If you're involved with process improvement projects and are finding a lot of problems coming your way as you try to deliver your projects don't worry, this is part and parcel of improvement projects.  The is a great Chinese proverb that comes to mind when we look at this and it's “you can't polish a gem without friction”. You will encounter problems, you will encounter issues and you will encounter things don't quite work right the first time. If you approach your business process improvement projects in a step-by-step way, then you will find that your projects will proceed and will get to their intended destination. You will realise the benefits and you will complete your projects. As long as you continue to be logical, sequential, and consistent you will find your business improvement activities will pay off. The ‘plan do check act’ process is wonderful in this instance because things do not always go ahead as planned. If you find you're strugglin

Something that I've noticed when businesses are getting involved with process mapping is that they can spend an awfully long time mapping and not reaping many rewards. The insights you can gain from mapping the low level detail of a business can be incredibly useful, but the amount of effort and time required to map everything at this level can often be a waste of resources. A different approach that can be taken is to conduct a brief top level map of the business first and then use this to highlight areas of concern. In many cases problems with a business process reside at the top level and are the result of the way the business processes link together rather than how the individual steps work. Once the top level issues have been identified the process steps that are causing problems can be mapped in more detail. The areas that do not currently cause any significant distractions (unit costs aren't too high, quality is fine etc...) can be left alone until a time whe

The On Time Delivery Improvement forum on LinkedIn is now open and if you are interested in discussing practical approaches to improving your OTIF or DSA then please join us online. The link for the forum is: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/On-Time-Delivery-Improvement-4419220/about Smartspeed Consulting Limited Taking the frustration out of on time delivery.

In the course of our working days we receive tasks to complete that can appear to be bigger than usual. If we add this to our already busy work schedules then it is quite normal for us to feel overwhelmed. This overwhelm usually manifests itself as procrastination and our services and projects are then put at risk of not being delivered on time. There are two simple remedies for this problem. The first approach is to not commit to the completion of the task until we have understood (or estimated) how much work is involved and planned out how we will approach the task. This process does not need to take long and can be done in a matter of moments once we get the hang of quickly evaluating what needs to be done and how much time it requires. Often the task is not as big as it was first thought. The second approach, which is linked to the first, is to break down the task into its various elements and then use these tiny fragments to help to get progress started and to make schedulin

A common phrase I hear, and you probably hear it too, is that of 'this won't work - our business is different'. The nuances of a business are different, and the combination of people, products, services, locations etc.. do make a business different. However, the various business improvement methodologies available can be applied to all types of businesses. The key is to see the commonality and adjust your approach to the method accordingly. All businesses who suffer from poor on time delivery have the same variables to play with. They all have a limited supply of resources, they have capacity constraints, they have supplier lead times, changing customer demands and bumps in the road to contend with. If your on time delivery performance is suffering and you find yourself, or the people in your business, stating that 'we're different, so that won't work' then it might be time to step back from the day to day busyness and consider the generic elements and

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Takt time (or cycle time) is a term that is very rarely understood outside of engineering circles, but can apply to different businesses who need to improve their business processes. The reason for writing this post is to help people who approach their business improvement with no real objectives other than to be better than they currently are. When continuous improvement approaches are used in isolation there is sometimes a lack of understanding about how good  an improvement needs to be in order to serve the business from the perspective of profit and customer service. Sometimes we pat ourselves on the back when we make improvements, but the improvement might not go far enough. Calculating takt time is a simple approach that divides the amount of demand into the available time. For example, if you need to handle three enquiries every hour, then that means that the task (nominally) should be designed to be no longer than 20 minutes. Obviously this example assumes that there is n

When we decide to make improvements to our business, the number of options available to us can seem overwhelming. Anyone who has looked into the Lean Transformation toolbox will remember how they felt when they first saw the full range of methods and techniques. However, there is a very simple way of deciding which tools will work best and that is to ask yourself whether the way your business operates lives up to the brand you have designed for it and the image you wish to project to your customers. To put this into perspective let me tell you briefly about some work I did with one of my clients. They were under pressure from their customers to improve their performance, particularly with respect to on time deliveries, and were about to embark in some Value Stream Mapping activities. At the point that I came to support the business there was already a long shopping list of methods, problems and potential improvements available for review. The problem was that after some analysis the

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

A project that has recently come to fruition was for Greenleaf Recycling Ltd in Bedlington, Northumberland. The have just gained their PAS100 / CQP accreditation, which we supported them with. PAS100 is akin to ISO9001 for compost producers, and includes a full QMS (Quality Management System), Standard Operating Procedures, HACCP controls and NCR system. Accreditation was notified on the 24th April 2012 and our congratulations go out to Greenleaf for achieving this success. From an on time delivery performance perspective we were particularly interested in how the lead time for compost production could be reduced, and through design of the process schedule and defining some standard working practices the lead time for compost production has been taken from 6 months down to 3 months. You can view the Greenleaf website here . Smartspeed Consulting Limited Taking the frustration out of on time delivery.

When you are trying to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of a business process you are often presented with in-trays. They may look quite innocuous as they sit there on the edge of the desk, but the way that they are used can greatly affect the ability to close out project tasks, or affect the lead time of the process that they are part of. As an example, one of my clients was having problems with the length of time it took to produce their manufacturing orders. As I was engaged to lead some lean transformation work in this area I scoped the sales order processing part of the business into the project. There was initially some scepticism as to why I would need to look there when it was a manufacturing problem I had been hired to resolve. However, after explaining the lead time was from order receipt right through to despatch of the products my client agreed that the administrative function may have some effect on the overall time taken. The analysis from the offices in that

Continuous Improvement, or CI, is a heavily used term that often doesn't create the results that we would hope for. Common approaches to CI often help people move from having problems to being 'OK'. However, most people find that it is much more difficult to use these approaches to move from being 'good' to 'excellent'. From his past work with clients who struggled to move from 'good' to excellent', Giles Johnston, a business improvement consultant, has devised a simple method for generating new improvements (hence helping your staff to take the tiny steps that embody CI). From the most junior person to the most senior within a business this simple tool can be applied to provide new insights and ideas to improve your business. This booklet gives you a step by step guide to using this approach and ideas on how to best use it for your business. Quick start templates are also provided (via a download link in the resources section). So, i

NBSL have announced a new round of funding to help Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the North East of England with their change management and process improvement projects. The funding is up to 40% contribution (to a maximum project value of £3500.00 excluding VAT) and requires that a number of criteria are met for eligibility. For more information and advice about this potential source of funding please visit the NBSL website ( http://www.nbsl.org.uk ) or contact us ( info@smartspeed.co.uk ). Smartspeed Consulting Limited Taking the frustration out of on time delivery.