The Negative Effects of Poor Processes

1. The Negative Effects of Poor Processes Continually improving results in successful processes www.uttana.com

2. A Common Thread • There is a common thread among businesses that begin Lean • They see results in the beginning, • Lose motivation as they move forward • And then stumble back into their old habits • For various reasons, they take their focus off giving added value to the end customer and poor processes are implemented. Unfortunately, second-rate methods are rampant in business, no matter the business model www.uttana.com

3. Root Causes • In this module, we will identify some common root causes of these processes in order to eliminate or replace them • Even the smallest of errors contributing to a poor process can lead to dramatic costs down the road www.uttana.com

4. British Mistakes, Pt. 1 • In 2009, as many as 1.5 million British citizens were confused by a lengthy, poorly written letter asking them to confirm they checked a box on a form on their electronic tax return • The check box was placed on the return by mistake. To remedy this, the affected citizens were asked to walk through a complicated, broken process www.uttana.com

5. British Mistakes, Pt. 2 • Because of murky wording, numerous phone calls were made to incorrect numbers in the governmental organization, doubling the work needed to collect the data • Frustrated, the citizens wasted several extra minutes making numerous phone calls, and taxpayers spent an estimated 5.6 million pounds on the whole, irritating, process www.uttana.com

6. British Mistakes, Pt. 3 • Why? To confirm that they indeed wanted the box checked on the original return. Costs for a simple mistake: • Print and postage of the letters • Operators and citizens’ wasted time, and the expense of receiving calls and processing extra information • These costs have a way of adding up to large amounts. www.uttana.com

7. Solutions • What might the governmental organization have done differently? • Tested the web application before launch • Time investment in fixing the problem would have been about one hour, with a tremendous savings in cost • The longer a defect is allowed to go through a process, the costlier it becomes www.uttana.com

8. Flow Concepts • As this example illustrates, faulty processes can be incredibly expensive. • To begin to see our imperfect procedures for what they are, we need to understand Flow and how it directly relates to our work objectives • Flow is: • the idea and analysis of moving a product, be that items or people, from the start to finish of a production system www.uttana.com

9. A Few Lean Tools • Many of the principles of Flow are related to the First In First Out and Just-In-Time Lean tools • Just In Time is a methodology that: • encourages us to make what is needed, when it is needed, in the quantity that is needed • First In First Out is an order-sequencing program, which states: • the first order entered into the system is the first order to be worked on and to leave the system www.uttana.com

10. Distractions • Even though these methodologies may seem intuitive when creating a workflow, often times other factors distract the process designers from their intentions and errant procedures result • Conceptually, Lean is easy to understand. However, it can be difficult to actually apply it to real life scenarios • Why? Understanding what a ‘good’ process looks like, how it is designed, and how it is implemented and managed is not intrinsic to the creation of a process www.uttana.com

11. Perfection and Processes • So why do we get poor processes? • There is never a perfect process. There is always something that can be improved upon even if it comes down to takt-time or cost reduction • The first step towards achieving a state that is closer to perfection is defining what exactly perfection means www.uttana.com

12. Practice vs. Design • Poor processes occur because: • operations were not thought out or designed appropriately. • When processes are analyzed, results show that implementation is often based more in practice than logic. • Characteristics of poorly designed methodologies: • unresponsive to internal or external customer changes, addition of non-value-added steps • repetitive work that could be eliminated www.uttana.com

13. Why Poor Processes Occur • Poor processes also result when: • lack of understanding of practices • Process maps explaining detailed operations are needed for clarification and should be a key weapon in the fight again defective methods. While mapping, focus on: • eliminate unnecessary steps, • rigorously question time delays and over-assessments, • and replace unnecessary micro-management with trust. www.uttana.com

14. Why Poor Processes Occur, Cont. • Furthermore, these value stream maps need to include: • detailed descriptions of material, skills, quantities, and flexibility • the outputs from the customers’ perspective • A shallow procedures list mapping that some businesses employ is not adequate. Developing standard work orders for each step in the process is the starting point for analysis and waste elimination. www.uttana.com

15. Why Poor Processes Occur, Cont. • As Taiichi Ohno said, “without standards there can be no kaizen.” – these maps are the standards through which your company can work to improve and achieve Flow. • Poor Processes occur only when the struggle for perfection is abandoned. • Always be trying to continuously improve both yourself and the environment around you. www.uttana.com