 So
how do we help you to do it?
The first thing we do is to get your
managers and staff to completely understand their processes. This is much more than the flow charts you
have probably produced for your ISO 9001 quality system. These are
cross-departmental process maps which contain additional information including
measures at each activity stage. These are produced in a simple spread sheet
format with the capability to do calculations.
 Categorising
the processes
Processes fall into two categories – those
which add value and those which don’t. Included in the don’t add value category
are those which are there because other processes have not done what they were supposed
to do.
Processes which rework defective product, correct invoice errors etc.
fall into the second category and should be eventually eliminated. Processes in
both categories can be found throughout the organisation and are not confined
to the “producing” departments.
 The
cost of conformance and non-conformance
Each activity on the map will have two
potential costs – the cost of the activity conforming to requirements and the
cost incurred when something goes wrong with that activity. The people who are
in the best position to identify these costs are the people who manage and work
in the processes, so these are the people we invite to our cost improvement
workshops. We’re often amazed at how many cost improvement ideas they already have
but have never been given the opportunity to air them.
The numbers which really
count are the cost of non-conformance. When a failure of one activity affects a
whole stream of subsequent activities the potential losses can be significant,
particularly when there are service level agreements and liquidated damage
clauses in contracts. Other significant costs occur at departmental interfaces.
 Creating
a cost saving culture
When the firm’s paying why bother? In the
majority of companies this thinking is a way of life. What we do is to help
create a culture in which people see the costs as though it was their money
being wasted. Which in a way it is.
A
corner stone of our approach is to introduce a reward and recognition process
in which a proportion of the money saved is ploughed back to the workforce as
individual and team recognition. There’s
many labels you can give to this culture. We just like to call it Make Certain.
And five really does get you ten, or more!
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