Meridian Port Services Ltd (MPS) has successfully hosted the inaugural AGL Regional Kaizen Event, marking a significant milestone in its journey of continuous improvement and collaborative innovation. Held at the MPS Terminal in Tema from 14^th to 18^th July, the event brought together 20 participants from nine AGL Group entities across Benin, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Europe.

The Kaizen Event was designed to tackle three critical operational challenges aimed at enhancing terminal efficiency and improving service delivery. Under the theme “Boosting Operational Efficiency,” the initiative focused on:

• Optimizing shift change for quay and yard teams
• Optimizing shift change for terminal truck drivers
• Increasing Mean Moves Between Failure (MMBF) on STS crane operations

Speaking at the opening session, Mr. Mohamed Samara, CEO of MPS, emphasized the strategic relevance of the initiative:

“The throughput capacity of a terminal is determined by the scale of its infrastructure, the deployment of equipment, and the productivity of operations. With the recent growth in volumes, enhancing productivity has become a key avenue for expanding capacity; whether through investment or operational improvements. I firmly believe that we, as a regional team, have the brainpower and resources to achieve this without compromising safety. By doing so, we unlock additional capacity and enhance the quality of service delivered to our customers.”

The event forms part of the ongoing LEAN Program at MPS, which has already delivered tangible improvements through other earlier Kaizen initiatives.

For this regional Kaizen, participants were assigned to project teams, each tasked with one of the operational focus areas. These Kaizen teams, comprising both internal and external participants, worked towards measurable goals such as increasing the containers’ Moves Per Hour during shift transitions and synchronizing spreader pre-check procedures to improve STS crane reliability.

Mr. Mahmoud Ayoub, Chief Operations Officer of MPS, highlighted the collaborative nature of the event:

“Each team includes a designated Leader and Facilitator, and their scope spans quay, yard, and truck driver shift operations. The solutions developed here are expected to be practical and scalable across other terminals.”

Mr. Emmanuel Ohene Addo, Operations Manager at MPS, shared his optimism:

“This regional session builds on our earlier successes. We are confident it will provide sustainable solutions to optimize operations and improve service delivery.”

Mr. Richard Adimado from the MPS Planning Department reflected on his personal growth during the event:

“I’ve gained a deeper understanding of what it means to collaborate across functions/teams. The best solutions often emerge when ideas are sourced from everyone. From a planning perspective, these four days have demonstrated the real power of teamwork.”

Mr. Gérald Conneau, AGL’s Director for Operational Excellence, praised the MPS CEO and Management for their commitment to sustaining the improvements. Moreover, he highlighted the broader vision behind the initiative:

“This event is part of AGL’s broader quest to embed the LEAN methodology across all our business units. Our approach is to identify specific operational challenges where Kaizen interventions can drive measurable improvements that add value, both to our business and ultimately to our customers. The collaboration and commitment demonstrated here at MPS reflect exactly the kind of impact we aim to achieve across the network.”

About Kaizen

Kaizen is a collaborative improvement methodology that brings together business specialists and Operational Excellence teams to solve specific operational challenges. It delivers fast, actionable solutions, promotes shared learning in Lean practices, and helps scale proven best practices across terminals within the AGL network.

CEO’s Welcome Message: https://youtu.be/_ZJcEWFJITo

About MPS

Meridian Port Services Ltd (MPS) operates Terminal 3 at the Port of Tema in Ghana. A joint venture between the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, APM Terminals, and Africa Global Logistics, MPS is committed to providing world-class port services while contributing to Ghana’s economic development and environmental sustainability.