lean manufacturing

The Process of Improvement for any Business

Posted on by Adam Payne

Standardise

In standardising a process you want to be able to see the Abnormal from Normal conditions. When the process is disrupted by an obstacle or issue, you can see it. The Standardise, Do, Check, Act cycle.

Stabilise

Now you can begin to systematically simplify, Combine, Eliminate the issues to Stabilise the process. Whether it’s achieving TAKT, a cycle time, changeover, order entry, bid-no bid process, etc. The Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle.

Standardise and Stabilise play off of one another. (and you must be applying the rigorous PDCA management process as a business, if you can’t do that or sustain it ultimately you will fail)

Optimise

The drive towards perfection should always be sort within our processes across all functions, departments, businesses. This is optimisation, in driving for continuous improvement. Once we have standardised and stabilised our processes internally we can also start to look externally within our supply chain and support the SDCA and PDCA within those businesses that are struggling, remember we want a way of understanding the Abnormal from Normal conditions, no reason we can’t apply that in measuring our supply chain and why not pass on the learning, we all benefit. (and I don’t mean how some OEM’s have applied this before, internally a mess but let’s concentrate and beat up the supplier, short termism!)

Optimise also goes hand in hand with Grow in my eyes, all of the improvements align to our Strategy, and our Strategy will have new business, innovation in our products, so optimise and utilise all of those resources to ensure future growth.

Grow

Apply the SDCA, PDCA into Sales and Marketing processes. Integrate the tools and techniques of Lean Manufacturing, Operational Excellence with the proven sales methods and drive sustainable increases in sales performance and profitability.

In improving the efficiency of our company’s sales processes, we enable the sales and Customer facing teams to reduce waste and duplication and free up much needed Customer contact time in the sales cycle creating greater customer value.

As the orders come in, we come back to our Standardise and Stabilise cycle and the cycle repeats.

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First Impressions Count in Customer Service

Posted on by Adam Payne

When it comes to Customer Service, my opinion is first impressions count.

Recently I visited a Training company, their offices are based on a retail park that has two/three main car dealerships. Upon leaving the offices I decided to look around one of the dealerships used car sales. I parked up, put my coat on and went for a walk round. I have always thought about owning a 4×4 style vehicle (don’t ask me why….). After a couple of minutes a Salesman came out and asked if I was OK. I introduced myself and asked about the car. I was expecting an introduction back and the normal handshake. NOTHING!

So intrigued by this I made up a deal that I had been offered by another dealership and could they match it (not a big difference, match a part exchange and match the price, £500 difference on a price). The salesman shook his head and said I will have to see the manager, would you come to the office. When we entered the office the Salesman went straight to the Sales Managers Office and started to relay the (made up) offer I had been given. Again I was expecting the Sales Manager to come out, formal introductions, would you like a coffee (customer coffee machine in the office) but again NOTHING!

So at this point I had given them the biggest hint I was interested, match a price offering (not beat it) and we’ll go from there. What they had done is not introduce themselves or their company, not asked me my name or details and not even shook my hand. The manager didn’t even look up to acknowledge his salesman yet alone me…IT THIS GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE FOR A POTENTIAL CUSTOMER?????

The Salesman came from his managers office handed me a piece of A4 paper folded in half and said come back to us if you’re not happy with your other offer. I walked from the office in absolute amazement, no handshake, no names, no one had taken my details and no one had tried to source an alternative vehicle. I unfolded the piece of paper to find a poor quality black and white print of the wrong car??????

That first impression is critical to building rapport, working relationships, personal dialogue and ultimately how both parties will move forward together. I am quite a direct down to earth sort of guy (anyone that knows me will know this), I pride myself on being a good listener, to ascertain and understand and above all polite, courteous and respectful at all times.

Regardless that they may have seen through my made up deal (but I doubt that) they had done nothing to ensure my experience was great and I would keep them in my thoughts for a future purchase. Imagine how it could potentially affect their sales if I had named them in this article? And do you think I will ever go back?

Remember first impressions do count in Customer Service.

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Applying Lean Principles to the Back Office (Manufacturing or Service)

Posted on by Adam Payne

In today’s uncertain financial times it is becoming more and more imperative that businesses look at their activities and focus in on minimising unnecessary costs, reducing waste and improving inefficient procedures.

A large part of any business are the administration costs which represent a significant element of the total business overhead. These office processes are as targetable for process improvement as any traditional manufacturing or production operation.

Lean Office

If fact some sources state that over 60% of the costs of a product or service come from administrative processes. In general, the higher the number of human touches or decision points in a process, the greater the ROI in optimising that process and with an average employee spending 30 to 40 percent of his or her time looking for information they can’t find, these processes are swamped with waste. Most of the users to these processes will have developed workarounds over time, with this comes process slip and inefficiencies.

How do we then start to optimise these processes?

The answer is simply “Apply Lean Principles”.

By defining Value in the eyes of the customer (not the provider) we create a robust specification. We must then build repeatable processes (without waste) to deliver that specification.

My approach has always been Analyse, Design, Implement and Sustain.

Analyse the current situation: process mapping, data gathering, and business assessments.

Design the future state process/structure, design roles and responsibilities, design the implementation plan and communication plan.

Implement: Execute the plan with good leadership commitment and governance (Obeya Room Process, Operations Room, War Room)

Sustain: Conduct follow up reviews, post change assessments to ensure adherence, management reviews of KPI’s (key performance indicators)and implement a framework for continuous improvement.

Tangible Customer Benefits:

  • Sales Customer Facing Time Increased by 245%.
  • Process Efficiency Increased by 95%.
  • 38% of lost Sales back into the business.

Remember:

Reality is invariably different from perception,
Few things work the way we think they do!

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