For those of you who don't have a Kindle I am pleased to announce that my book ' Business Process Re-Engineering ' is now available on multiple formats. It is primarily available via Smashwords  for most major formats, but over the next couple of weeks it will be available on other stores such as Nook, Kobo, iBooks, Diesel and more. Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

Are you faced with an arrears situation and a growing order book? Do you find that your teams work on the wrong production orders just when it causes you the most problems? I witness these kinds of problems a lot and I thought I would share with you how I start to go about solving the problem. The starting point is often to find the bottlenecks in the process. This solution isn’t about line balancing and introducing kanbans, this is about getting results today. After getting some immediate results I agree that you need to think bigger about the whole production system. Getting a grip of the schedule running through your bottlenecks and ‘micro managing’ the situation immediately before the bottleneck is vital. Sucking in the right work at the right time to keep your bottlenecks primed and working is essential to try and keep on top of your overall schedules. If you have read the book ‘ The Goal ’ then you will be familiar with the Theory of Constraints approach. This bl

Root cause analysis is a common phrase in industry. You have a problem and you want to get to the core of the issue and determine a proper course of action. You want to resolve the problem once and for all. There are many popular tools, including ‘5 Why’, but I keep finding businesses that stop short of the real problem. If you have experienced root cause problem solving then you will be familiar with the idea of symptoms. The first levels of discovery yield only symptoms of the real problem. If you keep digging and poking then you eventually have a real discovery. By real I mean a blinding flash of the obvious (obvious now at least!). When you get stuck in root cause problem solving you need to go away and get some more information. You need to go and ask the questions that will give you the right answers. Don’t be afraid of asking the foolish questions, you will find that they aren’t foolish if you persevere. Get the facts and get the answers. When you have a good answer

Time and time again the tally chart comes to my rescue. From talking to managers about problems with their processes to the operators struggling with their processes the tally chart can often help. Tally charts are a great way to observe and analyse what is happening to a process. It is simple to use and can give fast results. The simplicity however may be the problem. It isn't flash, it isn't new and it isn't sexy. The tally chart is basic and easy to learn. Should this stop you and your team from using it? Absolutely not. Also, you don’t have to use it all the time. Find a problem, identify some repeating issues and then use the tally chart to record the number of incidents for each issue. A quick sort by volume and you have a prioritised list for investigation and improvement. If you have issues with your business processes then don’t forget the tally chart. It can come in handy. Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

I was quizzed the other day about how to make a working day effective , and stop people from working late into the evening. It was a good question and it got us talking about the essentials of a working day. There are certainly some tasks that need to be completed each and every day. There are also tasks that need to be managed over a slightly longer period of time to match your available capacity. (OK, sometimes you do need to flex your capacity, but I am talking about the longer term here). If you know the essentials then you can devise a simple 'exit' from your daily working. The notion is that if you can tick these items off your list each and every day then you can wrap up the working day more effectively. If you can do that then you have a good chance of making the working days and weeks more effective. Have you got an end of day routine? Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

A photograph taken at the end of the Barclays 'Pick the Expert's Brain' event. From the left (with expertise in brackets): Willard Wright ( Commercial / Business Insurance ) Les Hare ( Accountancy ) Graham Pegman ( Wealth Management ) Steve Wheaton ( Marketing ) Giles Johnston ( Business Improvement ) - yes, that's me (too warm for a jacket!) Steve Duncan ( Human Resources ) If you were there, I hope you had a good (and informative) time. Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

How many times have your team said 'I didn't know that's why we did that'? It can be a real reminder that just because we know all about the process, it doesn't mean that our team gets it. They may be pressing the right buttons on the computer system and following the instructions, but their lack of understanding hinders improvement ideas . When you make sure that people understand the 'why' of the system then it can allow them to participate in continuous improvement activities and idea generation. A little bit of education can make a big difference compared to not enough knowledge. Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

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