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Delivering Year on Year Improvement

A frequent question from managers and improvement practitioners who want to improve their organisations performance is is where to start? or for those with success, what next?

Ask 10 different practitioners and you will probably get 5 or more different suggestions.

Maybe some of the free resources of this web site can help. These resources are completely free with no commitment to use our services but please contact us if you would like help in any of these areas. There is no mention of Lean, TPM or Six Sigma techniques below. Our approach is to combine the individual strengths of these tools into a single structured improvement route map. This will help you to build on progress to date, irrespective of the route you have followed.

One thing for sure is that you will need to deliver change. To First thing you need to do is to agree the pressure for change with key managers. If you can't reach a consensus on this point, your improvement process will lack commitment and progress will be slow.

A good place to start is with our free 10 point improvement health check. Complete it together with key managers to begin a conversation on what is good about your business and why it needs to change. It usually takes time and reflection to identify the true drivers of future business success. Get it right and it is like lighting the blue touch paper. Expect to revisit and refine this strategic agenda often.

Second define a common vision for change. One approach that works well is to imagine that you have been away for 3 years and return to your place of work. When you walk in, you see that everything has dramatically improved. What are the physical differences. Discuss these physical characteristics with key managers. One company highlighted no yellow bins as part of their vision. They used yellow bins to segregate scrap parts. Removing the need for yellow bins was a compelling vision which helped propel their CI programme to the next level.

Third Agree the capability for change. What is it that you need that you don't currently have. What is it you have that you want to keep. Avoid simplistic targets such as "reduced costs" or " improved delivery reliability". To be of any value you need to be able to set out how costs will be reduced or delivery reliability improved.

Have a look at our free Manufacturing Improvement Guide containing 10 low cost or no cost improvement projects. Each one contains a key improvement capability to support year on year improvement. Each project area aligns roughly with the health check assessment mentioned above.

Fourth: Decide on the next actionable steps. That means agree what would be a great outcome in the next 12 months and map out the first 3 months towards it. Start off small with a pilot programme and learn how to manage that first. Use the programme to identify what needs to change to deliver a continuous improvement habit in at least part of the business. Then roll the process out to involve everyone. The more people involved in CI the faster your progress will be.

We recognise that consultancy is not sold...it is bought when a need arises. If you would like to speak to one of our specialists about any of these areas please contact us.

Alternatively, why not attend one of our practitioner level training workshops designed to equip you with the practical knowledge needed to accelate your journey to year on year improvement performance.

Who are DAK Consulting
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We help companies to achieve sustained year on year improvement by simultaneously engaging management and shop floor teams in practical projects to stabilise and then optimise operational processes.

Our core competencies are:

- Operational Excellence using Lean and TPM tools
- Performance Leadership and Change Management
- Lean Maintenance
- Step out Product and Service Development
- Programme management.

Further details of our consultancy services can be downloaded in zip PDF format using the link below.

DAK Support, What is it worth? click here for the file

What does DAK stand for?
The journey to excellence begins with clear Direction and ends with Knowledge of how to deliver results and progress further. DAK stand for Direction And Knowledge to support end to end business improvement.

To contact us:
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If you would like further information please click here.