Process Reengineering - Potential for Failure - A Case in Point

Reengineering the business, that is, restructuring and modifying processes for the entire business, is not an overnight accomplishment. It takes time and a great deal of effort to accomplish the desired outcome. What's required to maintain the momentum throughout the process? Support! People need to see results today, not a year or two down the line. If some measurable results are not achieved in relatively short time, the enthusiasm will wane and people that supported the initiative may begin to become dissenters.

What can be done to accomplish creating short term wins?

Let's assume a manufacturing company is reengineering the entire business model to bring it up to date and provide the flexibility for rapid change according to business needs. The business was created 15 years ago and is still operating with the same applications and processes used at start-up. The company has grown and expanded. There are plans for further expansion and they realize they need flexibility to handle changing business requirements, more manufacturing capacity and increased cash flow. They want to: increase production efficiency but don't want to lay people off; lower inventory carrying costs; and are looking for ways to modernize and streamline office and sales functions.

You are told that management is already on board and has set the expectations of the entire staff, now where do you start? You understood quick results are needed to build and maintain momentum, so you start looking for some areas that will produce results. You create an overall high level plan leading to the desired outcome that is presented and approved. Work is begun changing some simple office processes; saving effort and reducing redundancy. Next you move to some other more complex office function and create results there. Systematically, work progresses through the office and finally these functions are completed as far as they can be taken. As you have developed the changes, the initial plan has been expanded and become more detailed as you find more opportunities to enhance the capabilities of the business. It is time for effort to be directed towards the manufacturing area.

You were told management was behind the efforts and understands change must occur and you took that at face value. What you weren't informed of was the founder of the business is in favor of change only so far as minor changes to the operation, none of the major processes can be touched. It's the attitude of "It's worked and been successful for 15 years; it doesn't need to be changed!"This idea is entrenched and the person is not readily open to modifying this position. You've spent time in achieving some successes, but now the opportunities for major improvements are being denied to you.

Congratulations, you have found the root cause of the business issues and solved the question of why the processes have not kept up to business expansion!

The root cause of the business issues usually is something entirely different than just poor or outdated processes. The root cause may be overlooked in the rush to produce results. The basis of all the issues may be in plain view but not recognized until later stages in the reengineering. When finally recognized, it may undermine the work and goodwill that has been accomplished to this point and this will severely impact or even cancel the reengineering process.

Are the changes made to this point useful? The changes made to the office processes would not be wasted, but were predicated on changing and automating the manufacturing processes and obtaining additional information regarding schedules, inventory usage, process times and other data. The office procedures will work without this additional data, but they will not yield the planned outcome for additional reporting and planning capabilities. Nor has the goal of increasing production and lowering costs been satisfied. In fact, you have probably spent more on the effort than you have saved at this point.

Certainly successes have been achieved and people see the benefits that reengineering can provide. The focus of the effort thus far has been in achieving short term victories and building support and enthusiasm; however, the work is only partially completed, and to gain the maximum benefit, the entire effort must be completed. If the changes stop here, falling short of major success, the staff will place the effort into the category of "flavor of the month," just another failed initiative and wasted effort.

This particular case is comprised of actual experiences over several companies and is used to illustrate the need for thorough examination and planning before actually beginning the reengineering process. Deeper investigation would have revealed the root cause and it could have been addressed and overcome before any work had begun. Everyone has their own agenda and hot buttons, you just need to understand what they are and deal with them.

NEVER assume, always investigate and question. Taking things on face value will come back and haunt you in later stages. It will be to everyone's advantage to take the time and thoroughly evaluate, and remove obstacles before implementing any changes.

Copyright 2007 William Wood

William Wood is a business consultant with 30 years experience. He has participated in numerous successful re-engineering projects. Mr. Wood founded Amberwood Consulting in 2000 to provide cost efficient services to small and medium sized businesses.

Mr. Wood is also trained in multiple Development and Project Management Methodologies, allowing him to provide a wide range of services to the business community in North America.

Mr. Wood is also available to speak on the topic of Business Process Re engineering and Customer Service. Along with publishing Ezine articles, he has been published in Project Management Institutes's monthly magazine and has been interviewed on warehousing and inventory issues.

For further information, please visit http://amberwoodconsulting.com

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