PSA has been assisting Falke SA in the training and on-the job coaching of 17 of its team leaders since the 18th April 2008. The team leaders participating in the training, are from a range of areas within the company such as Design, Knitting, Yarn Store, Toe-Closing, Forming, Dyehouse, Warehouse and Dispatch. They were taken through the following modules. Introduction to World Class Manufacturing 5S Housekeeping Visual Performance Measurement Roles and Responsibilities Interpersonal Skills, and Problem Solving (Profit Improvement Projects, PIP`s)

The following are the views from two of the team leaders who participated in the project.

Delores Abels, who has 20 years service with Falke , and is currently the Warehouse Teamleader says, that the project has brought her and her team closer together and they are now more involved with the day-to-day running of the warehouse. “The involvement of team members is such that they clap hands once an order has been successfully completed.”

“The team meetings held every morning at the start of the shift have allowed the team to highlight their problems and concerns, which can then be resolved immediately.” Through her Visual Performance board, she now measures the team’s absenteeism, order priority list and team concerns. In addition, she has an action plan for problem solving.

“I definitely enjoyed the PIP`s (Performance Improvement Projects) as this is where I have learned the most. For my final project I will be investigating “Reducing the lead time for Factory Shop orders from 3 days to 1 day”. Delores says that she never knew what an effect priority of factory shop orders had on the rest of the value chain. In addition, that she will apply what she has learned from this initial PIP to other customers.

For Louise Perumal, who has recently been promoted to Team Leader of the Finishing Department, Visual Performance Measurement (VPM) was a new concept and has allowed her and her team to see their Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and to know how they are performing. She has found that the team engages with the board especially the ones that initially said “Ek stel nie belang nie”.

In applying her Roles and Responsibilities, which has been made clear through the training, she now makes her team members more accountable and responsible for their actions. Louise says that her team has been involved with the entire project, and feels that she is still the old Louise that first started 8 years ago, just with improved methodologies of making work more pleasant and less stressful.

“I would like to thank the management at Falke for allowing me to undergo this training within the workplace and also for delivering on the solutions of my Performance Improvement Project” She comments that “This has been a fantastic journey and we are enjoying the ride”.

The feedback from Falke`s Factory Manager and HR Manager also gives an indication of the impact of the training and development intervention.

“Teamleaders have taken on this project with such enthusiasm and drive” Says Pieter Smith – Factory Manager at Falke. He has seen how teamleaders have grown over the last 8 months and really step-up to the plate.

The formal training followed by extensive on-the-job coaching has been effective and has been found to be less disruptive to production especially with the PSA Facilitator integrating with the process. He concludes by saying that- “We have seen a definite improvement in production, with no real casualties along the way”.

Tanja Groenewald, HR Manager at Falke says, “The project has increased communication between our cutive and middle management team.” In addition. our cutive team is now more aware of some of the World Class Manufacturing principles, especially those who could no attend the pilot roll out in 2007.

“It has helped us to identify an individual’s potential and has even affected our recruitment process, in that we start to look at new employees who have been exposed to WCM principles or have the potential to be taught the principles.” She also feels that the project has supported their business strategy and reinforced that the direction they`ve chosen is the right one.