Maestro Technologies - Intelligent management software for the construction industry.

Process-based management

All companies, whether they are in the industrial, service or construction sector, can gain a competitive advantage by using process-based management as a normal part of their management operations. Process-based management is one of the many tools in the arsenal of exemplary management practices. This makes it possible to document the company’s key processes, their repetitiveness, and their constant improvements, and, through this, increases in productivity.

All processes are based on the interdependence of activities between the various departments of a company. The objective is to ensure the customer’s satisfaction whether the customer is internal or external. Its effectiveness and success depend directly on employees being able to provide quality information or products to ensure that the next process can benefit from it fully. The output of one process consequently becomes the input of another, and so on, through to the end customer. In other words, the purpose of all internal processes is to efficiently obtain the full satisfaction of the end customer.

How to implement a process-based management philosophy? The purpose of this article is not to describe the approach in full detail given that a quick search on the Web provides access to a wide range of documents on the subject. It is rather an introduction to the basic principle. Below is a summary of the main steps:

The first step is to document the activities. During this step, the goal is to keep only activities with added value (activities that provide added value to the process) for the company. This documentation step can be completed in two phases, which are to put all of the current thoughts on paper and then to eliminate any activities that are not productive. The participation of a small group of employees during this step can be very helpful. They are the ones who know the operations best. However, resistance to change can easily make this unproductive.

Employees affected by the application of this process should receive training on carrying out the process to ensure that can be reproduced and that it can be repeated over time.

The flow must be regular, smooth and without bottlenecks. The accountability of participants is therefore essential.

Once employees have mastered the process, you can start to talk about optimization. At this time, the integration of new technologies can help to efficiently reduce wasted time and the consumption of raw materials. We must remember that lost time is often the main element to be considered when analyzing a process.

The Deming wheel, made popular by statistician William Edwards Deming in the 1950s, represents the concept of improvement and optimization very well. ¹

• Plan: Prepare, plan (that which must be done).
• Do: Develop, complete, implement (most often, we start with a test phase).
• Check: Control, check.
• Act (or Adjust): Act, adjust, react to (if you tested during the “Do” step, you deploy during the “Act” phase).

Internal verifications or audits are very helpful at the Check (Control) step. These audits consist of a verification involving the sampling of the output generated by the process. If the quality of outputs ensures customer satisfaction, it is critical to ensure their quality. We recommend verifying an internal process at least once per year to ensure it is mastered. More or less frequent verifications may be appropriate depending on the degree of maturity.

The optimization phase lets you monitor the productivity of processes using key indicators that are associated with specific activities. These indicators can be included in an operating report. When satisfactory results are repeated over time, the process has reached its level of maturity.

In the context of implementing an integrated system like maestro*, it is always preferable, during this initial or second phase, that internal processes have been reviewed and optimized in order to better assess the gaps between requirements and the solution. And, in some cases, it is the process that must be adapted to comply with the requirements of the application. It is important to know that usually the earlier requirements are identified during implementation, the easier it is to respond or find an appropriate solution.

Integrating process-based management into your operations can be very useful. This is one tool among many that can be used at the operations level of your company to improve its performance. Its main quality is that it is a simple and efficient method for monitoring daily operations and improving their execution. However, its implementation and monitoring require exceptional discipline. Are you ready to meet the challenge?

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDCA.