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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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