Launch of Continuous Improvement Pilot Project

STONAVA – The launch of the Continuous Improvement pilot project at the Důl ČSM mine is an important event. The company believes it will bring greater safety, an improvement of working conditions and also a reduction in energy and materials intensity. Leo Bayer, OKD operations manager, and Josef Kasper, general manager of Důl ČSM, explain the details:

What is the aim of the Continuous Improvement pilot project at Důl ČSM? What are the expected benefits?

Leo Bayer: The aim of the Continuous Improvement pilot project is to provide workers at Důl ČSM with the opportunity to submit their ideas for improvements and also to implement them. The Continuous Improvement pilot project is expected to make the everyday work of Důl ČSM miners and other workers easier, to lead to greater safety, to bring an improvement of working conditions, to reduce energy and materials intensity and to generally increase effectiveness. The ideas will originate from workers who know their own working environment best.

What are the plans of OKD concerning the future of Continuous Improvement?

Leo Bayer: We shall extend Continuous Improvement systematically to the other mines, too. This will enable us to use the experience of all OKD workers and their suggestions for improvement and also to achieve a simple transfer of good ideas and experience from one individual internal organisation unit to another. Our aim is to turn Continuous Improvement into a major tool that would help increase the effectiveness of OKD operations and thus good job security for our employees.

What is going to happen at Důl ČSM during the Continuous Improvement pilot project?

Josef Kasper: We shall start implementing what we had been preparing for the last couple of weeks. The first thing is shortening the morning shift maintenance time at coalface 320 312 and collecting suggestions from all Důl ČSM workers concerning the improvement of transport of materials from the transship point to the workplace. In both these areas we start on 12 October.

How exactly will the pilot project be launched?

Josef Kasper: If all Důl ČSM workers are to participate in the improvements, they must understand the Continuous Improvement project and know how they could contribute. We have planned a number of meetings for this week to explain to Důl ČSM workers what Continuous Improvement is about and what the objectives of the pilot project are. The meetings have also been attended by representatives of the OKD top management.

What are the aims of the Continuous Improvement pilot project in the individual areas?

Josef Kasper: Regarding the morning shift maintenance, the aim is simple – to implement suggestions and measures for shortening the maintenance time at coalface 320 312. I would like to stress that implementation would not have been possible without the intensive work of the whole team of workers over the recent weeks, who have been putting together the individual ideas and have been designing measures for shortening the morning shift maintenance. Regarding the transport of materials from the transship point to the workplace, the aim of the Continuous Improvement project is, especially, to collect as many good and feasible suggestions as possible from Důl ČSM workers. Anybody who has an idea about how to improve the transport of materials – especially from the tranship point to the workplace – can submit his suggestion. I would like to stress that what we are seeking is not the reorganisation of the whole process, but simple and partial improvements. Petr Skyva, the project manager of Continuous Improvement, will then assess the individual suggestions and those that are selected will be gradually implemented and their authors rewarded.

What will the Continuous Improvement pilot project bring to individual workers?

Josef Kasper: The project will make their work easier and simpler; it will increase safety at the workplace. Moreover, any author of a good and feasible idea will receive a reward of 1000 Czech crowns. The authors of the suggestions will also receive an additional reward on completion of the implementation, depending on how large the actual improvement is. The workers who implement the ideas and projects will also be rewarded; in this case, too, the amount of the reward will depend on the improvement actually achieved.  I have no doubt that individual workers will take this as an opportunity to participate personally in improving the work of the whole mine.

What is going to change then on 12 October?

Josef Kasper: Although we used to collect workers’ suggestions in the past, too, we are going to do this in a more systematic and targeted way starting from 12 October. From 12 October onwards special forms will be available at the gate of Důl ČSM called “Suggestion Cards” (Karty nápadů) and, unless they want to discuss their proposals with Petr Skyva directly, the employees will be able to write down their suggestions on the cards. Boxes will be placed by the gate, into which workers can place their suggestions.

(Questions asked by Josef Lys)