I have just finished reading a book from the 1980s about MRPII implementations, something I found on Ebay a couple of months ago (and something generally hard to come across to buy). One of the recurring themes in the book was about moving away from informal systems (and workarounds) towards making a formal system work. I had to check the date of the book... It's funny how the principles of production and logic are timeless, as are the ways in which people attempt to override them! Giles Smartspeed Consulting Limited Taking the frustration out of on time delivery.

When you are embarking on process improvement activities don't just accept the same old way of working that you always have. If you fail to challenge the things that don't work correctly, you will find that you are unable to make the level of progress you are surely capable of making. Tasks in the business that are there to help work around problems in the system need to be challenged head-on. This may require some root cause analysis work and a dash of creativity when you are undertaking this work. Ensuring that people who operate various parts of your business processes understand the idea of closed loop feedback is essential. We can fix our problems if we don't bury our heads in the sand. Many people in business will accept the way things are rather than get uncomfortable and challenge the way that things are happening. This is especially apparent when people operate computer software systems such as MRP/ERP. Quite often the designers of the software understand your

Having good data that is clean (complete and accurate) is essential in order to make appropriate decisions, especially in the quest for 100% on time delivery performance. A lot of the data that is used nowadays is driven through ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) type systems, and the quality and consistency of the entries made determines the effectiveness of the information coming out from that system. The reason for writing this particular blog entry is that I see many businesses chasing their tails to make improvements, whether from a lean or a delivery perspective, only to find out that their improvements are in vain. In many cases it's not that the improvement wasn't a good idea, it's just that the improvement wasn't required as they have been led on a wild goose chase thanks to some bad data being used to drive decision making. As boring as it may sound, having the necessary checks and balances within your business means more than just checking the that shop f

Day to day business can get awfully complicated. When it starts to be too much is often the starting point for business improvement activity. However, streamlining and simplifying your processes without adequate focus can deliver less than optimal solutions. It is crucial to remember why a process or system exists; this will help you re-focus your approach. In some cases processes can be eliminated rather than improved, things change and sometimes business processes don't follow. When you come from the purpose of why a process exists a very complex situation is boiled down to its essence. When you have the 'aha' moment of what the purpose is, the myriad of steps within the process make sense and you can quickly find the improvement areas that are required and then come up with a simpler approach. Coming from purpose cuts out the unnecessary, everything that doesn't help you achieve your purpose stands out like a sore thumb. Pruning becomes far simpler when

When a problem arises in a business there is usually a fix put in place. This fix sometimes increases the complexity of the business by adding in additional rules at the operational end of the business. Sometimes it is worth stopping what you are doing and reviewing the basics of how your business operates. Sometimes the disciplines around the basics of operating a business have been forgotten. From a engineering perspective the challenges that we face are symptoms of a deeper system based problem. If you track back to the root of the problem you are usually faced with a basic issue that can be resolved easily (or at least in a straightforward manner) and will prevent a myriad of other symptoms appearing in due course. As people move around organisations there is the possibility that people move into roles and are trained in the current ways of working but aren't exposed to the fundamental principles of working that this particular job requires. Ensuring people understand

Pretty much everyone has a huge stack of items that they need to do. When seeing the amount of confusion that this can cause it raises the question of how do you remember everything that you have to do. At most people's disosal are existing systems that can be used to capture all of this information. Whether this is a CRM system, email, paper or something else there is one thing that is certainly true. If we keep it only in our heads thenwe risk a continuous state of confusion. If this situation applies to you then the following considerations may help you to enjoy more productive days: - find a way to get your list of tasks out of your head on an ongoing basis. - decide how you are going to prioritise your activities. - keep your lists up to date and maintain a flow within your list, flush tasks when they stagnate (either do them or remove them from your list if no longer relevant). Keep your brain working at full tilt through better organisation of your list of tasks

Businesses can often get lost. The amount of information that they handle can be quite phenomenal and this can lead to a lot of confusion.   Sometimes the people within the business get lost and start doing things that they weren’t employed to do in the first place. So, how do we regain our focus? The simplest approach is to describe what we’re meant to do in a single sentence. This short string of words will clearly define the value that we are expected to bring to the organisation.  The same can also be said for departments and even businesses. This is not trying to re-invent the mission statement of a business, just trying to refocus on what is important so that effective action can take place. Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.smartspeed.co.uk

When a business is struggling to deliver its products or services one of the first areas you can review is the way in which resources are allocated. The method that is used can reveal a lot about how effective the resource is used, and hence how efficient the delivery of a project can be. OK - I'll stop saying resources - people and machines is what I am talking about. Do you know how much available capacity you have at this moment in the business, what about next week or next month? Coming up with simple ways to track commitments versus available hours can make huge differences in the ability for an organisation to deliver. Often the act of putting a tool in place for doing this can yield interesting insights in their own right that can help improve the business directly. Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.smartspeed.co.uk

The other day I was standing in a queue at my local post office watching the people in the queue complain about the slow pace in which it was moving. I had already noticed this. I then looked around to see what the staff in the post office were doing whilst this slow movement was taking place - they were not working on activities that would reduce the size of the queue! How funny I thought - most businesses would be using their resources to reduce the queues by flexibly deploying their resources to cope with the surge. Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.smartspeed.co.uk

Whilst feeding some ducks with the end of a loaf of bread the seagulls descended. They frantically flapped their wings as they tried to catch the bread I was throwing for the ducks. After about half a minute I noticed that they were in a formation that moved together as the bread was thrown, with amazing coordination. This made me think about some of the organisations that I had observed over the years. Departments that don't get on with other departments. Departments that don't understand the other departments. Departments that don't consider the other departments. Organisations that have departments like these struggle and if they tried to get in the same formation as the seagulls would have bumped their wings within seconds and crashed into the water! What are the relationships like between departments in your business - do they help deliver projects, products and services in an effective and efficient manner? Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When R