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Better 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 don't have the spare funds to
bring someone in to do it.  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. 

The Seven 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?

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.   

Painless Cost-cutting
Does cost-cutting have to mean job losses?  Glen offers an
alternative method of cutting your costs. 

Invest to Survive - Wednesday 20 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
(http://www.nicholsonconsultancy.com)and Glen Feechan of Feechan
Consulting (http://www.feechan.co.uk.
 

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The Seven Wastes
Lean for the Workplace 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 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.
 
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CANDO
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 waste looking
for a particular item in among this accumulation which takes 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?
 
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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, 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).


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