A commonly quoted statistic is that 80% to 95% of the cost of a product is determined by its design and is therefore set before the item enters manufacturing. This assumption suggests that the dominant focus of Cost Management should be during Product Development and not during Manufacturing. However, contrary to a widely held assumption, […]
Tag Archives | operational excellence

The 12 Areas of Post-merger Integration (PMI): Your Guide to Starting PMI the Right Way
Post-merger Integration is a highly complex process. It requires swift action as well as running the core business activities simultaneously. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to a successful PMI Process. However, careful planning focusing on the strategic objectives of the deal and the identification and capturing of synergies will help maximize deal value. Because of […]

The Devil is in the Details: Your Primer to a Lean Culture
Culture is essential today in helping employees and management survive in today’s environment. Survival has become a strong word today. Without culture, everyone in the organization would act or behave differently. No one would be able to anticipate someone else’s behavior, and no one would understand why people behave the way they do. When this […]

Developing an Organizational Design that Works: The Galbraith Star Model
“A problem well framed is a problem half-solved.” — Jay Galbraith Organizational Design is more than just structures. It is having policies and strategies that are aligned with one another. When this is achieved, it allows organizations to operate at maximum efficiency and achieve Operational Excellence. The Galbraith Star Model™ is the foundation on which […]

Objectives and Key Results (OKR): Your Management Strategy to Achieving That Goal
Peter Drucker, one of the first managerial thinkers, introduced MBO or Management by Objectives. This eventually paved the way for the birth of the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) management philosophy. Andy Grove, known as the “Father of OKRs”, introduced the approach to Intel during the 1970s. This was further popularized by John Doer by […]

A Startling Fact about Analytics-driven Organizations
Enterprises invest in Analytics to improve Decision Making and outcomes across the business. This is from Product Strategy and Innovation to Supply Chain Management, Customer Experience, and Risk Management. Yet, many executives are not yet seeing the results of their Analytics initiatives and investments. Every organization putting on investment in Analytics has experienced several stumbling […]

The 4 Tactics our Board Should Adopt for a Long-term, Strategic Mindset
When things go wrong on a grand scale, often we direct our attention to the role of the Board. Debate exudes and often gets heated up and intensifies. This often happens when the Board spends more time looking in the rearview mirror and not enough scanning the road ahead. When this happens, governance suffers. Often, […]

Making it Right the First Time: The Road to Operating Model Transformation
Lean Management plays a significant role in putting in place processes, capabilities, and tools to improve how businesses operate. But, the Digital Age has increased both the opportunities for businesses who know how to react and the difficulty of getting it right. Tasks performed by humans are now more complex be it accessing information in […]

Business Process Reengineering (BPR): Are We Succeeding or Failing?
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is a practice of rethinking and redesigning the way work is done to better support an organization’s mission and reduce costs. In all too many companies, reengineering has been not only a great success but also a great failure. After months, even years, of a careful redesign, these companies achieve dramatic improvements […]

Just Too Many Processes? Gain Back your Competitiveness through Global Process Optimization
Management processes–everything from how a company manages risk to how it gets supplies for factories to how it manages and develops people–are some of the primary ways that global companies impose order and consistency on a diverse set of global operations. Companies believe that processes can help share knowledge across divisions and regions to achieve […]

How to Achieve GREATER VALUE in M&A? Do the Fundamentals of Post-merger Integration
Going into a Merger and Acquisition (M&A) is never an easy task. The process of M&A is like trying to complete a large puzzle when your right hand and your left hand have never worked together. In fact, Mergers and Acquisitions revolve around a plethora of moving parts. Going into this direction can be complicated. […]

When Sustaining Stakeholder Interest Is Essential: The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Sources of Value
Companies face increasing pressure from governments, competitors, and employees to play a leading role in addressing a wide array of environmental, social, and governance issues in a company’s supply chain. It could range from climate change to obesity to human rights. For the past 30 years, companies have responded by developing corporate social responsibility or […]
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