How it typically works
The whole point of operational performance improvement is to deliver tangible financial value to the business. The reasons why businesses choose to work with consultants will vary, but fundamentally, they should all revolve around a central theme which is ‘we can deliver bigger, faster and more sustainable results with the support of the consultants, than we can on our own’.
With this in mind, our approach to a project is one that allows both the client and ourselves to be confident at every stage that the relationship is adding significant value. Through a staged process, progress can be closely monitored against clear deliverables and both parties can decide how to continue together after each stage.
In its simplest form, a typical project might be structured as follows:
1. Assessment of Financial Potential
A detailed assessment of the operational performance of the business is undertaken, to identify and value the potential for improvement within the existing processes.
2. Prioritising Specific Problems and Opportunities
A detailed understanding of the specific problems is obtained, valuing all the problems based on their financial impact on the business and prioritising for maximum return in the shortest time.
3. Demonstrating the Approach Works
Driving change across a business starts with demonstrating that change is actually possible. As soon as it is clear where within the business a rapid improvement will have the biggest financial impact, we will typically run a short pilot project to demonstrate that results can be delivered quickly without capital expenditure. This will involve working with the team that own, manage and operate the process to drive improvement by systematically measuring, prioritising and solving the problems that limit performance.
4. Ensuring Sustainability and Rolling Out Benefits
Once the approach has been proven, we have two advantages. Firstly there are hard financial results on the bottom line that will gain the support of the management team. Secondly, there will be a physical example of a team that has successfully delivered a step change in the performance of their process; this will help gain the support of the shopfloor. Now we must capitalise on this momentum. We need to roll out the improvement process to other areas of the business and embed the skills, systems and drive to ensure areas continue to improve long after the initial support from Newton.