HNB honoured at Taiki Akimoto 5S awards 2010

The Hatton National Bank Plc (HNB) was recently adjudicated with several accolades at the recently concluded Taiki Akimoto 5S Awards 2010. 

HNB Kurunegala won the Overall Award in the Banking Sector category, a first for the banking sector in Sri Lanka. HNB Grandpass and HNB Nawalapitiya branches carried away Merit awards whilst HNB Mahiyangana and HNB Pettah were awarded Certificates of Commendation. 

The Taiki Akimoto 5S awards are conducted annually by the Japan Sri Lanka Technical & Cultural Association. The 5S Competition has a 15 year history and approximately 550 companies took part in the competition. In the year 2010 a record number of 95 institutions participated in the competition representing various sectors. HNB has been a dominant contender since the introduction of 5S in 2008. The Bank in its first year of 5S was recognised in several categories on their achievement in 5S practices. Last year 31 HNB branches participated with 3 branches qualifying for the final round of audit, demonstrating the Bank’s strong position towards implementation of the concepts of 5S.

Commenting on their success being the overall winner in the Banking Sector, Nishantha Weerasinghe, Senior Manager of HNB Kurunegala mentioned that adhering to 5S concepts would be the best tool for any organisation to improve product and service quality and cost reduction leading to better staff morale and increased profitability. Further it provided a host of progressive and positive opportunities for any organisation to prosper, he said. Continuing, he cited his own branch as an example saying that winning the first place was a fitting recognition for the hard work and commitment of his team.

When asked about his experience with 5S, R. L. Maheswaran, Senior Manager of HNB Pettah explained that 5S had first been implemented as a pilot project at the Pettah Branch and had been an enormous challenge as it was one of the largest HNB Branches and the requirements of 5S were very stringent. The award was a result of the collective efforts of all the staff and we are confident that the Branch will be able to improve its overall position in the next competition he added.

Mahinda Seneviratne - Manager HNB Nawalapitiya mentioned that the competition had been extremely rigorous — for instance, a document had to be retrievable by any staff member within 30 seconds and he and his staff had worked meticulously to achieve the required standards set by the panel of judges led by a Japanese professor.

The principles of 5S were implemented at HNB with the assistance of Lal Fonseka, the Chairman and Managing Director of Kaizen Productivity (Pvt) Ltd. based on a decision taken by the Bank’s Management with the view to improving quality and productivity in the Bank. In the long run it is expected to produce several benefits to the Bank such as recognition and clean work places, releasing of unutilised office space as well as productivity gains.  The enthusiastic support of the staff had been vital in the successful implementation of 5S in all HNB branches throughout the country. With the assistance of the regional heads the Bank’s Human Resources Division conducted 5S awareness programmes in all regions at the inception. The implementation of the 5S concepts has led to a more customer friendly office environment and created a more conducive atmosphere for staff to unleash their creativity resulting in increased morale, enthusiasm and teamwork amongst the staff. The Bank is expected to field a greater number of branches at the next competition.