Strategic Thinking For Business Process Improvement

There are 3 critical management tasks to consider for every business enterprise:

  1. Problem Solving – concept-to-launch, technology lean & six sigma, research science, product design & development, engineering changes
  1. Information management – order-to-cash, office lean & six sigma, administrative functions
  1. Physical transformation – raw materials-to-customer, shop floor lean & six sigma, inbound materials (receiving & stores, etc) , production processes, outbound materials (warehousing & distribution, etc.)

Lean and Six Sigma are most often applied to management task #3, for several reasons:

  1. Physical transformations are easier to “see”, DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control)
  2. Lean and Six Sigma were originally created and applied in the shop floor physical transformation environment
  3. Management doesn’t have to change much if this is the only management task Lean and Six Sigma re applied to
  4. The Lean and Six Sigma tools are well-suited to a heavily-measured process environment, like the shop floor
  5. There aren’t many metrics available and/or in use for the concept-to-launch or the order-to-cash management tasks
  6. Processes aren’t well defined in the concept-to-launch or the order-to-cash management tasks (whereas they are well-defined in the raw materials-to-customer management task)
  7. Managers, at all levels, focus most of their attention on management task #3 and assume tasks #1 and #2 will take care of themselves

However:

a) Lean and Six Sigma methodologies and tools apply equally well to all 3 management tasks

b) Most of the waste (muda) in business enterprises is found in tasks #1 and #2

c) The improvement potential in task #2 is 10x that existing in task #3

d) The improvement potential in task @1 is 100x that existing in task #3

So….what’s the problem/opportunity?

A: Those who control/direct/influence resources, assign projects, allocate $, and evaluate people, aka “Managers” don’t see the potential at the enterprise level (all 3 management tasks) and therefore focus almost 100% of their attention on task #3.

What to do about this:

  1. Identify the need to change the organization from top level management to one driven by strategic needs.
  2. Understand and support the basics of a business improvement strategy (using Lean, Six Sigma, and Process Excellence) at all levels of the organization.
  3. Find and weed-out those managers who don’t share the vision, or the strategy, but rather give it lip service (passive resistance) or even those managers who are anti-lean/anti-six sigma, anchor-dragging micro-managers who are antagonistic to the lean/six sigma way. Do not cut these managers any slack. Make the decision to remove them swift and irreversible. A few “public hangings” would be appropriate.
  4. Create a sense of urgency for change. What is the compelling reason to “go lean/ go six sigma”?
  5. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate…..Use the 7 times X 7 ways rule!
  6. Change the metrics from “functional” to “flow excellence”.
  7. Manage by GEMBA (go to where the work is done & see for yourself)
  8. Work on a Kaizen project yourself…..model the way.
  9. Have a Vision, a Strategy, the appropriate Metrics, a Plan, and Projects that support it…..a HOSHIN.
  10. Follow Dr. Deming’s 14 points, starting with Point #1: Create Constancy of Purpose. Never deviate from this. Never give up!

James C. Myers

President, JCM Work Designs

November 1, 2006