Lean Manufacturing via Business Process Reengineering
PART III.
|
Phase 2: Diagnosis Key activities in this phase include scoping and modeling the current process and activities, and establishing targets for the new process. Some of the questions answered in this phase are: what is the process all about; what does it take to get the process done; what is needed from the new design; why does the current design not perform better; and what opportunities exist for redefining the output of the process. Reengineering Training and Education One of the areas overlooked by most companies engaged in reengineering is training the teams early in the process. Workshops have to conducted with the senior executives to create the awareness and to help them get prepared for the long journey ahead. Right level of expectations will also be set at the executive level. The reengineering teams will have to be trained on the methodology for reengineering. There is no substitute for this early learning at all levels. Scoping the Process Most companies must consider reengineering the core business process that has the greatest potential for delivering significant competitive advantage. While prioritization of the process itself should be done in the earlier phase, the scoping of this process must be a major activity in this phase. Companies that get started with reengineering activities without fully scoping the process end up fighting scope issues through all remaining phases. The scope of the process has to be developed very carefully. First, a clear vision of the end-state has to be identified along with the definition of the value to be created. This has to be then balanced with the breadth of functions and the capacity of the organization to sustain the effort. The boundaries for selected process must be clearly defined. If process limits are not clearly defined, you can end up with analyses that are never completed, or a reengineering process that requires such far-reaching and complex changes that it simply cannot be implemented.6 Current Process Analysis Before designing the new process, we need to understand what's wrong with the current process. The team needs to identify the value-adding steps associated with the current process and understand the problems related to performance of these activities. Current performance measurements have to be identified and related to inherent process limitations. Current processes have to be examined from a customer's point of view. It is important to keep a high level perspective and not get bogged down in details. One of the major mistakes in reengineering is spending far too much time on analysis of current processes. Dr. Hammer says people get stuck in up-front analysis very often, because they don't know how to proceed through a reengineering effort.1 There usually is a great deal of resistance in most companies to perform a current state analysis. This is usually perceived as a non value-added activity. Such analyses would have been done many times under various initiatives, most recently perhaps with the TQM projects. Even in such cases, one would find that the analyses performed with prior initiatives to be more narrow in scope, typically at a functional level. It will be therefore worthwhile to map the process at a high level, characterizing it from a customer's perspective. Phase 3: Redesign This is the phase team members seem to enjoy the most. Details of the new process are identified, tested and prototyped during this phase. Team members are usually encouraged to "think-out-of-the-box" and start the design with a blank sheet of paper. Starting from scratch, companies can plan and build the new infrastructure required to realize the new design. This new infrastructure should include programs like comprehensive training and skill-development plans, performance measurement systems that track how well the organization is meeting its targets and how employees should be rewarded based on those objectives; communication programs that help employees understand why and how their behavior must change; IT development plans that capture the benefits of new technology; and finally, pilots that test and redefine the redesign as well as its implementation.7 To be Continued STAY CONNECTED To stay current on bullet-proofed manufacturing solutions, subscribe to our free ezine, "The Business Basics and Best Practices Bulletin." Simply fill in the below form and click on the subscribe button. We'll also send you our free Special Report, "Five Change Initiatives for Personal and Company Success." Your
personal information will never Manufacturing leaders have a responsibility to educate and train their team members. Help for developing a self-directed, World Class Manufacturing training program for your people is just a click away:
You are welcomed to print and share this bulletin with your manufacturing teams, peers, suppliers and upper management ... better yet, have them signup for their own copy at: http://bbasicsllc.com/subscribe.htm With the escalating spam-wars, it's also a good idea to WHITELIST our bulletin mailing domain via your filtering software or control panel:
Manufacturing
Knowledge you’ll not find at offsite
Lean
Six Sigma Training Thinking
Out of the Box Email: Click here Privacy Policy |