“Repetition, Continuation, Conscientious”

“Repetition, Continuation, Conscientious” feels good.

Sinsuke Kita (Haikyu!)

Manga. A critical part of modern Japanese culture. The topics manga covers are broad, and some feature fascinating themes.

The quote above is from Sinsuke Kita, a character in the manga “Haikyu!” “Haikyu!” is a volleyball manga and one of the best sports manga.

This character is the captain of the opposing team to the main characters and was the semi-champion of the previous tournament. The team is full of manga-like characters—genius twins, physical talent, “sand fox,” etc. On such a team, this captain is an average player. At first, this character feels like a robot. He thinks the process is more important than results, and his philosophy about the process becomes clearer.

“I don’t need cheers. I just do things entirely. I do things every day completely. Keeping health. Cleaning and sorting. Greetings. Volleyball. “Repetition, Continuation, Conscientious” feels good.”

This phrase gained the attention of many in Japan. It is recognized as essential but challenging. I thought about adding to the explanation of the standardized work.

The third word, “Teinei,” needs additional translation. Here are some other translations of the word: careful, thorough, courteous, polite, gracious, nice, measured, deliberate, neat, complete, etc. In ancient China, “Teinei” referred to a metal drum used to signal warnings. From that, it came to mean cautious. Because the message didn’t transfer easily to everyone, it also began to suggest approaching everything carefully.

Kita was introduced to this way of thinking by his grandmother. He was told that “Gods are everywhere watching you,” so he needs to do everything thoroughly, which reflects Shinto thinking. But Kita has reached a point where he isn’t doing it because somebody is watching him. He is doing things because he feels good about them. But someone is watching. In this story, the head coach. He recognizes Kita's philosophy and highly evaluates it. Therefore, he was chosen as the captain.

In an organization, especially in operations, there is always someone like Kita, who quietly does the work “Repetition, Continuation, Conscientious.” But such a person is not always respected.

In a factory, there was a ‘high-skilled operator.’ As I watched, I became confused because his work was far from “Repetition, Continuation, Conscientious.” When I asked the manager why he was listed as a high-skilled operator, the manager said, “He repairs.” While checking the reworks, I found that this operator had caused the original defect. Right next to him was a quiet operator. He made it without any defects. The management claimed that the guy who repairs has a higher “output.” But that was because they count a defect as one output and a repair as another, even though the actual sellable unit is only one.

A factory had a maintenance issue. The machine had frequent breakdowns. When a breakdown occurred, this ‘hero’ came. He somehow got the machine moving. As we investigated the factory, we observed some machines with similar technology running smoothly. When I asked why those machines could run without downtime, the management said, “Those are easy technologies.” But the truth was revealed a few months later. One maintenance guy retired. Then the ‘easy’ technologies gradually became unstable. The truth was that the old maintenance guy had been doing preventive maintenance without anyone recognizing it.

The Kaizen activity was the same. A spotlight was placed on this one improvement. They made presentations and a show about that improvement. But the results will quickly catch up with the silent “Repetition, Continuation, Conscientious” Kaizen: nothing special, but just many. Also, there was another problem. As one process improved significantly, the factory didn’t change much because other processes became problematic. On the other hand, when every process is engaged in “Repetition, Continuation, Conscientious” Kaizen, overall performance improves as well.

Many unsung heroes in operations go unrecognized. They do their work “Repetition, Continuation, Conscientious.” Many organizations don’t recognize their contributions. They would rather evaluate those who can talk or fire-fight. They take it for granted that someone who works “Repetition, Continuation, Conscientious” is everywhere, only recognizing it when you lose such capability.