To support Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and National Transformation Program 2020 launched this year, Abdul Latif Jameel has announced that it is working with local and Japanese organizations to establish a kaizen company and training academy for the public and private sectors in Saudi Arabia. The "kaizen" method, which is Japanese for continuous improvement, provides lean management techniques, an industrial strategy pioneered by Japanese corporations designed to boost assembly line efficiency and performance, to eliminate waste and to maximize utilization of resources. Abdul Latif Jameel believes that promoting the kaizen culture in the public and private sectors in Saudi Arabia is essential in achieving the targets of the National Transformation Program. Abdul Latif Jameel and local and Japanese partner companies are therefore preparing the business plan for a lean management company to work with public and private sector clients in Saudi Arabia and a training academy in the country to help companies to be more productive and efficient. The establishment of the lean management company and training academy would come as an extension to the longstanding relationship that is based on the philosophy of continuous improvement shared between Abdul Latif Jameel and Japan, dating back to 1955 when it became a Toyota distributor. Today, as a leading diversified business, Abdul Latif Jameel has built its business model on the lean management principles of kaizen, and has witnessed firsthand results that the philosophy can achieve. Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abdul Latif Jameel, said: "As the government of Saudi Arabia gets its economic diversification strategy underway as part of the Vision 2030 plan, the kaizen philosophy can support in streamlining performances across a wide range of fields in both the private and public sectors, while playing a key role in improving output. We envisage the company and virtual training academy would provide a range of services in the country, including promoting the kaizen culture in Saudi Arabia, offering training for Saudi citizens in the kaizen approach, creating Saudi kaizen and lean management trainers, and providing kaizen services to public and private sector clients to improve efficiency, remove waste, and reduce costs. The company and training academy will be launched during the first half of 2018." Abdul Latif Jameel has long been implementing the kaizen method across its various operations, and holds an annual internal conference to reinforce the philosophy. Additionally, it has an internal department that is solely focused on ensuring that the continuous improvement methodology is adopted across all parts of the business.
