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Have you set your targets yet?

Continuous improvement can be addictive. Identifying new improvements and making them come to life can be really satisfying, especially when you can see the benefits appear in your Key Performance Indicators . So, why do some people get lost? Is it because they have gotten involved with improvement for the sake of improvement and lost sight of why they need / want to improve? Get clear before you begin Clarity around what the improvement is meant to deliver, the target needing to be achieved, is vital. If we don't know why we are improving and specifically what needs to be improved any improvement is a good one... except we know that they are not - some give far better benefits for the same amount of effort! Like the inverse of root cause analysis, it is possible to have many outcomes if you don't control the journey. With root cause analysis you can have many symptoms stemming from one root cause. Root cause analysis works so well because it drives a st

Seven Productivity Lessons from the Week

During last week there were a number of productivity boosting lessons laying themselves out for my clients as part of their improvement projects. I have summarised them here for you to consider: Basic Office Software Skills Time and time again the ability to use the software we have in our offices comes to the fore. A small improvement in learning how to use the tools we have infront of us can make a huge difference if we have to handle information on a regular basis. If you feel that you have some weaknesses in this area then it might be really worthwhile speaking to your colleagues about how they use their software, or looking online for shortcuts and tips. Ownership versus Execution When there is no ownership of a process it can go off course! No surprises there. What was interesting last week was finding out that some of my clients were struggling with the 'execution and ownership' issue. Owning a process means that you are responsible for it. Executing a proc

Do you want to shape the 'Improvement Club'?

I am in the process of developing the Making It Happen site to host the Improvement Club. This updated site will not only include the original Making It Happen library, but also the other courses, kits and products that I have created over the years. As part of the subscription there will be the opportunity to ask me a continuous improvement question each month, specifically for you and your business. I would very much like to get some feedback on the direction I am currently taking with this new service. If you have three minutes to spare could you answer the following questions? Thanks, Giles Loading... 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. Discover practical improvement strategies to drive up productivity f

If your improvement is fundamentally right – stick to your guns!

Discussions around improvements are really interesting. There will always be some people who are in favour of an idea, some who are opposed and some that don’t really mind either way. When an improvement makes sense to the majority of people around the table it usually gets traction and things happen. When enough people aren’t sure about the merits of an improvement it can be easy for the idea to be killed off. However, changing the way that we present our ideas can bring about a completely different outcome.

'Office Productivity' and 'Standard Operating Procedures' books now available in paperback

I'm pleased to announce that two more of my books have now made it into paperback format: Effective SOPs and Office Productivity . Office Productivity was written to translate some of the great practices that come out of business process re-engineering and lean manufacturing activities into an administration setting. Many of my clients are outside of the manufacturing sector and this book is a compilation of the methods I have used with them to boost their productivity.

Visual Management - it only works if you use it!

The photo you can see below is a simple, inexpensive and effective visual management solution for one of my client's previously ongoing business issues - their heating system switching itself off (because it has run out of fuel!). Simple visual management system example A heating system might not be your most gripping business issue, but the point of this post is the big issue behind visual management systems... Visual management approaches don't work if the staff of a business don't look at the information being presented. The above window is only effective if the people who can refill the hopper regularly look at it in order to make a decision. If everyone walks past the window and does nothing then the window is pointless. Clearly having a window is better than having no window (they used to have open the hatch to look in). But not looking at the window makes having a window redundant. So, let's extend this point past this example: Visual operator ma

'On Time Delivery' and 'Sunrise Meetings' now available in paperback

Two more of my books are now available in paperback: On Time Delivery: A True Lean Manufacturing Story This short book is a chronicle of my time as a Production Manager in an under performing factory . The book recounts the steps (good and bad) that I took to take the OTIF performance from 22% to 98% in just a few months (as well as the lead time dropping from 20 weeks down to just under 4). The book includes learning points and a reflection of what I would do differently next time. You can get your copy by clicking here . Sunrise Meetings: Create Effective Routines To Make Your Business Run Like Clockwork Sunrise Meetings are those short, effective, daily meetings that really jump start how your business operates. If you find yourself in a position where there is too much fire-fighting and not enough results then this book can help you to organise your business through a more formal approach to operating your business processes . Like many of my books, this is a

Driving productivity by splitting up the problems in your business

I bet that you can think of three changes you want to make in your business, that would drive up your levels of productivity, as you read this. How easy are these changes to make? Are they new ideas, or are they items you are struggling with?

The person who knows everything may be a dangerous thing

Many businesses that I visit seem have either one, or two, people that seem to have an inordinate amount of information held in their heads. These people are often referred to as ‘Oracles’, or similar and they are often the go to person when trouble hits the business. Move your business away from the re-active superheroes with Losing the Cape. Available on Amazon. When I started my working life I was, understandably, in awe of these individuals. How did they know so much? How did they get so good? I was impressed with their abilities and what they were able to do when it was crunch time.

New Book - Losing the Cape has arrived - get it free today

My first book in three years has finally arrived - Losing the Cape ! Do you have super heroes in your business? Losing the Cape  is on the hunt for the super heroes incidents that shouldn't exist, the ones that they have to leap into action for because of poor management and badly executed processes. This is your time to shine and root out the real problems that are lurking in your business, the issues that are masked by people leaping into action. The issues that zap your productivity and ability to run your business as you would want. We all need our heroes, for when the time is right. But, for the majority of situations, they have to leap into action because something simpler, and in our control, is broken. The book is split into two halves. Part one looks at what the cape is and why it exists. Part two offers a range of strategies and methods to help you quickly and practically remove the need to wear capes in your business. Good news  - as part of the launch of L

Is clarity critical to achieving higher levels of performance?

I was sent a link the other day to an article on the Guardian website about universities improving their student retention rates (so that the students actually complete their courses) – you can read the article here ( https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2017/jun/13/universities-student-retention-priority ). There were a few highlights made in the article, these included: Being clear on expectations. Having a timetable for communication. Sharing ideas. Don’t you think that these ideas could translate directly into your business? Could you improve the clarity of the outcomes, process metrics and the management activities that your managers are held accountable against? Could you formalise your communications through regular management meetings that contain a combination of standard agenda items, KPIs and process ‘ checks and balances ’? Could you find better ways to share ideas and accelerate your continuous improvement endeavours? Principles nev

Don’t miss out process steps if you want to see results!

I was recently involved with a discussion on behalf of one of my clients with a marketing agency. I was involved not because of my marketing skills, but because I knew the business well via their operational processes (and how they were aligned with their business plan and goals). The discussion with the agency seemed to make sense for the first fifteen minutes, until I realised that we were in fact talking about two different things. I thought we were at the start of the process and they had decided that we were at the back end of the process. It was like reading a book only to find out that someone had ripped out a big chunk of pages from the middle of the book. It was like we had skipped to the end. Naturally this conversation had to be reversed and we both had to start at the beginning again. Time was wasted through confusion and frustration. This is very similar to many improvement projects that I see (prior to my involvement of course!). The project is planned out and

Do You Understand What Your MRP System is Doing?

It's always a trick when it comes to operating an ERP or MRP system... knowing what it is trying to do. I was in a situation today where there were at least three frustrated parties, all frustrated by the output of their MRP system. Changes had been made to their master BoMs (Bill of Materials), this had been done correctly. The Stores Team were frustrated by a lack of change to the information, they couldn't see the change. The Planning Team were annoyed too. They could see that the changes hadn't taken effect either. None of the three parties realised that they had to delete the kitting orders from their system and re-create them in order for the new information to appear. Now, you're probably thinking that this information would appear in time and you would be right. Unfortunately these guys would have had to wait about four months if they hadn't followed through with the right actions. My point here is not to try and explain a basic principle of MR