Offering Mini-company Course

... Course Description: This eight (8) hour facilitated work session enables employees
to adopt a "mini-company" philosophy. They will gain the knowledge and ...
http://www.grcc.cc.mi.us/btt/organizational/business1_1.html

http://www.cle.org/infocus2.htm

Developing More Communication Links on Mini-Company Activities on the Net

Here are more ways to build us the communication links and help promote the understanding of mini-company and related activities.

Mini-Company club at Yahoo! </a>This club provides a free style discussion forum for readers or practioners of Mini-company</a><BR>

<IMG SRC="/pictures/blueball.gif"> <A HREF=http://oocities.com/suzakico> My home page with information on my work, books, etc.</a><BR>

Please inform me of any activities of mini-company if you do not mind to share the story with other people. As appropriate, I would like to post the information here for our mutual understanding. (E-mail: Suzaki@prodigy.net)

Have a good day, good life - always!

Kio