http://archive.aweber.com/nc_ezineNicholson Consultancy Improvement IdeasFri, 19 Nov 2010 06:59:12 -0500http://archive.aweber.com/nc_ezine/1YHC0/h/Better_Today_Issue_6.htm Better Today Improvements you can make today Welcome to Issue 6 of our e-zine, Better Today. No matter what sector you're working in, it's essential to continuously assess the way you do things, to ensure you're getting the best return possible. It's our aim to bring you interesting, helpful information to help you spot where you could do better, and how to do it better. Summary of Articles Using Lean to Grow Your Business - one-day workshop Can we be good for you? 5S for the Board (or the owner-manager!) - Step 2 Using Lean to Grow Your Business, Leeds - 30 November 2010 We understand that it's important for you to increase productivity, become more efficient ... but it's equally important to use the resources you've freed up to offer more, either of the same or something new. Find out how you can use Lean to improve your processes, while stimulating demand and introducing innovation. This one-day event will offer participants practical advice on: where to focus your efforts what to consider when choosing improvement strategies how Lean will help create an environment for growth understanding your sales pipeline and refining your sales process for better results saving you valuable time and energy as you prepare to grow further ... (more) Back to the top Can we be good for you? You may have seen the press articles on one of our clients, James H Heal and Co Ltd. They're going from strength to strength after introducing a Lean approach to its processes - both back-office and manufacturing. Neil was referred to us following his initial enquiries to MAS Yorkshire and Humber. We took a call from Neil, the Engineering Director, who was looking for someone who could give him support to help introduce Lean. Our resident expert on Lean, Andrew Nicholson, gave Neil a visit. He spent the day fact-finding - looking over their existing processes; seeing how it all worked together; talking to people in all areas of the company; just generally getting a thorough feel for the business. Once completed, Andrew sat down with Neil and his fellow Directors, and together - over a period of time - they worked on a plan which would give the company direction, exploit the company's strengths and identify opportunities for future growth. This was Step 1. Step 2 was just as important - communicate the plan to everyone in the business so each individual knew what the company was striving for, and start implementing it. Once everyone understood why there was a need for change, and what the change would achieve, the can-do attitude was developed. Andrew worked with improvement teams throughout the business, helping them to identify where things could be done better, what could be done to make things better, and how to prioritise the improvement ideas that came rushing in. As a result of introducing and embracing this culture of continuous improvement, and by streamlining its processes, the company achieved sales growth of 15%. More than 100 improvement ideas were identified and working capital was reduced by £500,000. Only recently - October 2010 - James H Heal and Co Ltd won SME Manufacturer of the Year, in the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business awards. HOT OFF THE PRESS We've just learned that last night James H Heal and Co Ltd have won another award. Congratulations to everyone at the company for winning Manufacturer of the Year from the Halifax Courier. If you'd like a share of success, why not call us in for a free no-obligation visit and learn how much better you can be? Call Carol on 0191 492 8210, or email ch@nicholsonconsultancy.com. Download the full case study. See our Resources page on the website for guides on 5S/CANDO, Eliminating Wastes, and Managing Improvement Ideas. Back to the top 5S for the Board (or the owner-manager!) Step 2: getting the business in good order... Last time we looked at Sorting and what it really means within an organisation. Now follows Step 2! In our last article we talked about how Workplace Organisation (sometimes called 5S, 5C or CANDO) is a long-established and well-proven Lean technique. Its usual purpose is to reduce wasted effort and to improve quality, safety and morale by organising the workplace in the most efficient and effective way. Unfortunately it's too often seen as a low-level activity - something best done by those lower down the organisation. In reality it can be used to great effect across the whole business. We started in the previous article by looking at the first S - the initial Sort or Clear-out. In this article we go on to look at the next steps. These are often called Straighten and Sweep and Shine or a place for everything and everything in its place. At a business level it's really about setting standards across the organisation, agreeing One Best Way and ensuring that every employee and every area contributes fully. Let's take some time out here and think about what this actually means for the business. In his excellent book Good to Great author Jim Collins identifies two of the main characteristics of excellent businesses as Discipline and Leadership. Discipline is about constancy of purpose - focusing on a small number of really important things and keeping at them consistently, month after month. It's the opposite of management fads, initiatives and quick fixes - the bane of most employees' lives and the cause of countless business failures. Another useful way of thinking about this is to run your business in such a way that it could be franchised. You might never actually want to franchise the business but the point is that you should be able to run it in a way that it could be. What this really means is that you focus on developing robust, repeatable ways of doing things. Everyone can then be trained to apply the same One Best Way. This is the true meaning of Process Excellence and Operational Excellence: average people trained in excellent processes produce excellent results. Excellent people develop and improve the processes and create outstanding results. Michael E. Gerber describes brilliantly what this means for small and start-up businesses in his book The E-Myth Revisited. It's about setting the standards for the whole organisation - how we do things around here - and it starts at the top. Successful organisations tend to have high expectations and they develop a culture of performance that becomes self-sustaining. Start with the people. What jobs need to be done and how should they do them? Keep it simple and try to define What a good job looks like. Include tricks of the trade, how to check that it's right and what to watch out for. Where you can, use photos or video clips. A simple flow chart is also often better than a thousand words. Decide who is responsible for each job and who they report to. If you like to really nail these things down use RACI - define who is Responsible, who Assists, who needs to be Consulted and who needs to be Informed. Work out what the requirements of the job are and the requirements of the person doing the job. This is the same process you use when recruiting - a Job Spec and a Person Spec. In a larger organisation it's mainly about fitting the person to the job. In a smaller organisation it's often about fitting the job around the person. As Jim Collins says, effective business leaders focus first on getting the right people on the bus and then worry later about where they sit. Getting back to the basics of 5S it's about making sure that everyone can easily access everything that they need to do their job well. Keep it simple, visual and intuitive. Sort out your filing system and the folder structure on your PC or server - the dreaded F - Drive or P-drive that makes everyone groan. Set yourself a challenge - store and label items so that someone who doesn't know the area can find what they need within 30 seconds. What would that do for productivity and morale? In the next article we'll talk about one of the biggest challenges for most organisations - how to sustain improvement activities and how to maintain the discipline of One Best Way. If you missed the previous article, get it here! Back to the top What do you think? We're always keen to receive feedback about our e-zine. Is there anything in particular you'd like to read about? How can we improve this service? Please send any feedback to Carol Hogg. Back to the Top Fri, 19 Nov 2010 06:59:12 -0500http://archive.aweber.com/nc_ezine/aIhF/h/Better_Today_Issue_5.htm Better Today Improvements you can make today Welcome to Issue 5 of our e-zine, Better Today. No matter what sector you're working in, it's essential to continuously assess the way you do things, to ensure you're getting the best return possible, particularly in the current downturn. It's our aim to bring you interesting, helpful information to help you spot where you could do better, and how to do it better. Summary of Articles Working Better - Together, half-day open event on 21 October 2009 SMED Training Video now available to purchase 5S for the Board Articles Working Better - Together - 21 October 2009, 8.00am to 1.00pm We're working in collaboration with Holgate HR to deliver this half-day workshop which will be invaluable for those of you considering making changes and those currently involved in change management. Discover how to bring about rapid and sustainable improvements to your organisation with proven actions to take back to your workplace, to give long-term benefits. As well as learning about introducing tools and techniques to improve processes, you will also gain valuable insight into the people management strategies required to harness commitment and implement improvements. In addition, you will identify ways to overcome resistance to change, and understand those critical management skills required by today's leaders and line managers. This will also be a great opportunity to network with others involved in efficiency and change projects from a variety of organisations. Full details are available on our webpage. Back to the Top SMED Video now available to purchase As mentioned in our previous e-zine, we now have available our first fully downloadable training video on SMED, complete with the essential spreadsheet templates. This training package is aimed particularly at those closely involved in the manufacturing process, so feel free to forward the information on to all interested parties. You'll find everything you need on the SMED video webpage. For more information on SMED, here's a reminder about Angela's article on the subject. Back to the top Organising the Organisation - 5S for the Board As mentioned in our previous Workplace Organisation (sometimes called 5S, 5C or CANDO) is a long-established and well-proven Lean technique. Its purpose is to reduce wasted effort and to improve quality, safety and morale by organising the workplace in the most efficient and effective way. It's a basic building block for a disciplined, high-performing organisation and it helps to instil pride and a sense of ownership. Despite these benefits, we believe that too many organisations - and their leaders - have seen 5S as a low-level activity - something best done by those lower down the organisation. This misses a massive opportunity - it's just too good and too powerful an approach not to be applied strategically across the organisation. Put simply: if you're in a leadership role you cannot fail to improve your organisation if you understand and apply 5S from the top down. Once you understand it, you might think that 5S is simply commonsense, and you'd be right. Like many Lean tools though it's common sense applied in a very well-proven, structured, step-by-step way. Five steps in fact- hence the 5S's. To get started we suggest you have a look at organisations that apply 5S well, learn about the basics, talk it through with your fellow directors, get some experts to give you a Board Room Briefing and commit to applying it in your organisation. Then, make sure you set yourself up for success: Understand the principles, drive the necessary activities and demonstrate your continuing commitment. Use the continuous improvement cycle: Plan-Do-Check-Act. Plan what you want to achieve and decide how you're going to measure it. Take the necessary actions. Review the results and act on them. Once you're clear on that, you can gradually tackle each step of the 5S approach and apply it across all levels of the organisation. Let's start with the first S - the initial Sort or Clear-out. The object of this step is very simple: anything that is not regularly used should be removed. If it's of value, give it to someone who can make better use of it. If it's of no value, scrap it. Easy to apply in a corner of the office or a shop-floor department but how does it apply at a strategic level? Let's consider some areas of the organisation where we might benefit from a good clear-out. Businesses At this level you need to be very clear about your business strategy before you make radical changes. If you are, then read on. If not, then consider working on your strategy first and skip this part. Where there are separate businesses, business units, divisions or departments, look at each of them critically. What resources do they consume and what benefits do they provide for the organisation, its customers and its employees? How importantwill they be in the future? If they are critical to your success do they involve your core competences? If they do, you probably need to keep them in-house and excel at them. If not, could other people outside your own organisation do these activities better than you can? Could you - and your customers - perhaps accept a lower level of performance if this provides other benefits elsewhere? Products and Services One of the quickest ways to increase profitability is simply to stop providing unprofitable products and services. In a recession you can't afford loss-making products or services - get rid of them. If you haven't already done so, now's the time to take a long, hard look at the portfolio of products and services that you supply, and the customers and markets that you provide them to. Which offer the least value to your customers (have you asked them?). Which consume the most costs and resources? Customers Instinctively we don't like losing customers but unprofitable customers who simply take up valuable time and resources are dangerous - pass them on to your competitors. Remember though that demanding customers are usually good for a business - a common feature of high-performing businesses is that they have demanding customers. If they genuinely want you to improve - and will share the benefits - then they can be gold dust. People Removing people from an organisation should never be taken lightly. The key question is: Given the right direction, development and support will this person contribute effectively to the future of the business, as we see it?. If the answer is yes then provide as much resource as you can afford. If the answer is no then take decisive action now to address the problem. Make sure that you treat people in accordance with the organisations' values and beliefs - your actions here are often long-lasting and will be remembered. Plant and Equipment When times are tough, it's a good opportunity to be creative. Can you replace that big fast bottleneck with slower, more flexible machines that are easier to run and easier to maintain? Can you use spare time for implementing improvement activities - reducing set-up times, for example? Can you train operators to perform basic checks and maintenance, in order to free up more skilled people for preventive maintenance and fault-finding? Premises Do you really need all of that expensive space? Can you make do with less? Can you move somewhere cheaper or rent out spare space? Can your employees work from home? Can you share space with customers, suppliers orcolleagues? Is now a good time for a sale and lease-back deal? Alternatively,does it make sense to buy now while prices are cheap? Finally, let's consider some of the wider benefits that you'll achieve: A good clear-out can kick-start the change process - it's bold and visible. Don't ignore the ritualistic elements - not necessarily a bonfire in the parking lot but a good opportunity to remove shrines to the past, to clear out cosy corners and to establish new ways of doing things. Tearing down walls, offices and other barriers to communication can be very effective. What about your own work space - are you tucked away in your own private office miles away from the action or are you visible and accessible? When you've completed and sustained your Clear out activities, you're ready to move on to the next stage. We'll be covering this in our next article - Step 2: getting the business in good order... Back to the top What do you think? We're always keen to receive feedback about our e-zine. Is there anything in particular you'd like to read about? How can we improve this service? Please send any feedback to Carol Hogg. Back to the Top Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:58:02 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/nc_ezine/1ndYI/h/Better_Today_Issue_4.htm Better Today Improvements you can make today Welcome to Issue 4 of our e-zine, Better Today. We're currently working on Issue 5 of Better Today, but in the meantime here's a copy of Issue 4. Older editions can be downloaded from our E-zine webpage. No matter what sector you're working in, it's essential to continuously assess the way you do things, to ensure you're getting the best return possible, particularly in the current downturn. It's our aim to bring you interesting, helpful information to help you spot where you could do better, and how to do it better. Summary of Articles North East Regional Business Fair - Improving Business Efficiency seminar, Part 2 Continuous Improvement in Difficult Times - 23 June 2009, 8.30am to 12.30pm SMED and Nicholson Consultancy's SMED Video Nicholson Consultancy website - new feature Articles North East Regional Business Fair - Improving Business Efficiency seminar Part 2 If you missed Part 1, you can download Better Today, Issue 3 from the website which also contains a link to the original handouts. There are many tools and techniques which can be used, some of which we've covered, and others which will feature in future articles where we can look at them in more detail: Workplace Organisation Process Mapping and Process Improvement Creating Flow Visual Management Standard Work - one best way Team-based problem solving Mistake-Proofing (Poka-Yoke) Overall Equipment Effectiveness(OEE) Rapid Changeover (SMED) Process Improvement -Improving the way we do things Functions vs processes Traditionally companies' activities are organised according to a structure based on well-known business functions e.g. marketing, purchasing, finance, HR etc. Each function has its own well-defined sphere of activity and it carries out various tasks and passes on information to another function for them to work on, e.g. marketing provides demand forecasts for operations to plan into the schedule, while finance works out costings. It has been seen as the responsibility of the operations department to fulfil customer requirements. The idea being that it takes specialist knowledge to perform in any of the functions. But problems arise in the gaps that tend to occur between functions. But problems arise in the gaps that tend to occur between functions. The tendency is for each function to act in relative isolation from the other, even at times, working against each other. With Lean what we are looking for is a process view of the business. Where everything is focused on what needs to happen to satisfy the customer (remember Happy Customers!), irrespective of whether the task involved is the responsibility of marketing, operations, or finance. Analysis of business processes, rather than functions, allows identification and elimination of wasteful practices, (the Seven Wastes) and the entire system can be optimised to produce the desired outputs from the customer's point of view. This does require a radical redesign of the way things are done. One electronics manufacturer we worked with decided to have cell leaders in charge of product ranges, and they were responsible for the sales, purchasing and delivery for those product ranges. Notice the word responsible, they did not have to do everything themselves, they had someone from each of the traditional functions working with them to perform the task. There are a number of techniques you can use when mapping out your processes: Traditional flow-chart (squares and diamonds) Brown paper and Post-it® Notes Six Sigma - Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control (DMAIC) Value Stream Mapping - Lean PISO® - Process Improvement for Strategic Objectives It's very difficult for you, the client, to select the right mix of these techniques. What works in one workplace may well not work in another! If you'd like some advice from us on process-mapping, drop us an email. Engaging Your People The most important thing when improving the efficiency of your business is engaging your people. It's all about the people. People are your primary source of competitive advantage. Products can be easily copied, technological edges don't last long, facilities can be built, but the quality of your organisation's talent, the passion and commitment are nearly impossible to replicate. After working with many varied organisations we've found the quickest recipe to engage your people is: Lean Training - Give every one in the business very basic Lean training, in particular identifying the Seven Wastes. We have some basic Lean training tools to suggest, one of these being Seven Wastes Treasure Hunt. Seven wastes treasure hunt - A team exercise which is practical, but good fun too. This highly interactive game engages all participants to identify non value-added activities. Brainstorm improvement ideas - Another good team exercise exploring everyone's ideas to remove identified wastes. Prioritise ideas - Once again concentrating on the team effort, ask teams to prioritise their ideas using an Ease and Effect chart to categorise the improvement ideas from 3. above. By getting everyone involved in this way everyone understands what priority their idea has and why. Action plan - Bring together the ideas from each team. Remove any duplicates and give ideas a clear description. Managers then need to apply any business objectives from their business strategy and state who is going to do what, when and how. Publish and monitor the plan - Think about using a traffic light system. Red ideas have not been started on, amber ideas are underway and green ideas have been completed. Implement - It's no good having a fabulous list of improvement ideas if you don't implement them and it's the quickest way to lose the interest of your people. If you find this tool useful in bringing your workforce together to start to understand the benefits of improving the business as a team, you are on the start of your improvement journey. We have a host of other tools and techniques, all tried and tested. Some are more effective than others depending on the size / type of your company. If you'd like more specific help for your company, why not contact us to find out which methods will best suit your organisation and to understand just how much better you can be. Back to the Top Continuous Improvement in Difficult Times - 23 June 2009, 8.30am to 12.30pm How often has your organisation started the drive to improve; and how often has it dwindled away? During this workshop we'll look at the necessity of good leadership and focus on developing Leadership skills at all levels of the organisation in order to sustain the momentum of an improvement initiative. This workshop is already proving popular and the details are on the website. All of our workshops can be delivered in-house to your people, including our Improving Business Efficiency. These are very effective as the content is tailored specifically to your organisation giving you high quality, relevant information. If you'd like more details on on-site workshops/seminars, or if you have a particular topic you'd like covered, just let us know and we'll be happy to help. Back to the top SMED Video We're currently working on a series of training videos, with the first in the pipeline almost ready to show the world. The videos will be available for purchase and downloading from our website soon and the first topic we considered most practical is SMED - Single Minute Exchange of Dies. Read Angela's article for a quick reminder about SMED. Back to the top Nicholson Consultancy website We want to offer more value to you, our clients and our associates. With this in mind, we've added a new section to the website, Downloads which will develop and grow. You can now download our profiles, so you can see at a glance how we can help you, and work with you. We've also added Information Sheets on The Seven Wastes, CANDO / 5S, What is Strategy?. Now we need your help - let us know what other Information Sheets will be useful to you... any reasonable request will be considered! Back to the top What do you think? We're always keen to receive feedback about our e-zine. Is there anything in particular you'd like to read about? How can we improve this service? Please send any feedback to Carol Hogg. Back to the Top Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:22:44 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/nc_ezine/1Fj33/h/Better_Today_Issue_4.htm Better Today Improvements you can make today Welcome to Issue 4 of our e-zine, Better Today. No matter what sector you're working in, it's essential to continuously assess the way you do things, to ensure you're getting the best return possible, particularly in the current downturn. It's our aim to bring you interesting, helpful information to help you spot where you could do better, and how to do it better. Summary of Articles North East Regional Business Fair - Improving Business Efficiency seminar, Part 2 Continuous Improvement in Difficult Times - 23 June 2009, 8.30am to 12.30pm SMED and Nicholson Consultancy's SMED Video Nicholson Consultancy website - new feature Articles North East Regional Business Fair - Improving Business Efficiency seminar Part 2 If you missed Part 1, you can download Better Today, Issue 3 from the website which also contains a link to the original handouts. There are many tools and techniques which can be used, some of which we've covered, and others which will feature in future articles where we can look at them in more detail: Workplace Organisation Process Mapping and Process Improvement Creating Flow Visual Management Standard Work - one best way Team-based problem solving Mistake-Proofing (Poka-Yoke) Overall Equipment Effectiveness(OEE) Rapid Changeover (SMED) Process Improvement -Improving the way we do things Functions vs processes Traditionally companies' activities are organised according to a structure based on well-known business functions e.g. marketing, purchasing, finance, HR etc. Each function has its own well-defined sphere of activity and it carries out various tasks and passes on information to another function for them to work on, e.g. marketing provides demand forecasts for operations to plan into the schedule, while finance works out costings. It has been seen as the responsibility of the operations department to fulfil customer requirements. The idea being that it takes specialist knowledge to perform in any of the functions. But problems arise in the gaps that tend to occur between functions. But problems arise in the gaps that tend to occur between functions. The tendency is for each function to act in relative isolation from the other, even at times, working against each other. With Lean what we are looking for is a process view of the business. Where everything is focused on what needs to happen to satisfy the customer (remember Happy Customers!), irrespective of whether the task involved is the responsibility of marketing, operations, or finance. Analysis of business processes, rather than functions, allows identification and elimination of wasteful practices, (the Seven Wastes) and the entire system can be optimised to produce the desired outputs from the customer's point of view. This does require a radical redesign of the way things are done. One electronics manufacturer we worked with decided to have cell leaders in charge of product ranges, and they were responsible for the sales, purchasing and delivery for those product ranges. Notice the word responsible, they did not have to do everything themselves, they had someone from each of the traditional functions working with them to perform the task. There are a number of techniques you can use when mapping out your processes: Traditional flow-chart (squares and diamonds) Brown paper and Post-it® Notes Six Sigma - Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control (DMAIC) Value Stream Mapping - Lean PISO® - Process Improvement for Strategic Objectives It's very difficult for you, the client, to select the right mix of these techniques. What works in one workplace may well not work in another! If you'd like some advice from us on process-mapping, drop us an email. Engaging Your People The most important thing when improving the efficiency of your business is engaging your people. It's all about the people. People are your primary source of competitive advantage. Products can be easily copied, technological edges don't last long, facilities can be built, but the quality of your organisation's talent, the passion and commitment are nearly impossible to replicate. After working with many varied organisations we've found the quickest recipe to engage your people is: Lean Training - Give every one in the business very basic Lean training, in particular identifying the Seven Wastes. We have some basic Lean training tools to suggest, one of these being Seven Wastes Treasure Hunt. Seven wastes treasure hunt - A team exercise which is practical, but good fun too. This highly interactive game engages all participants to identify non value-added activities. Brainstorm improvement ideas - Another good team exercise exploring everyone's ideas to remove identified wastes. Prioritise ideas - Once again concentrating on the team effort, ask teams to prioritise their ideas using an Ease and Effect chart to categorise the improvement ideas from 3. above. By getting everyone involved in this way everyone understands what priority their idea has and why. Action plan - Bring together the ideas from each team. Remove any duplicates and give ideas a clear description. Managers then need to apply any business objectives from their business strategy and state who is going to do what, when and how. Publish and monitor the plan - Think about using a traffic light system. Red ideas have not been started on, amber ideas are underway and green ideas have been completed. Implement - It's no good having a fabulous list of improvement ideas if you don't implement them and it's the quickest way to lose the interest of your people. If you find this tool useful in bringing your workforce together to start to understand the benefits of improving the business as a team, you are on the start of your improvement journey. We have a host of other tools and techniques, all tried and tested. Some are more effective than others depending on the size / type of your company. If you'd like more specific help for your company, why not contact us to find out which methods will best suit your organisation and to understand just how much better you can be. Back to the Top Continuous Improvement in Difficult Times - 23 June 2009, 8.30am to 12.30pm How often has your organisation started the drive to improve; and how often has it dwindled away? During this workshop we'll look at the necessity of good leadership and focus on developing Leadership skills at all levels of the organisation in order to sustain the momentum of an improvement initiative. This workshop is already proving popular and the details are on the website. All of our workshops can be delivered in-house to your people, including our Improving Business Efficiency. These are very effective as the content is tailored specifically to your organisation giving you high quality, relevant information. If you'd like more details on on-site workshops/seminars, or if you have a particular topic you'd like covered, just let us know and we'll be happy to help. Back to the top SMED Video We're currently working on a series of training videos, with the first in the pipeline almost ready to show the world. The videos will be available for purchase and downloading from our website soon and the first topic we considered most practical is SMED - Single Minute Exchange of Dies. Read Angela's article for a quick reminder about SMED. Back to the top Nicholson Consultancy website We want to offer more value to you, our clients and our associates. With this in mind, we've added a new section to the website, Downloads which will develop and grow. You can now download our profiles, so you can see at a glance how we can help you, and work with you. We've also added Information Sheets on The Seven Wastes, CANDO / 5S, What is Strategy?. Now we need your help - let us know what other Information Sheets will be useful to you... any reasonable request will be considered! Back to the top What do you think? We're always keen to receive feedback about our e-zine. Is there anything in particular you'd like to read about? How can we improve this service? Please send any feedback to Carol Hogg. Back to the Top Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:21:02 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/nc_ezine/1h_Qp/h/Better_Today_Issue_3.htm Better Today Improvements you can make today Welcome to Issue 3 of our e-zine, Better Today. No matter what sector you're working in, it's essential to continuously assess the way you do things, to ensure you're getting the best return possible, particularly in the current downturn. It's our aim to bring you interesting, helpful information to help you spot where you could do better, and how to do it better. Summary of Articles Receiving Feedback In the last issue we looked at how to give effective, quick feedback - a tool that can be used anytime, with no cost, which will have a big impact on performance. In this article we're going to look at how to receive feedback, and list our Top 10 Feedback Tips. Read the article here. North East Regional Business Fair - Improving Business Efficiency seminar This was a very successful event for the whole region and for Nicholson Consultancy. Our Director and Consultant, Angela Robson, gave a well-received presentation on Improving Business Efficiency, and we had some good questions at the end of the session. You may already have a copy of the slides, but if not you can download them here. Angela's put together this article to go with the slides so even if you didn't attend the presentation, you can start to understand the basics of Lean. As there's a great deal of information to take on board, we'll continue this article in the next edition of Better Today. Read the seminar notes here. Business Surgery - Ask the Experts South Durham Business Network are hosting a Business Surgery in Spennymoor providing an opportunity for businesses to explore any issues, concerns and ideas with professionals from a range of professional services. Nicholson Consultancy are participating and we will be happy to see you there if you'd like the opportunity to have an informal chat about the benefits you and your company can achieve by implementing various improvement activities. The surgery takes place on Tuesday, 28 April. To find out more information with the full range of experts and the timetable, visit our Business Surgery webpage. Open Workshop - June 2009 We wanted to give some advance notice of our next workshop which is open to everyone who's interested in how to keep improvements going when times are tough. You may find your priorities are being focussed elsewhere, but out of all the times and business environments, now is when you need to be doing Lean. This workshop will look at leadership skills and getting people involved so you can maintain your focus, motivate your people and confidently lead your business through the downturn. We'll put more details on our website as soon as they're finalised. Places will be limited so if you'd like to be sent the details first, let Carol know. All of our workshops can be delivered in-house to your people, including our Improving Business Efficiency seminar. The in-house workshops are very effective as the content is tailored specifically to your organisation giving you high quality, relevant information. If you'd like more details on on-site workshops/seminars, or if you have a particular topic you'd like covered, just let us know and we'll be happy to help. Articles Receiving Feedback To be really effective at feedback you need to be able not only to give effective feedback, but also to receive it. It is important to seek out feedback (even asking for feedback on your feedback). This will help you to learn and progress and ultimately lead to an improvement in performance. When receiving feedback remember: To listen actively Suspend judgement and let them finish Repeat back the main points (this will show you have understood what has been said) Ask for specifics If necessary gather further information from other people Decide what you want to do next Remember that if you ask for feedback, then you need to accept what you hear and don't begin to defend yourself. You need to understand that this is their observation. You don't have to believe it, or act upon it, but you must listen to them openly. If you begin to defend your actions, others may stop telling you the truth. In summary, I've noted below our Top 10 Feedback Tips: Consider the business reasons for giving feedback Make it timely Praise in public, criticise in private Keep it simple Put it in context Focus on behaviour / results, not personality Use objective information, not just your ownopinion Focus on the future Listen to the other person's point of view Don't overdo it! Back to the top North East Regional Business Fair - Improving Business Efficiency seminar Following our presentation at the North East Regional Business Fair, we were asked for copies of the slides. In response we have provided below some notes to accompany the slides and give some further thoughts on how you can improve the efficiency of your business. When working with a business, we will often ask participants what it is that their organisation needs to do to be successful. Very quickly they will generate a long list of ideas. Inevitably these can be summarised into the following 3 things: Happy customers - who will repeatedly give you business Profit - in order to survive a business needs to make a profit!! Happy employees - who are motivated, want to get involved in the business and make improvements Lean is an improvement methodology, which if done correctly will help you achieve these three things. We abbreviate them to Cus, Bus, Us. It's an easy way for everyone in the business to remember that any improvements need to either / or create happy customers, happy employees and return a profit. But what is Lean Thinking? Lean Thinking is about: Understanding exactly what your customers' needs are - the only way to truly do this is to talk to them. Design your process(es) to deliver these needs - once you fully understand your customers' requirements you need to design the process(es) in your business to meet them. Eliminate any activities that do not add value - Value added activities change the form, fit or function of your product or service. They are the activities your customer is willing to pay for. Some exampls from our clients include entering orders, ordering raw materials, shipping goods to customers, preparing drawings, assembling, processing customer payments. Non-value added activities are those activities that take up your time and resources but do not add value to your product or service. They are the things your customer would be unwilling to pay for. Non-Value added activities need to be eliminated, reduced or simplified. We find that, typically, non-value added activities account for 95% of total lead time. Examples include inspection, testing, filing information, obtaining multiple approvals, counting parts, reviewing / checking. Standardise- one best way - Once you have designed your process(es) and eliminated wasteful activities you need to make sure they become standard throughout your business. This can be done using work instructions, standard operating procedures and quality manuals (ISO standards). Sustaining and continuously improve - we know that our clients find this is the hardest section of all, and is where most businesses fail. Basically Lean is all about adding value and eliminating waste. It is not just about cutting costs, but about increasing value for money. Lean, as with Six Sigma and other improvement models, is inspired by the Deming Improvement Cycle. First you select the problem / process you want to address, plan out a solution and implement it. Once you have finished stand back and review/ evaluate the results. Then finally decide on the changes needed to improve the process. This is a continuous cycle; once you act you need to start again and plan how you are going to implement the changes etc. Previous improvement methodologies, such as Work Study, looked at the time it took a person to do an activity, and by concentrating on the value added part (e.g.actually doing work the customer was prepared to pay for - added-value activities) they found ways to make them quicker. Lean looks at the activities which do not add value (e.g. the activities the customer is not prepared to pay for - non-value added activities) and tries to find ways to eliminate them. There are seven visible wastes which we've covered in Issue 1 of Better Today. To recap they are: Defects Inventory Over-production Transport Motion Waiting Over-processing On top of the seven visible wastes there are three hidden wastes: Unfulfilled customer needs - is there anything else you could be doing for your customer which they would be willing to pay for? Time - the more inefficient your business becomes, the less time you have. By beginning to make improvements and becoming more efficient your business can create time to spend on improvement activities. Unfulfilled human potential - Employees are your best source of competitive advantage, and the ones who are most likely to know the problem areas, and how to improve them. What we are trying to achieve with Lean is massive improvements in productivity. This can be done by either doing the same with less resources, or doing much more with the same resources, and it's the latter which most companies aim for. Back to the Top What do you think? We're always keen to receive feedback about our e-zine. Is there anything in particular you'd like to read about? How can we improve this service? Please send any feedback to Carol Hogg. Back to the Top Fri, 24 Apr 2009 06:51:51 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/nc_ezine/oY5B/h/Better_Today_Issue_2.htm Better Today Improvements you can make today Welcome to Issue 2 of our e-zine, Better Today. No matter what sector you're working in, it's essential to continuously assess the way you do things, to ensure you're getting the best return possible, particularly in the current downturn. It's our aim to bring you interesting, helpful information to help you spot where you could do better, and how to do it better. Summary of Articles Giving Feedback In previous articles we have been looking at some quick, cost effective tools for improving your business in a tough climate. In this article we are going to look at giving feedback, which (if used correctly) is a tool anybody can use, at any time, with little cost (other than time), that will make definite, long term improvements to the business. It can be used to correct behaviour or to praise good performance. But like any tool there is a right and wrong way to use it. Read the rest of the article here. Business Improvement Techniques We know that using improvement techniques work, but if you'd like to read another person's viewpoint, we found Roy Coldwell's article Business Improvement Techniques very interesting. He states, Embracing lean processes can improve efficiency and increase output by around 10-20% in any business, without the need for further investment. Roy is director of operations at PICME Limited, and the article appeared in December's issue of the Strategic Planning Society Strategy Magazine. This article has been reprinted with permission from the Strategic Planning Society. North East Regional Business Fair What a great opportunity for businesses in the North East to promote your products and services to new customers across the UK! The Business Fair is a Meet the Buyers event, combined with a series of practical free seminars, a support and advice zone and a business exhibition. Come to our free seminar and vist us there on Stand 22. Read more about the NE Regional Business Fair here. Articles Giving Feedback The RIGHT way: Remember the reason for giving feedback is to correct an individuals behaviour - not to vent your emotions Describe the specific behaviours / results youhave observed, and explain the impact on the business, the team and you. Check your observations are correct Are there any mitigating circumstances ( remember to actively listen) Describe the behaviours / results you are looking for (be accurate and concise) Together, search for a solution Check the individual will do it (beware of I'll try, which translates as, I'm not going to do it) Thank them in advance Give regular updates and stay focused on their behaviour / results. The process for giving feedback on good performance is very similar: Describe the specific behaviours / results you are praising Explain how you feel about the results / behaviours Look at how the outcome was achieved and how it can be applied in other situations Thank them, and give further encouragement For any feedback to be successful it needs to be specific, descriptive and factual, and delivered in a non-judgemental manner. You need to focus on the actual behaviours and results, not the individual. If necessary prepare beforehand and gather any information / evidence you need. Be careful though, feedback will fail if you use any sort of: Personal criticism e.g. you're not good enough or you're too sloppy at work - it will make them defensive Assumptions about a person's mental state e.g. you've a bad attitude or you're lazy -this will make them both resentful and defensive Generalisations e.g. you're always late or you're always missing your deadlines - if you exaggerate, they won't believe you Contaminated praise e.g. that was quite good...for you or that report was very thorough...apart from the obvious mistake - they won't know if they are being praised or criticised And avoid at all costs statements like pull your socks up which give's someone no idea of how you want them to improve. Remember the purpose of giving feedback to a poor performer is to have a specific effect on their behaviour. This will enable them to improve their performance, the team's performance, which will be seen to improve your performance. It is never easy, but if done correctly it isn't unpleasant. In the next article we will be looking at how to receive feedback, which for a person to be a truly effective communicator, is just as important as giving feedback. Back to the top North East Regional Business Fair The event takes place over two days, Wednesday 25 February and Thursday 26 February at Gosforth Park's Newcastle Racecourse. We will be delivering a seminar on Improving Business Efficiency on Wednesday morning at 10.30am. If you're interested in finding out more about how to improve your processes, remove inefficiencies and eliminate waste to increase your productivity, this is the ideal opportunity. You will learn about some of the tools and techniques to identify waste / inefficiencies, as well as simple steps you can take to eliminate these wastes, while engaging your staff in the whole process. To book your place at the event visit the North East Regional Business Fair website. We also have an exhibition stand, so if you have any questions or comments about process improvement or any of the training and consultancy we provide, you can come and have an informal chat with us - we'll be on Stand 22. If you're unable to attend the event, we'll make the presentation available to you with the next edition of Better Today. Back to the Top What do you think? We're always keen to receive feedback about our E-zine. Is there anything in particular you'd like to read about? How can we improve this service? Please send any feedback to Carol Hogg. Back to the Top Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:53:03 -0500http://archive.aweber.com/nc_ezine/1VfkB/h/Welcome_to_our_1st_issue_of.htm Better Today Improvements you can make today Welcome to Issue 1 of our e-zine, Better Today. We've worked with many companies over the years to help implement business improvements. We want to give you the opportunity to make genuine improvements in your business. Perhaps you've decided you need to make changes, but aren't quite sure how to go about it ... or you've an idea of what to do, but need some simple guidance to get you started. This e-zine is for those who need to make a start to get better, today. Where to start? No matter what sector you're working in, it's essential to continuously assess the way you do things, to ensure you're getting the best return possible, particularly in the current downturn. It's our aim to bring you interesting, helpful information to help you spot where you could do better, and how to do it better. Lean Office - The Seven Visible Wastes With this in mind, our first article offers you basic information on examples of waste that may exist around your workplace. Waste is defined as anything that increases your costs or time, but is of no value to your customer. How many of these examples can you identify? more CANDO One of the many techniques which you can use to help you identify and eliminate waste is CANDO, otherwise known as 5S. This is a simple technique and very easily implemented, not just in the office, but in any workplace. Once your people see the improvements that come from implementing CANDO, the easier it is to maintain the momentum and soon the continuous improvement cycle is born. more Painless Cost-cutting Does cost-cutting have to mean job losses? Glen Feechan offers an alternative method of cutting your costs. more Invest to Survive - Wednesday 10 December, Sunderland If you're serious about improving, or if you just want to learn more about how to do it, and the benefits your business will achieve from doing improvement activities, come and learn more at our Invest to Survive event. This interactive seminar will take place on Wednesday morning, 10 December in Sunderland. Full details can be found on our webpage. At £35.00 per person, this will be a great opportunity to ask questions and receive advice from experienced practitioners in business improvement. The speakers will be Andrew Nicholson of Nicholson Consultancy and Glen Feechan of Feechan Consulting. Lean Office - The Seven Visible Wastes Lean Office is a way of applying the principles of Lean Manufacturing to non-manufacturing processes. As in Lean Manufacturing, the ultimate aim is to eliminate waste. The following are descriptions and examples of The Seven Visible Wastes. Overproducing - Producing more than needed or producing too much too soon does not improve efficiency. It consumes resources and leads to other wastes. Examples include keeping paper and electronic copies of documents; producing reports, which are put in a file and never studied. Waiting - Waiting for people, machines (printer, photocopiers etc), information. It adds no value to the service, and can be most aggravating to employees. Examples include waiting for a signature; waiting for a phone call. Overprocessing - Having a process that's over complicated. Examples include checking someone else's work; paying by cheque instead of by direct debit, requiring multiple signatures. Inventory - Excessive stock can take up space, and become a Health and Safety issue. Examples include a cupboard full of stationery materials; files that are no longer used. (How many post-it note pads, pens, etc do you have in your desk drawer?) Motion - Any motion that is not necessary to the successful completion of an operation/process is waste. Examples include walking to the next room to retrieve print outs from a printer; walking to another room to pass on documents. Defects - Producing defective work that needs to be redone. Examples include computer data entered incorrectly. Transport - Transporting something further than is necessary. Examples include files kept in a central filing office; office supplies moved to a temporary location before being put away. Once you start thinking about it in these terms, you can quickly begin to identify where your processes are wasteful or inefficient, which is the first step to making them more streamlined. We run effective on-site activities to help you tackle the Seven Wastes - Seven Wastes Treasure Hunt; Waste Walk; Waste Reduction workshop. For full details contact Carol Hogg. Back to the top CANDO - Organise the workplace for efficiency CANDO will not identify and eliminate all waste, however it's a technique which you can implement straight away with very little capital outlay. C is for CLEANUP We all accumulate stuff as we work. Drawers become full of files, notebooks and items which might come in handy; our trays are full of papers we might get round to reading; all of which are not immediately useful. These items are waste, or they lead to waste. How much time do you spend looking for a particular item in among this accumulation which is taking up valuable space? Like me, you'll also likely have equipment which no longer works or there's no longer a need for it. Do a clean up and throw it out! A is for ARRANGING Arrange items in a logical, obvious way where anyone can easily find them. Group things together that are used together and reduce unnecessary movement like stretching, bending, walking. How often are you having to walk a distance to refill the paper in the photocopier? What about the labels on your filing cabinets or boxes? Keep them up to date and clear indicating the true contents, rather than what was in there last year. N is for NEATNESS This one seems obvious once you've done the previous two. Once your workplace is clean and tidy, the easier it is to see at a glance when something's out of place. And of course when everything's where it should be, you're not wasting your valuable time looking for it and you're already becoming more productive. D is for DISCIPLINE We all know that the Queen thinks everywhere smells of new paint! We're not suggesting you go that far, but imagine it's your Managing Director who's visiting - permanently. This point is about having the discipline to keep the momentum going, getting into a mindset where keeping everything neat and tidy is second nature. O is for ONGOING IMPROVEMENT Once you've become accustomed to having a sensible place for everything, and everything in its place, it's essential to get into the routine of ongoing improvement. Here you're not just interested in keeping things clean and properly arranged, but also understanding why they get out of control and introducing steps to prevent it happening at all - understanding the root cause. Do you have piles of broken equipment because your maintenance department doesn't have the resources to fix it? Do you have to walk far to get stationery supplies because you don't have a secure cupboard to store the basics? For many years, we've helped organisations implement and sustain CANDO. If you would like some help with implementing CANDO effectively, contact Carol Hogg. Back to the Top Painless cost-cutting by Glen Feechan of Feechan Consulting The news is full of cost-cutting programmes, usually involving large-scale job losses. Only recently, BT announced a further 10,000 job losses by March next year. In addition, every company I talk to is undergoing some form of cost-cutting exercise at the moment and it is easy to see these as involving nothing but pain. It is important to note though that a significant level of cost-cutting is possible without any pain and without cutting your workforce or capacity to take advantage of opportunities. Those businesses that can remain at full strength through the recession are likely to profit from cut-backs at their competitors. I am talking about reducing what you pay for your overheads rather than what you are paying for. Most businesses have a decent grip on what they pay for raw materials but invariably significant savings can be made across their overheads by switching to more competitive suppliers. There are a number of reasons why existing suppliers might not be the most competitive, sometimes it is just complacency. Also, many of these areas do not get looked at as often because individually they may not appear to represent a large percentage of total costs, however it is important to remember that these savings are not harming the company's ability to operate. Would it be better to save £20,000 p.a. by laying off an additional employee or changing stationery suppliers? Also, some of these areas are a bigger spend than people realise. On average, spend on printed materials accounts for around 1% of sales turnover. A saving of 20% on this spend has the same effect on the bottom line as a 1% increase in sales (assuming a generous profit margin of 20%). If you are a company based in the UK who is looking to save money without the pain, I'm happy to help. Glen Feechan is Chief Executive of Feechan Consulting Ltd (http://www.feechan.co.uk) and FC Procurement Ltd (http://www.fcprocurement.com), a business consultancy specialising in business improvement and cost savings. Email Glen at glen@feechan.co.uk. Glen is also the editor (and regular contributor) of Not Just Numbers ezine (sign up at http://www.notjustnumbers.co.uk). Back to the Top What do you think? We're always keen to receive feedback about our E-zine. Is there anything in particular you'd like to read about? How can we improve this service? Please send any feedback to Carol Hogg. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:00:40 -0500