A 1990 study published by Boston Consulting Group answered this question in part by what they referred to as the “05 to 5 rule.”
“Across a spectrum of businesses, the amount of time required to execute a service or an order, manufacture and deliver a product is far less than the actual time the service or product spends in the value-delivery system…”
“The 0.05 to 5 rule highlights the poor ‘time productivity’ of most organizations since most products and many services are actually receiving value for only 0.05 to 5 percent of the time they are in the value-delivery systems of their companies.(1)”
What is your reaction to this rule?
Do you wonder, “How can that be?” Or, “Somebody should do something about that!”
How about, “That must be someone else’s organization, not mine.”
Or, perhaps you may think, “That is so 1990. It’s got to be much better now.”
Now, think about this question:
Assuming every person does the work they were hired to do error free, every time, could there still be a lot of waste present i.e., at or near what the “05 to 5 rule” implies?
Believe it or not, even with error free work all the time the answer is “yes.”
In part this is due to distinguishing between waste and value-creating work, and the impact both have on “flow.“ It’s also due in part, to the way we “design” work.
So what do we do about it?
If you are able to attend the 2010 ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Division Conference (session A3), you’ll learn 3 skills to help address this situation:
Skill #1: What the term “flow” means and how to measure it in ways that matter to your customers.
Skill #2: Recognize typical barriers to flow in knowledge work that are hiding in plain sight.
Skill #3: Discover why finding and eliminating these “barriers to flow” reduces lead-time, waste, and cost while increasing productivity and value.
Here are the objectives of the “Flow, not Joe” presentation.
At the conclusion of this session you’ll be able to:
· Know where to look and what to watch for, in order to improve the flow of knowledge work
· Define 5 measures you can use to quantify the business or customer impact from improving flow
· Explain why improving flow is good for customers and good for your business
Who is Making this Presentation?
Robert Damelio is a consultant, author, and President of THE BOTTOM LINE GROUP, a Dallas, Texas based management-consulting firm. He has worked extensively with both Fortune 500 and Government organizations to help them strengthen operations and reduce waste, while simultaneously increasing productivity, customer-perceived value, and customer satisfaction. His primary areas of expertise are process improvement, process management, and change management particularly as they apply to knowledge-intensive work in service, professional, administrative, and “non-manufacturing” processes. During the last 10 years especially, Mr. Damelio’s focus has increasingly been on helping leaders within Client organizations plan, implement, and measure the results of their major organization change and improvement initiatives. He is the author of “The Basics of Process Mapping,” and is currently serving ASQ as the chair of ASQ’s Lean Enterprise Division Body of Knowledge (BoK) and Certification Committee.
Why Consider this Session?
One of the learning needs that ASQ Lean Enterprise Division members voice most frequently is for “examples or cases of applying lean principles and tools in transactional or office settings.” This session focuses on the principle, “find and eliminate barriers to flow.” It is one of seven principles for improving the flow of knowledge work. These 7 principles were used during an award winning lean engagement that helped reduce the lead-time for the targeted administrative process from an average of 28 days to 4 days. Attendees will receive a paper that defines all 7 principles.
I hope you can join me in Phoenix.
P.S. In the interest of “full disclosure,” you would also learn this material as part of the Business Process Improvement Workshop that is scheduled for March 23-25, 2010. Either way both you and your customers win!
(1) p76, “Competing Against Time,” George Stalk, Jr. & Thomas M. Hout. 1990 The Free Press.
