All of our partners have been involved in the management and leadership of international businesses.  We have also led turnaround situations with companies operating in Europe, Asia and the USA.  During this time we have developed and refined a methodology aimed at improving efficiency and reducing costs in comparatively short timeframes.  Our past success in helping these “companies in crisis” led us to the thought that the same approach could be used to help any well-run organization become even better. 

The process was initially developed in the automotive industry but, since it is generic, the principles are independent of type of enterprise or whether it is public or private.  Essentially it flows through an eight-stage cycle:

1. Segregate the costs of the enterprise into elements and prioritise- pareto.
 
2. Develop “ starting point” financial metrics for each element.
 
3. Analyse each, starting with the largest, to see where there is scope for significant improvement.  This usually includes areas like organizational structure and people, facilities, internal processes, procurement practices, and others specific to the type of business.

4. Develop and refine proposals for each area targeted - the creative ‘what if’ phase.

5. Recommend specific changes to senior management for concurrence.

6. Prepare an implementation plan and facilitate deployment in organisation.

7. Establish overall first-year savings goal “finishing point” metrics.

8. Monitor monthly  progress.

Clearly it involves much detailed work but this is where our collective experience is helpful.  We will demonstrate how the efficiency of good organizational design eases communication and control. We also have a passion for the elimination of waste;  the concept that “less is more”.  However, we are also mindful of the need to minimize disturbance to the working environment.   We work with a small team drawn from areas like finance, purchasing and human resources and because of the rigorous nature of the process it is not unreasonable to expect eventual flow-through savings of 10%-25% to the bottom line.

If your organization is large we would normally undertake a pilot exercise in one area, department or location.  Once we are mutually satisfied with the results, the process can be rolled out to other areas.

Organizations which have experienced a full cycle of our process also report to us that there is a cultural change. As employees are involved they start thinking about the business from a new perspective and there is a vitality which transcends  the enterprise.