Business Process Kaizens

KAI-ZEN = “change”, “good”

As with kaizens in manufacturing, business process kaizen events are exciting, energize the participants, and achieve dramatic and surprising waste reduction results by reducing non-value add time.

Jean Cunningham Consulting has planned and facilitated kaizen events for processes in every area beyond manufacturing and product development. Our consultants are master facilitators. A 100% success rate speaks for itself as do the requests for additional facilitations from prior clients.

In a Job Requisition Approval kaizen facilitated by a JCC consultant, the time to approval was reduced from 20 days to 2 days. A Reporting 2-day kaizen eliminated 11,000 touch points, reduced the number of reports by half with improved quality and shorter lead time.

In addition to straight forward operational events in processes outside manufacturing (see the lists below), we have experience in more strategic areas such as customer/supplier joint demand planning, pricing, budget processes, and sales effectiveness.

JCC consultants have led numerous kaizens in a wide variety of areas including order entry, customer service, accounting, monthly/annual close, purchasing, human resources, information systems, engineering, sales, and many, many more.

Our ongoing clients typically retain us for strategic planning and facilitation services as they apply lean to new functions or when they extend the lean back office activity to a different location. For clients who need support beyond the kaizen event, we offer assistance in developing a kaizen roadmap and event homework monitoring.

Any process in a company can benefit from a kaizen event.

 

The JCC Method Includes You A business process kaizen event includes planning, facilitation, execution, and follow-up. It is a hands-on group activity where waste in a specific business process is identified, a revised process is developed to eliminate the waste, and the revised process is implemented and utilized within a 2-4 daytime frame depending on process complexity. Jean Cunningham Consulting works with event sponsors to develop the kaizen charter including scope, boundaries, objectives, participants, and pre-work. For the event facilitation, we can work events individually or with other team leaders depending on the event scope and company needs. If a client wishes to develop their own facilitators, we can either coach them or, better yet, allow them to shadow us during an event and learn/practice successful tactics. The group participating in the kaizen is made up of employees both inside and outside of the process. It often also includes individuals from outside the company who provide a particular expertise. A final presentation of the kaizen results is given to interested individuals who did not participate in the kaizen. This normally includes top level executives. Items identified in the kaizen that could not be implemented (homework) are given to a kaizen team member to complete in a specified time frame.

Process Evaluation
A kaizen event should have a very specific scope on a process that is "doable" within the event timeframe (3-5 days). It is easy to scope to broad of an area and then miss a lot of waste that is buried very deep within the process tradition. The listings below show one typical functional breakdown for the back office and then a few typcial process areas within three of the functions. There are many more! JCC has facilitated kaizen events in each of the process areas shown with great success and customer satisfaction.

Kaizen Functional Areas			Kaizen Process Areas
	Accounting			Accounting				Human Resources
	Human Resources				Accounts Payable				Benefits
	Information Technology and Systems				Accounts Receivable				Hiring and Onboarding
	Customer Service					Cash Application			Termination and Outbording
	Purchasing					Credit			Training
	Aftermarket Sales and Service					Collections			Requisition Approval
	Customer Engineering					Invoicing
	Shipping				Close the Books			Information Technology and Systems
	Receiving				Reporting				Application Requests
					Reconciliation					Definition and Selection
					Budget Process					First Pass Yield Quality
					Pricing					Enhancement Sequence
					Sales Tax				Hardware/Software Management
									Call Center