07 September 2010

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January 2009

The TOC joucommarcrney at CommArc started because of a desire to improve our service to all our clients. Whilst the will and the passion were present in the company, and we were getting good feedback from clients, we knew we could do better. The systems and procedures we were using did not give us the visibility to make day to day decisions on resourcing and escalation.
 
After a two day production workshop run by ViAGO we immediately implemented Drum Buffer Rope (via zones on a buffer board). Within the first few weeks this led to

  • A significant reduction in the time it takes to resolve IT issues and to implement new equipment and applications
  • A greater amount of pro-active communication with clients - we call them to move the work forward (rather than the other way around)
  • Clarity for staff in terms of the work that they need to focus on
  • The ability to effectively manage and meet client deadlines
  • The ability to respond immediately to a critical client issue, without adversely affecting other work (or clients)
  • An increase in teamwork; because staff can see everyone else's workload on the buffer board and will offer to help in order to resolve a job faster. This has come about because we do not load staff at 100% capacity, but instead focus on throughput
  • Improved scheduling of resources for projects and reduced lead time on delivery

And all this has been achieved without any new technology or increase in IT spending.
 
Because we have fewer fires to fight, we have been able to focus on how we deliver improved IT services to existing and new clients, using current reality trees and evaporating clouds.
 
There has been a huge amount of staff input and ownership which has fostered more teamwork and enabled a very fast implementation of TOC. We knew that it was better to have a system that was 80% right rather than waiting to work out the elusive 100%. It has also led us to constantly review and improve our systems based on feedback from clients and staff.
 
So, what has this meant for our clients?

  • A significant and consistent improvement in delivery times for fault resolution, small jobs and projects
  • An increased level of pro-active communication from us
  • "Outside the square", cost effective solutions.

If you think our experience with TOC can help your business, please get in touch. We are happy to talk about the way TOC has changed how we work and think.

 
Regards
 
Simon Thomas
Business Development Manager                 
CommArc Consulting Limited

 

September 2008

 fraserA year into Theory of Constraints implementation at Frasers makes me reflect on how massive a culture change we have implemented across our organization.

I had always wondered how it would be to start a business and develop all of the systems needed to run it efficiently. Most of us start in a business that has already been operating and has gradually built up its systems. The most we do is to implement a new computer system which causes us to change some of the administration procedures. With the implementation of TOC I have now experienced what it is like to redesign literally all of the systems needed across the company, right down to the fundamental way in which we measure our output. It is interesting to be asked to reflect on such a massive business transformation. For us TOC is even better in hindsight than it was when we embarked on the project.


We were about to turn on a new ERP system, we had spent a fortune on it, and it was state of the art – the best system we could buy, but it was a planning system and we couldn’t understand how we could get it to work in an environment as variable as our factory. We had all the problems of breakdowns, absenteeism, running out of materials, all of the things that trip up the rigid plan that our ERP system would produce. The drum, buffer, rope theory of TOC was our saviour. It recognised and helped us manage the variability, and focused us where we needed to focus. Its implementation is one of those hindsight things that seem even better as you reflect them. As we talked with ViAGO about other implementations of TOC that they had done, they often talked of people faltering six months or a year in. I was confident that we would be able to avoid this. Unfortunately, my confidence was misplaced. Our implementation was so successful that we got stuck on the measures and the systems we had put in place. In solving our problems we had moved on from the need for some of those measures, but we couldn’t let them go. It was after a day of stimulation by the ViAGO team that we recognised and resolved to solve this dilemma. Interestingly the dropping of some measures and the development of others was like another adrenalin injection into our business. This makes me suspect that we will never stop our implementation; we will always be changing, always developing. It is just the start of a journey that is giving us the ability to continually raise our aspirations. What did these mean for us in numbers? A 20% lift in output and sales this year, in what is considered a mature business. And next year ????
 
Gordon Sutherland
CEO
A W Fraser

 

November 2006

We have now got around 6 months results from the board and realistically , I think the first two months were catching up.
gw_scottFor the first six months of 2007 financial year, charge-out is up 22%.
This time last year our filing % with IRD was 34%. We are now at 47%. A 38% increase.
 
The real change has been in the less measurable things:

  • We are not getting hassled by clients asking where their accounts are
  • The team is not feeling as stressed or overwhelmed. Instead we feel in control
  • We can see which team members are under pressure and either help them out or give them space
  • We are truly working as a team
  • It is easy to see where the problems are
  • Systems can be changed to deal with recurring problems
  • We can easily fit in “rush jobs”
  • We can give completion dates with some reassurance
  • Turnaround of accounts is faster
  • Despite putting more chargeable work through, team members have also found time to begin setting up other projects, such as our administration and Profit-Optimiser.
  • Several clients have commented on how much quicker the accounts have come back this year.

I haven’t worked a weekend in 18 months, I’m ahead on percentages, took lots of time off last week to take care of a sick child and wife, I’m having a 5 day weekend next week over the school holidays and I don’t have any trouble attracting staff to work in my low stress environment.

Graham Scott
Managing Director
G W Scott