Operational Change and Process Improvement
Operational Change Services
Strategic Planning & Plan Implementation
In order for an organization to reach its full potential, survive in a challenging economy or highly competitive environment, it must improve across multiple dimensions.
Among those are:
- Product Development
- Business Intelligence, Marketing and Public Relations
- Sales Force Set-up and Management
- Supply Chain and Manufacturing
- Business Process Redesign
When properly executed improving these aspects of a clients business should yield 15 percent revenue growth and raise margins by 7 percentage points.
We will ensure that our clients achieve a leadership position within their core business by constantly improving through operational excellence.
Lean Process Improvement
Lean process improvement is a operational practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful. Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for. Basically, lean is centered on creating more value with less work.
Lean process improvement is the realization of improved efficiency based on optimizing flow, which is achieved by decreasing waste, and using empirical methods to decide what matters, rather than uncritically accepting pre-existing ideas.
Cost Management
Cost management is not practiced in isolation. It is an integral part of general management strategies and their implementation. Examples include programs that enhance customer satisfaction and quality as well as programs that promote new product development. Many cost management concepts are inevitably intertwined with operational concepts (whether that is in the context of a medical facility or service/supply organization), such as lean accounting, value chain analysis, throughput accounting, or theory of constraints.
The Kaizen Culture
Kaizen is a daily activity, the purpose of which goes beyond simple productivity improvement. It is also a process that, when done correctly, humanizes the workplace, eliminates overly hard work and teaches people how to perform experiments on their work using the scientific method and how to learn to spot and eliminate waste in business processes. The philosophy can be defined as bringing back the thought process into the automated production environment dominated by repetitive tasks that traditionally required little mental participation from the employees.
People at all levels of an organization can participate in Kaizen, from the CEO down, as well as external stakeholders when applicable. The format for Kaizen can be individual, suggestion system, small group, or large group. Generally, it is a local improvement within a workstation or local area and involves a small group in improving their own work environment and productivity. This group is guided through the Kaizen process by a facilitator that allows for change that is a natural yet progressive.
While Kaizen usually delivers small improvements, the culture of continual aligned small improvements and standardization yields large results in the form of compound productivity improvement.
The Kaizen philosophy differs from the "command-and-control" improvement programs of the mid-twentieth century. Kaizen methodology includes making changes and monitoring results, then adjusting. Large-scale pre-planning and extensive project scheduling are replaced by smaller experiments, which can be rapidly adapted as new improvements are suggested.
In modern usage, a focused kaizen that is designed to address a particular issue over the course of a week is referred to as a "kaizen blitz" or "kaizen event". These programs are limited in scope, and issues that arise from them are typically used in later events.