South Africa will host the Africa Kaizen Annual Conference (AKAC) under the theme, African Industrialisation through Fostering Competitive Firms and Value Chains on the Continent. The conference will take place at the Birchwood Hotel, Boksburg, from 27-28 October 2025.
Kaizen is a hands-on and practical skill developed through a participatory, learning-by-doing, human-focused, and process-oriented approach. It promotes continuous quality and productivity improvement to enhance the competitive of the manufacturing industries.
Africa Kaizen Annual Conference (AKAC) is a unique opportunity to accelerate Quality and Productivity Improvement (QPI)/Kaizen activities through policy advocacy, mutual learning and co-creating African wisdom to improve firm capabilities and competitiveness.
According to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Mr Parks Tau, the South African government signed a Joint Technical Cooperation Agreement with the government of Japan in 2011. Subsequently, in 2021, in line with that agreement, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) signed a Record of Discussion to jointly implement the QPI Project (also known as Kaizen) in 2021 over five years.
The AKAC creates a platform to bring policymakers, academics, and practitioners together to share and exchange knowledge and experiences about quality and productivity improvements in various industrial sectors. AKAC was started in 2017 by the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under the framework of the Africa Kaizen Initiative (AKI).
“One of the key objectives of Kaizen is to strengthen the competitiveness of the suppliers and also achieve transformation, ensuring participation of women, youth, and people with disabilities in the automotive sector. This is in line with the Automotive Masterplan, which seeks to increase the contribution of black-owned suppliers’ automotive gross value-added to 25% of the tier 2 and tier 3 total by 2035,” says Tau.
He adds that the conference will bring together leaders and practitioners of Kaizen Institutions and National Productivity Organisations, a network of entities that promote quality and productivity improvement activities across the country, known as the National Quality and Productivity Network (NQPN).
The network includes the dtic, the Automotive Industry Development Centre Eastern Cape Province (AIDC-EC), Automotive Industry Development Centre, Gauteng Province (AIDC-GP), Automotive Supply Chain Competitiveness Initiative (ASCCI), Plastics South Africa (Plastics SA), Production Technologies Association of South Africa (PtSA), Productivity South Africa (Productivity SA), Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), and the Automotive Industry Transformation Fund (AITF).
“The initiative has been growing in collaboration with QPI/Kaizen, promoting organisations in more than ten countries on the continent and creating continental momentum of the QPI movement. This year, that momentum is further strengthened through the Africa Kaizen and Productivity Awards, which recognise and celebrate organisations and practitioners driving excellence, innovation, and competitiveness across Africa,” says Tau.
The AKAC will be followed by the Africa Kaizen and South African National Productivity Awards, hosted by Productivity SA. The awards, will recognise organisations and productivity practitioners that have demonstrated excellence in Kaizen and productivity improvement across the continent.
The QPI project supports the automotive value chain and other sectors in South Africa through promoting localisation, competitiveness, and transformation. The four-month Basic Kaizen training that took place from 2023to 2025 improved selected key performance indicators (KPIs) of the productivity of 66 participating companies by an average of 53.5 percent. The Digital Kaizen training also accelerates digital data collection in SMMEs, and improves the capability and economic competitiveness of the South African companies.
Kaizen has been highlighted as a promising method in raising productivity, improving standards and ensuring total quality management in production. The initiative aims to contribute to the realisation of Agenda 2063, striving for transformed, inclusive and sustainable economies.
Media Enquiries:
Kaamil Alli – Ministerial Spokesperson
Mobile: +27 82 520 6813
WhatsApp: +27 82 520 6813
E-mail: KAlli@thedtic.gov.za
Or
Bongani Lukhele – Director: Media Relations
Tel: (012) 394 1643
Mobile: 079 5083 457
WhatsApp: 074 2998 512
E-mail: BLukhele@thedtic.gov.za
Issued by: The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic)
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