The review was broken down into three distinct phases – Diagnostic of the current state, development of a new future state and implementation. This was supported by training internal Champions and implementation of Lean Foundation tools.
Diagnostic
Value Stream Mapping and other diagnostic activity identified the key areas for improvement. Key findings included issues around quality of repairs, duplication from team to team, variation in working practice across the different geographical areas and unnecessary hand-offs.
Redesign
This focussed around two key principles – Error Prevention and Simplification.
Implementation
The management team signed off the main process, before operational staff, led by the Lean Champions and Ad Esse consultants, worked up the detailed process.
Lean Foundation
The physical environment was made fit for the new process using 5S and an Information Centre set up for the team to monitor key metrics and continue to improve.