Operational excellence recognised in two major awards

South East Water is the first water company to have been presented with the UK and Ireland Kaizen Institute Award for the development of its operational excellence initiatives and framework over the past three years.

In receiving the award, Douglas Whitfield, Operations Director said this was well deserved recognition for the outstanding efforts of frontline teams across South East Water through an unprecedented period of challenge.

It comes after the company received the Infrastructure Delivery Award from the water industry’s trade publication Utility Week. This was for a complex three-year project to restore the drinking water storage tanks after they were damaged by a sink hole on the site.

Although the Kaizen Awards have been running world-wide for the past 12 years, it is the first year they have been run in the UK and Ireland.

The Kaizen Institute said: “This category for Operational Excellence encompasses projects that accomplished better productivity and effectiveness levels, simplified processes and lead time reduction.”

To gain the award, South East Water proved how it had directed its efforts on maximising operations performance, securing efficiency and effectiveness in terms of productivity, quality, and costs reduction.

Douglas said: “This included the development of visual management standards for production sites, summary dashboards for managers to track improvements, and relevant local performance metrics that link through to wider company measures.

“These processes have encouraged the adoption of best practice across operations and help us to embed a culture of operational excellence and continuous improvement.”

Douglas added: “It is a really challenging time for anyone working in the water industry due to the impact of accelerated climate change and operationally it has been an incredibly demanding three years.

“That makes this well-deserved recognition for our teams by both the Kaizen Institute and Utility Week so important.“