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Organisational Mechanics

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Too Spicy

2 April, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

An Australian cook book, “The Pasta Bible” has a rather unique ingredient.  One recipe calls for “salt and freshly ground black people“. A small proof reading error cost £12,000 in pulped stock. If you regularly send customers letters you will know proof reading is hard, if not impossible. There are three ways to deal with […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: capability, cost saving, error proofing, rework

Emotional Sub-Optimisation

1 April, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

I received a flyer from an organic food company.  One of their selling points is that they keep packaging to a minimum.  Sounds sensible.  Less waste in the environment. When you look into it though it isn’t quite that easy.  According to the Advisory Committee on Packaging:–  1.5 grams of plastic extends the shelf life […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: clarity, communication, measurement, political will, silo management, waste

Pit Stop

29 March, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

The video shows a Formula One pit stop.  It fascinated me for a number of reasons. 1.  It is very clear what needs to be achieved. 2.  Everybody is sure what their role is and well trained. 3.  The people who are there are the people who need to be there.  Nobody else is milling […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: cost saving, purpose, roles and responsibilities, silo management, tampering, video

Task and Spend

28 March, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

I read that the average organisation spends 60% of its money on staff.  Clearly this varies hugely depending on the industry, but as a statement it is an interesting one. It leads to the conclusion that the way to save money is to cut staff. The problem is, you can’t cut staff without stopping what […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: cost saving, waste

Max your Meal

25 March, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Many if not most business processes have two parts to them. First make a decision: – Should I hire this person? – Is this an acceptable payment? – Can I give this employee access to the system? Second carry out the actions: – Send an offer letter. – Reject the payment. – Provide a password. […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: continuous improvement, customer requirements, error proofing, fast food, good service

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