Customized Operations Improvement Systems – Tools and Implementation Strategy.

Your company may be strong in one area of improvement but may lack an improvement focus in other areas. I can help you:
o focus attention where it is needed.
o maximize the use of current systems rather than install new ones.
o customize tools and calculations to fit your processes.
o determine at a macro level what your assets are capable of producing.

I do not sell a “canned system” or software, but work with your employees to develop and implement what will work for you.

All improvement requires change – in systems and in the way people work.

I focus on:
o Developing tools and implementation strategies designed to help people “change the way they work.”
o Coaching employees through the development and change process with an emphasis on “connecting people to performance and profits”.

All Continuous Improvement Systems should contain these Basic Elements

• Control Plans that help People keep Processes in Control.

  
  Keeping processes in control is key to achieving a consistent state of operating and financial performance and eliminating the fires that distract the workforce, interrupt production and add to costs. Having the right measures and control limits for operators to monitor is step #1, but just as important is a formalized plan to respond to out-of-control conditions. These “response” plans assure that employees will take the same corrective action to resolve process upsets. These plans minimize downtime, control costs and contribute to achievable forecasts and budgets.

• Trend Charts linked to “What’s Not Working".

  
  Tracking Continuous Improvement progress requires a view of performance through time. Transitioning from “snap-shot” reporting to trend reporting is a necessary step in developing an improvement system that can sustain itself long-term. But format is only part of the solution – the other part is selecting the right measures – measures that are tied directly to problems and process failures, not historical performance.

• Process Optimums that:

  • Indicate Process Potential and the Millions of Dollars missing from the bottom line

  • Prevent or postpone Expansion Capital

  • Reveal the Bottleneck in a plant or value stream

  • Educate the workforce on the cost of problems and process failures.

  In simple terms, Optimum Performance means “perfect world performance” – no breakdowns, no surprises, no excess costs. Setting optimums for processes yields many benefits. How many times have employees been asked about the “upside potential” of an improvement idea or capital project? How can improvement plans in the budget be evaluated? How can expansion projects be approved if potential performance of equipment has not been achieved? These questions cannot be answered unless the upper limit of what is possible to achieve is known.

  Bottlenecks in plants or across a value stream can be determined based on actual data; however, potential capacity of the system to produce product can only be determined by setting optimums so that potential production of the system and capacity bottlenecks are known. Millions of dollars are spent needlessly to create capacity when it already exists. Millions of dollars are forfeited because operators and maintainers do not know the absolute best that is possible to achieve OR because they believe that all the “freebies” have already been captured. I can show you how to find more “freebies” and save or postpone millions of dollars in expansion capital.

• Values for Losses that employees can understand.

  
  Ever been asked “what is an hour worth?” or “what is a ton worth?” Unit Values can be calculated for hours or tons that represent their cash flow impact when lost. These values can be communicated to the workforce to emphasize the impact of recurring problems and ensure that the workforce is “working on the right things.”

• Project Tracking that Sustains Improvement.

  
  Historically, project reports contain project name, total spending amount approved, YTD spending, project leader and comments on project status. This format does not track project effectiveness or if a project is completely implemented (i.e., includes the people side of projects). It is possible to track a project to facilitate full execution, which means linking the project to the people involved and establishing measures that indicate whether expected results are being achieved.

• Links to the Budget

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  The budget process sets performance goals for the entire organization, so it is important to be able to highlight the budgeted improvements. Historically, budgeted improvement is measured against historical performance; however, the level of improvement cannot be measured adequately unless you know what is possible to achieve or whether the budget exceeds what is possible to achieve. Budget reviews should include improvement elements tied to process performance and capital requests, and should link the planning process to continuous improvement goals.
  
  
• Training Materials Customized for Your Processes and Workforce.
  I believe people learn best by doing, so I combine training sessions and workshop exercises to accelerate the learning curve. All materials connect people to the tools that they can use everyday. Materials and class schedules are customized for your processes, business strategy and employee availability to minimize disruption and maximize the result.
  
  
• An Integration Plan to help employees “Change the Way They Work”.
  Development and implementation of continuous improvement tools are often viewed as “doing continuous improvement work”. Commitment to continuous improvement ultimately requires a strong commitment to change, which is something all companies tend to overlook or not recognize as the key to success with any improvement initiative. But changing is not easy. Often the process required to incorporate new tools or data into current work is not intuitively obvious. I specialize in coaching people through the change process and help manage change at all organizational levels.