Dr. Mónica Marcela Zaldívar Muñoz, professor from the Department of Engineering in Systems and Industrial Technologies (ISTI) of the Polytechnic University of San Luis Potosí (UPSLP) participated in the training in Japan for the project “Strengthening the Automotive Cluster in Mexico”, which took place from March 7th to 21st, for the training of KAIZEN Trainer Candidates.
The project has been promoted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since 2018 with the purpose of increasing the participation of local companies in the supply chain by improving the quality of parts, on-time delivery and cost reduction through direct guidance on the production floor, with the implementation of quality tools and Japanese methodologies such as KAIZEN.
In February 2020, Dr. Zaldívar was selected from a list of three candidates requested from the UPSLP by JICA, the Secretariat of Economic Development of the State of San Luis Potosí (SEDECO), and the Automotive Cluster to participate in this project and receive training to be “KAIZEN Trainer Candidates”.
The training in Japan, in March, was held as a complement to this training, with the objective of allowing the participating members to acquire the knowledge and skills of systematic advice on KAIZEN on the production floor and on supplier development systems in the automotive industry of Japan through guided visits to companies and case studies with the intention of making these practices take root, contribute to build and establish a KAIZEN scheme in the supply chain in Mexico.
In this way, Dr. Zaldívar had the opportunity to learn about KAIZEN’s activities in the automotive supply chain through Japanese Original Equipment Producers (OEMs). During the stay in Japan, there was an intensive training at the Nissan Learning Center where they worked in a practical workshop of KAIZEN, there was a visit to the Nissan assembly plant in Oppama and a visit to the Nissan motor museum. There was also a training at the Mazda assembly plant in Hiroshima, a visit to the Mazda museum, and a visit to the facilities of Hirotec, a Tier 1 supplier of Mazda.
At the end, a presentation was prepared with the work proposal of the KAIZEN trainers to continue with the 5th stage of the project in each of the participating states in Mexico, and Dr. Mónica Marcela Zaldívar Muñoz received recognition for having completed the this phase of the project “Strengthening the Automotive Cluster in Mexico”.
