Business Process Redesign
"Quantum-leap performance advances
in life's blood business
processes."
A Familiar Scenario
In staff meetings everywhere, business managers are wrestling with the issue of competition that is moving from a local or national basis to a global one. They are taking a hard look at critical business processes that have performed adequately in the past, but are increasingly described in less positive terms.
"It takes too long to get our products and services to market."
"Our systems are too complicated, expensive and inflexible."
"Do all of our process steps really add value for our customers?"
The Ideal Vision
Industry leaders have streamlined business processes to deliver products and services that strategically exceed customer expectations while using a minimum resources . Streamlined operations include no waste activities, so the business team has time to plan ahead for on-going advancements to stay ahead of the competition.
Before After
Solutions
Business process redesign is used to rebuild high-pain, high customer impact, cross-functional business processes for breakthrough results. Such processes are critical to the future success of any organization. A business process is the summation of the activities which must be completed in the course of producing a product or providing a service. Almost everything done in a company is the result of a process. A process can be broad (such as a product design process) or narrow (such as processing an invoice for payment). Product and service quality problems are almost always rooted in the processes which generate them. Process improvement, or complete redesign, is an essential step toward improved output results.
Benefits
• Improved service and increased customer loyalty.
• Elimination of barriers to effectiveness and efficiency.
• Shorter cycle times and quicker response times.
• Decreased waste and elimination of non-value process steps.
• Greater employee awareness of key customer requirements.
• Continual, on-going improvement actions included in the process structure.
Methodology
A cross-functional team, including the people most responsible for the process, is the best approach. It focuses on the process customers' needs and is empowered to develop and implement process improvements to exactly meet those needs most efficiently and effectively. The team should consist of key managers and "doers" in the process, plus outside resources as needed. During the course of its work a process redesign team will:
• Determine the internal and external customers' requirements, including "delighters" to exceed their expectations on a few most-important factors.
• Research how the work is accomplished now, and document on a process map.
• Analyze the process to identify sources of waste, non-value activities and causes of errors.
• Build a new streamlined process, using one of two strategies:
- Improve the existing process by retaining only the essential steps to exactly meet the customer requirements.
- Re-engineer the process, starting from a "zero base" to create an entirely new process, possibly looking beyond traditional solutions.
• Manage the implementation of the new process.
Success Factors
A process redesign team is usually sponsored by a senior-level line manager accountable for the quality and productivity of the selected process. This person controls or influences a large portion of the resources in the process, and is therefore in the best position to support change in it. Other success factors include:
• Process redesign expertise, either through team members or outside resources.
• A clear scope of responsibility.
• Active participation, buy-in and ownership by the line organization.
• Adequate resources.
• A clear set of measurable improvement goals linked to key corporate goals.
(Should be a real stretch with benchmark examples if possible.)
• An outside-in view, always checking the customers' perspective.
• A realistic project time frame.
• Team development training, including skills and methods necessary to work effectively as a team.
• Ability to diagnose and implement support systems changes necessary to sustain the new process.
Implementation Formats
Project formats are flexible, allowing for resource availabilities and time constraints.
The following format is used often when a fast start and aggressive schedule are needed:
• Four-day project workshop attended by the Critical Process Team
(1/2 day project orientation followed by 3 1/2 day team event)
- Convened off-site, away from job distractions
- Conducted by process management consultants
- Facilitated discussion; participant and owner involvement
- Process Analysis Kit and workshop manuals provided
• Project management or process-specific technical assistance as needed
(Production, distribution, materials management, information systems, etc.)
Other techniques are listed on the following page.
