Welcome to ASK ROCK, a monthly advice column where industry expert Rock LaManna will answer your questions on topics such as: key financials for business, and how it can lead to profitable organic growth, M&As, strategic alliances, succession plans, and exit strategies. He will also talk about leadership and present family business case studies.
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Dear Rock,
I just started reading about Lean Operations and I’m interested in implementing these practices into my printing business, but I honestly don’t know how, or where to start. I’d appreciate any advice you have to offer. Many thanks in advance.
So you’re ready to get lean? I commend you for this, my friend, because for many owners in the biz, this is but an afterthought. The focus tends to be only on revenue, not efficiency, which unfortunately means you’re often running to stand still.
The first step toward lean operations is ensuring that you’ve got organizational-wide buy-in. No matter what process or segment of the organization you target for improvement, you must commit to providing resources to make the effort successful.
Once you have a management team dedicated to the process, consider starting small. Find a broken process within the organization that is costing you customers or revenue. Examples include:
- Excessive overtime
- Customer complaints
- Delays on the production line
Next, follow these four steps for mapping out a solution.
- Create an AS-IS map to help you analyze the current process. You’ll detail the entire process, taking great care not to include any solutions. The point here is you want to account for all the details, which you’ll correct in the next step.
- Build a SHOULD-BE map. Now that you’ve identified the current process, you’ll create a new approach, a “should-be” process. This may involve just a tweak or a whole new approach.
- Build a Value-Stream Action Plan. Create a plan to transition to the SHOULD-BE map. Details the costs, resources and specific tasks to get you there.
- Track the results. This is critical. Without this component, you can’t determine if your new process is working, or how much you’ve saved. You also want have a mechanism in place to change for the future.
I’ve given you the broad strokes for the approach. You can read more specific details on this process and other lean operations topics on my blog.
I know this appears daunting at first glance, and quality improvement efforts do require an expert in the field. Bringing in an outside professional may be the smartest way to begin.
The most important advice I can give you on lean operations is to START. It doesn’t matter how you start, the key is to get the ball rolling. Lean operations is an ongoing process. The sooner it starts, the sooner you see improvement.
Rock LaManna is the President and CEO of the LaManna Alliance, a business advisory and consulting firm that helps printing owners and CEOs use their company financials to create successful strategies. He blogs regularly about family business solutions for the printing and print-related industry.
