Leaning Out of Africa: Economic Development Lessons
Improvements in beehive manufacturing spread hope.
By Jim Huntzinger

This past August I spent two weeks in Zambia, Africa. I was there visiting and helping some close family friends who are missionaries. John and Kendra are not typical missionaries. While they do have a very nice training center that is used for a pastor school, family activities and other community events, the main focus of their work is setting up indigenous economic development. John has always said the problem with Africa and Africans is that they have been saved, “too many times.” His point is — it is one thing to convert them to Christianity, but when this happens and they simply go back to their life of destitution and witchcraft-culture beliefs —nothing is accomplished. What they need is a robust economy to take their Christian values and principles and earn a living for themselves, their family, their community and their country. This is exactly what he and Kendra have been doing and have made a very significant impact both spiritually and economically. 

John is no stranger to what it takes to make this dramatic culture and economic change in the depths of Africa. His parents were missionaries in Congo (Congo is along the north border of Zambia) and arrived there in 1950. He has spent his entire life living among African people and their culture. He knows it firsthand. 

A number of John and Kendra’s economic development projects are manufacturing operations, and this is where I spent a significant amount of time during my visit. I had been talking with John for several years about implementing lean systems in their manufacturing operations and even had him read several lean books to learn more. I spent much of my time with their beehive operation — the manufacturing of beehives. 

While this operation was deep in the middle of the Zambian bush and was primitive by western standards — that is: It was housed in a simple building, had simple processes and equipment, and a simple product — but it contained the exact same issues and problems as any manufacturing operation here in the U.S. They naturally were using batch production and always had a shortage of something. They also continued to work, so they had lots of inventory of everything except the specific component(s) they needed to finish the product for shipping. They were not fully utilizing their operators’ knowledge and skills to develop better methods (kaizen) to stabilize the processes, reduce time/waste, or improve quality (particularly decreasing re-work). I saw the exact same thing in the depths of the Dark Continent that I have seen repeatedly in the brightly lighted and well-funded plants of the United States. In my work with them, I applied the same principles and practices that I would at any manufacturer here in the States. 

Most Americans enjoy seeing others succeed — seeing others less fortunate raise their standard of living, their level of knowledge and skills, and contribute positively to their community. Our greatest contribution is to help other cultures succeed using the same principles that have made the Great Experiment the most successful civilization in history. I got to witness the beginning of this same seed being planted. My hope upon my departure was that I will see this seed grow into a small sapling on my next visit. 

Well, John and Kendra were here in the States for a couple of weeks, and last week I spent some time with them. They gave me an update to the lean progress the beehive manufacturing has accomplished since my time with it back in August. I had left them with a one-page document spelling out basic goals and objectives and a short list of activities for them to do to help move them toward the lean objectives. It was simply one page that summarized what I had explained to them and worked on with them while I was there in August. 

For the months prior to my visit, the beehive manufacturing had produced only three hives per day, and had accomplished this output inconsistently. Upon my discussion with John last week, he informed me that they were now consistently producing 55 beehives a day and were also using less people. I was certainly pleasantly surprised. They had exceeded my expectations. Their output increased by 2,200 percent. And they were on schedule to meet a production order they had to complete by the end of this year. They were nowhere near on track to meet this order when I was there in August. 

They had also moved the operation to another location, so they took advantage of the move to change the layout to a more favorable flow orientation. After reviewing some photos of the new operation and discussing with John and another gentleman that had gone over to help out with the operation after my visit, I got a good view of what they had done. They had implemented a form of “fake flow.” Fake flow is a very common step for firms during the implementation process. It is not one-piece flow, but it is a very good step in the right direction. And combining their progress with the fact that they are in the middle of the Zambian bush — no manufacturing resources, consultants, books (well, I have sent John a couple), webinars, conferences, and the like, available to them — they have achieved something just short of a miracle. I find few companies here in the United States that can actually progress that well and fast. Hope has been planted. 

They still have much work to do to continue moving forward with their beehive production, and to integrate these methods and thinking into their other manufacturing operations. But they do plan to do it. And I plan to get back there to help them continue along the journey. 

My visit and work in Zambia also made me more adamant about keeping these principles, of the free-market and lean working together, strong here at home. Leaning out Africa raises the level of both the Africans and Americans. This is indeed a noble effort on John and Kendra’s part!

Learn more about the Enright's economic development activities.