From the book OFFICE KAIZEN by William Lareau
Assignment Waste: Creating a report “Just in Case it is needed for a meeting with the boss”.
Waiting Waste: Waiting for all parties to arrive to begin a meeting.
Processing Waste: A hard worker gets the job done, but takes longer than everyone else due to poor training.
Variability Waste: Customer requests are not handled easily due to a lack of information and training by all who handle customer calls.
Tampering Waste: An error results in a “new” process that requires the boss to review every document.
Missing Information Waste: Input partial data to “get the ball rolling”, but there is no completion of all the required fields resulting in lots of questions and errors.
OFFICE WASTE
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Two Basic Approaches for Improvement
• Physical Improvements– Co‐location of steps or functions (using a string or spaghetti diagram)– Visual improvements (5S, color coding, organization of the workspace etc.)– Hands Free Phones
• Process Improvements– Eliminating non‐value adding steps– Improving broken steps– Improving productivity of a step or task
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The Real Savings are in Process Improvements $$
Select the Process and Form a Team
• Is the process in need of Improved Speed, Cost and Quality– Pick a viable process with significant repetition or impact– Be aware of office politics
• Team Members– Area Manager (They will say “I didn’t know we did that”)– The people that do the work (They will say “I told you for years”)– Some outside eyes (They will say “I can’t believe you do that”)– Tech Wizard (They will say “I can automate that”)
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Documenting the Process
• Use printer paper and large post‐it notes– Can capture in Visio or Power Point (Later)
• If there are SOP’s, have them available• If there are contracts involved, have them available• Use copies of screen shots if needed• Use copies of actual forms if needed• during mapping• Use ranges for estimates of time or quality if needed
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Documenting the Process
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Account Manager
Enter the data from the customer request
Incoming Quality LevelProcessing TimeTotal Lead TimeOutgoing Quality LevelOthers if Important
Paper TransferElectronic Transfer
Processing Time‐How long does it take to accomplish the task with no distractions
Total Lead Time‐Including wait time, distractions and processing time
Customer Request Form
HighlightSections Completed
Documenting the Process
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Account Manager
Enter the data from the customer request
Incoming Quality Level 80%Processing Time 10‐90 MinsTotal Lead Time 4 HoursOutgoing Quality Level 95%
Paper TransferElectronic Transfer
Ask really good questions and listen to the answers
How do you perform this task? Did you say you use a cheat sheet for some of the information? What type of information is typically missing?
Dig, Dig, Dig into the process step
Documenting the Process
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Account Manager
Enter the data from the customer request
Is the request over $10,000
Yes
70%
No30%
Legal
Reviews the Customer Request (approve, reject or
request changes)
Edits (3 Cycles) on average
VP of Operations
Reviews the Customer Request (approve, reject or
request changes)
Approve
1%Reject
99%General Manger
Reviews the Customer Request (approve, reject or request changes)
(Not fully documented here)
Documenting the Process
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Account Manager
Enter the data from the customer request
Incoming Quality Level 80%Processing Time 10‐90 MinsTotal Lead Time 4 HoursOutgoing Quality Level 95%
Paper TransferElectronic Transfer
I find it easier to capture issues while you are documenting the process. Only capture the issue. Do not try to develop a solution because this whole step may be removed as you create the future state
1
2
The Issue Board
1. Explore the Cheat Sheet‐ What does it do? Does everyone use one? Can it be built into the
system?2. Research the editing
Why so much?
Documenting the Process
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Account Manager
Enter the data from the customer request
Incoming Quality Level 80%Processing Time 10‐90 MinsTotal Lead Time 4 HoursOutgoing Quality Level 95%
Totals may or may not be valuable. Issues arise on how it is calculated, how do you handle re‐work etc.
Legal
Reviews the Customer Request (approve, reject or
request changes)
Incoming Quality Level 30%Processing Time 30‐60 MinsTotal Lead Time 48 HoursOutgoing Quality Level 95%
Totals(If you need them)
RTY .80 x .30 = 24%Processing Time 40‐150 MinsTotal Lead Time 52 HoursOutgoing Quality Level (NA)
Improving the Process
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Overproduction (Flooding a down stream process with too much volume)
Waiting
Transportation
Non-Value Added Processing (Doing things with Re (Review, Reconcile, Re-print etc.))
Excess Inventory
Defects (Pay for this 3 times (Did it once, Re-worked it, Didn’t work on the next one))
Excess Motion
Underutilized People (You mean Excel could have done this in seconds!)
Lean Waste
Improving the Process
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How big of a change can the organization handle?
Phase 1 – Fix the existing process to work as intended
Phase 2 – Significant change (automate, higher skill set, delegate authority)
Do you have a plan for the people if they are impacted?
Improving the Process
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– Which steps add value (e.g. require analysis and action)– Require extra processing (e.g. redundant data entry)– Correction of any form (e.g. paperwork errors)– Motion & Transportation (e.g. to/from file cabinets)– Overproducing (e.g. where is the work piling up and why)– Underutilized People (e.g. limited authority to change)
Eliminate non-value adding steps
Improve value adding steps
Combine where possible to reduce hand-offs and changeovers
Improving the Process
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Lean Concepts & Tools– Standardized Work– Quality at the Source– Workplace Organization– Visual Controls & Management– People Involvement– Cellular/Team Concepts– Equipment Reliability
Improving the Process
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The Improved Process is Now the Current State
Use it for:
Knowledge Capture and Training
Succession Planning
Experiences Encountered ‐ Problems and Solutions
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Calendar Days and Business Days in the Same ProcessLack of Information Sharing from Sales to OperationsNot Understanding the Capabilities of the SoftwareUsing Remote Printing CapabilitiesExtremely Low Dollar Signature AuthorityToo Many Management Reviews of the DocumentToo Many Required Signatures (They Don’t Read It!)