Many times when I speak to a business for the first time I have to get past their mask. The mask I am referring to is the perfect business process maps that they cling to. To get into meaningful business improvement activities it is vital that you can get past the process maps that adorn your walls and quality management systems and get into the ‘warts and all’ reality of your business’ activities. This article looks at three areas that can help you jump start your improvement activities when you are mapping out what takes place in your business.

Have you ever gotten to that point on a shop floor layout improvement project where you feel confused and unsure whether you are ready to implement the solution? You've done the planning, had the debates and then found yourself (and your team) going round in circles. Why not stop and walk through the proposed solution?

Often when I am faced with a new project, and there is a productivity / on time delivery issue the topic of 'role drift' comes up. As I hinted in the title of this blog post when the various roles within a business are focused appropriately on producing specific 'deliverables' productivity usually follows. Or, put in different ways:

I often get asked the question " am I on the right tracks with my improvement journey? " Whether this question is posed by new clients, old clients, email subscribers or via my websites it doesn't matter. At times we can all feel lost with our improvement projects.

How many people have you spoken to about continuous improvement and striving to run your business the way that it should be run? Do you ever get the response that they have run out of steam and that they no longer feel that their voices have been heard? I hear this from many people when I work with different businesses, but there is usually a way out of this position.

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of checklists and how they can help you to improve your on time delivery performance . There is also a time to realise that you don't need to spend more time developing business processes. There is a time when you need to step back and realise that your staff aren't following the existing processes and are, in fact, doing something else altogether...

If the checklist is designed to help you minimise mistakes, costly rework and delays then the answer is a definite yes! A Sunrise Meeting is a great example of an effective checklist Isn't it odd then that so many businesses don't make the most of checklists?

Available now in paperback Another week and another update about my books! Making MRP Work , my guide to improving how your MRP / ERP system can work for your business is now available in paperback format.

If you've been following my monthly email updates you'll know that my latest kit is the ' Improvement Accelerator Framework '.

Many businesses focus heavily on the world around them, rather than the world inside the business when looking to manage supply chains. Getting the balance right between flexible and formal is a challenge that we all face, and getting it right can make a big difference to how consistent and how easy it is to deliver on time. For ideas on this please read my article ' Take Control of Your Internal Supply Chain to Improve On Time Delivery ' which you can read here - http://www.systemsandprocesses.co.uk/?p=1936 About the author Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes. Giles is also the author of Business Process Re-Engineering and creator of the ' Making It Happen ' continuous improvement toolkit.

My popular Kindle / iTunes book ' Business Process Re-engineering ' is now available as a paperback. To get hold of your copy please visit your local Amazon site and search for the title of the book. Or, if you are in: the UK -  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1520300115 the US -  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1520300115 Enjoy the ideas, Giles About the author Giles Johnston is a Chartered Engineer who specialises in helping businesses to grow and improve through better business processes. Giles is also the author of Business Process Re-Engineering and creator of the ' Making It Happen ' continuous improvement toolkit.

It's a good question, one that we sometimes forget to ask. If you want your processes to deliver on time , then starting on time is one of the best (and simplest) strategies that you can deploy. But, let me twist this question around slightly...

I often get asked what is the best way to improve a business' on time delivery performance. My answer is 'get really good at the basics'.