To coincide with the revised free report I have updated the presentation on Slideshare. An embedded copy is below. Improving on time delivery from gilesjohnston Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

Just a quick note to let you know that our free report 'You're Late!!!' has been updated today. It now includes expanded action points to help you improve your on time delivery performance. To get your copy either: 1 - Go back to the link in your email and download the new version. 2 - Sign up for the free report by clicking here . Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

Recently I was asked for my comments on time management whilst working with an Operations Management team. I thought it would be worthwhile sharing my notes on this blog. Time expands and contracts to fill the time available – schedule the important tasks early into your day. Time management is not just about where and when, but what and why. Deciding what tasks will give you the biggest payback in terms of results needs to be considered when planning your day / routines. Hence, know what is important and what is trivial. Planning – what needs to be done in what sequence. Scheduling – when the planned items needs to be done. Routines yield consistency and help you to be proactive in your role. Important and difficult tasks should be tackled first.* Effectiveness first, then efficiency. Once you have the right tasks you can then find a better way to do the tasks to free up time. Once the routines are complete you can move onto (mini) projects, whether this is managing

Have you ever felt the frustration of watching an improvement project stall, fall over and the benefits never being realised? I’ve seen quite a few projects over the years stalling.  Thankfully I have been able to help get them back on track, allowing my clients to get the results they wanted. Just recently I was involved in another similar project, one that was going off track. This got me thinking about the way I fix this particular problem. This month’s article covers the main steps I follow to get projects back on track. Step One – Clarify the Objectives Probably the biggest offender is the lack of clarity around the specifics of the project. Vague objectives lead to confusion. Reducing or confirming the scope of the project, and getting detailed on what you want to experience once the project is completed, can make a big difference. Put it in writing for reference. Step Two – Clarify the Mechanics / Top Level Plan How the project will unfold and what will need to happ

When you are discussing a potential  business improvement idea it can often be worthwhile to put the idea in someone's head and leave it there for a while. The mind usually solves problems at its own rate, and giving people enough time to mull it over can usually produce better improvement idea results than when we force people to agree in a meeting situation. Developing the ideas in a two part strategy can appear to be slow and sluggish, but is another example of the 'tortoise and the hare' in action. Better solutions are worth the (short) wait. Of course, don't employ the very common alternative (to the one off meeting approach) of the infinite meeting method. This is where you never close the loop to commence work on a project! Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

If you have read other blog posts on this site you may have come across me writing about the hockey stick effect. This is the term often used to describe the uneven output many factory based businesses experience towards the end of the month. Recently I have witnessed a couple of businesses who have a double hockey stick effect in their business. The order book is front loaded in the month (i.e. their planning doesn’t go much past the first week and a half of the month) and the output is back loaded in terms of what really happens. There are two main things going on here. There is a lack of realism in the planning (let alone thoroughness) and there is a lack of control regarding throughput within the production side of the business. A good way to prevent this situation from occurring is to implement a formal sign off process to the production schedule. Every business has some kind of ‘rule of thumb’ that can inform you whether your plan is achievable. It is very rare tha

Having been involved with a number of process improvement projects over the years I find it quite easy to tell which projects have been clearly scoped out and have a clear specification. Have you been part of a project that has developed ideas and new processes but never quite got to where it needed to be? If no one has clearly identified what the new process needs to do it can never be completed. Simple. So, if you find your projects are meandering and failing to complete then take the time to have a look at the specification you are working too... and tighten it up if you need to. Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

The other day I saw a business that used tools and processes that didn't match the size of the business, let alone the nature of what they were trying to achieve. Instead of deciding what they wanted to achieve from their processes a member of their team, who was well meaning, created an absolute monster of a business system. Each process that made up their system was labour intensive. Stripping it down to its basic components and determining the purpose of each process was the starting place for creating a simpler, easier to use and more effective system. Re-designing only works properly if you know what you are designing for. Do you know the purpose of your business processes , and are they the right size for your business? Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

When we are planning for our future states we can run into the problem of becoming single minded. Being single minded is really useful at certain parts of our projects, such as when you have a project goal in your sights. It is less useful when we need to consider various options for improving how our business operates and it can be a simple process to determine just what constitutes an ‘ optimal process ’. I wrote a short book on this subject earlier this year and you can get your free sample from Amazon here . Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

MRP systems have been around for a long time. The phrase MRP came into popular usage in the mid 1970s and although systems have gotten faster and more accessible they are still fundamentally the same. Sure, they have more bits and bobs connected to them now, but they still perform an aggregating function that can save many hours per day of laborious administration. So why is it that we find businesses fighting their systems? I find in many cases that the way the system is configured will determine how much you will have a fight on your hands. If you set up the system to mimic what you do (providing you are sane of course) then the system will do your work for you in a fraction of the time. If you set up the system in a way that doesn't incorporate your rules and logic then you find that the system is constantly trying to override what you are wanting to do. It’s like having two completely different people trying to do the same job. Should the above sound famil

I was recently involved with an organisation that never finished its projects. There were some really bright people in the business, doing things that I had to stand back to and say ‘wow’. The only problem was that the specification of the system they were developing was never set in stone. Continuous Improvement only works if you can develop something that is currently working. Agreeing what a good standard was for the specification and agreeing on how the disparate systems should speak was my job and it was a fun project to be involved with. The lesson from this that I want to share however is that if you have projects that creep forward and never get finished off then define the standard (or specification) that makes sense to you right now and plan to make it a reality. You can refine and improve it later , but for today – let’s get the new process / system working. Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

One of the questions I get asked, particularly at networking events or at workshops, is ‘how does someone find time to make improvements to their business?’ It’s a good question and in this update I wanted to share a simple approach that you can use in your own business to help with scheduling the implementation of the improvements you want to make. This tool is simple to create, and if you are good with spreadsheets, it is even easier! There are three steps to create the tool, and it will help you gain visibility over the workload of your team and schedule the best time for implementing your improvement projects. The diagram below should help put the three steps into perspective: Step 1 – Determine the available capacity for project work. For every member of your team you need to evaluate how many hours they have in their diary that aren’t already planned for their normal ‘day to day work’. If a person’s core work takes up 30 out of 35 hours then they have 5 hours

After feedback from readers and clients I have updated my Key Performance Indicators book. Rather than go for a 'second edition' it has been revamped with a stronger focus on process improvement (compared to solely business performance management). You can get your copy (or download the first 10% free) by visiting this link: Designing KPIs to Drive Process Improvement Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer