Britania benefis from the Kaizen culture

Juicing it up at Britania

Industry’s Kaizen management approach puts it ahead of the pack in manufacture of juices and biscuits

By Ronald Musoke

Britania Allied Industries, the leading manufacturers of fresh fruit juice and confectioneries in Uganda is part of the Nairobi-based Manji Food Industries and Uganda Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

The company’s market share is estimated at about 60 per cent in the biscuit sector in the region and up to 65 per cent in the juice and confectionery sector in Uganda. Britania has an annual turnover of about Ushs 90 billion.

From a few biscuit and juice brands, Britania has since expanded its product range to include more than 70 varieties of biscuits, confectionery, candy, gum, fruit juices, sauces (tomato and chilli), water, as well as plastics.

Kaizen management approach

One of the secrets of Britania’s rapid expansion and success could be pegged to the Kaizen management approach. Kaizen, a Japanese management strategy invented after the second World War was adopted at Britania in August 2007 in an effort to address the challenges that the company was facing.

The Kaizen approach focuses on continuous improvement in all aspects of life. However, in business; Kaizen strives to continuously improve all the functions of a company from the CEO down to the assembly line workers.

This system uses the 5S’s (sorting, systematic arrangement, spic and span, standardization and self discipline) and it is aimed at house keeping, air free environment and reducing search time.

Britania has achieved a lot from the Kaizen culture. As far as social benefits are concerned, organizational discipline is top notch at the company with tidiness, cleanliness, systematic arrangement, self development, time saving, good communication amongst staff, flexibility in the supply chain as well as high motivation and competition being some of the noted results.

Economic results have been registered in form of increased productivity, machine and product maintenance, value addition, proper use of time, cost reduction, waste elimination, reduced spillage, and efficiency.

Given the company’s nature of business, Britania recognizes the importance of operating in a clean and health environment. It is upon this knowledge that there are deliberate practices within the premises that ensure the company’s desired environment and health targets.

There is an initiative, for instance, of plastic recycling within the premise to avoid litter and environmental degradation.

Besides the fact that most of the company’s products are certified by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), Britania was granted the internationally coveted ISO 9001:2000 quality certification in 2005.

In the last four years, Britania has continuously been awarded the President’s Gold Award for Export in the confectionery category by the Uganda Export Promotion Board.

The company was also given with the ‘Investor of the Year Award’ by the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) in the medium category for the year 2007. Britania also won gold in the ‘ANI MUKOOZI’; the people’s verdict in 2008.

Although Britania has made several inroads over the last decade, the company like any other still has its unique challenges.

The ever growing market (both locally and internationally) and the need to sustain supply against demand is one of them. However, boosting the capacity for all sections of the production chain will help the company in the very near future to overcome these hurdles.

The other challenge has been noted to be the changing characteristic of the market’s consumption patterns and the double challenge for manufacturing companies to remain on the market. But the company has found this to be an advantage since more people are changing their attitudes and are now consuming more of processed juices.

There has also been the sprouting of fake/ counterfeit products and the leakage in the customs and standards bodies that does not allow easy detection of such products either being smuggled or manufactured locally. This is not to mention the competition from other industries who manufacture the same goods and the struggle over the same scope of market.

Over the last 12 years, Britania has made tremendous contribution to the country’s economy. It has provided employment to Ugandans .The company’s employment has increased over the last 12 years from 150 staff to the current 1560 staff. The latter figure actually surges to about 1700 when the fruit season is on.

Most importantly, however, has been the company’s contribution to the country’s treasury. Britania Allied Industries is always listed among the best 100 tax payers in Uganda, says management■