Client: Privately held custom cable assembly company operating as the preferred supplier for numerous world-wide customers with high requirements and expectations.

Need: The company suffered from unpredictable business cycles exposing it to ongoing ups and downs, not always due to the economic environment. The company owner wanted to level out these cycles so they had more predictability, less variation and sustainable improved performance.

Also, the management team was very involved with tactical issues instead of the strategies that would move the business forward. Employees did not have efficient problem solving skills and it was not clear where to focus their energy. The company operated in silos, which meant that end-to-end processes which touched multiple departments were not well understood or managed. The owner needed a system of management to deliver the higher performance levels required by customers, suppliers, and employees. Also, employees needed to learn how to make improvements during down times.

NOW Management System Solution and Client Results

Consultants implemented a customized Management System and achieved the following results:

• Employees and managers learned and better understood how the business operated because they were involved in the creation of the new System of Management
• Understanding how processes interfaced with its departments and their specific customer value
• Silos broke down and employees defined their processes and measurements
• Provided employees and managers real-time data to support mitigation efforts
• Employees gained a stronger connection to company performance and employee engagement significantly improved
• Improvements were made to inventory turns, delivery responsiveness, higher revenue and profitability, greater customer satisfaction, and more engaged employees
• The owner and management team better executed on their vision, values and strategic initiatives
• The owner used the visual Management System to show prospects and customers how well the business was managed, thereby gaining their confidence and increased sales

The Ultimate Result

The company received close to perfect scores by key customers, was the highest rated among all other suppliers and received many annual “best” supplier awards. This enabled an ongoing relationship with its customers. Within four years, the business was sold at a very handsome price.

Client: One of the largest group dental practices in the U.S. with 120 dentists, 16 offices and 180,000 patients.

Need:  A newly elected CEO and Dental Program Director had been with the organization for 17 years as a General Dentist.  Beforehand he was responsible for dental treatment and had modest involvement with operations.

He wanted to expose patient-facing processes and make improvements so that the practice lived up to its values and become the national leader.  He learned that the staff gathered measurements, yet there was not a structure that allowed senior managers to see organizational performance and highlight problems.  He was not sure how to sustain their financial performance and to efficiently grow without a better management system.  Plus, the Board had taken on a strong decision making and operational role before the new CEO was elected.  Since they were all practicing dentists, the board had very limited time and accessing them was difficult.  So the organization suffered from ineffective decision making and the board had little time for growth strategies.

Lastly, the new CEO knew they had great dentists and support staff.  He also knew they were not sufficiently engaging and leveraging their talents—a significant missed opportunity to gain a competitive advantage.

Project Goals

• Gather accurate baseline data on organizational performance
• Make operations and process innovation opportunities transparent and actionable to all employees
• Increase employee accountability and engagement
• Provide managers with accurate and timely data that enabled better decision making
• Create a robust visual map of core processes, inter-dependencies, process owners and transparent metrics

NOW Solution

The CEO and Board engaged Mass Ingenuity to provide the following services and deliverables:

• Guided creation of a shared Vision and Strategic Plan
• Build a visual Management System including:

o   Process inter-dependencies, handoffs, deliverables, waste, constraints, process owners and metrics

o   Quarterly business review process, root cause analysis process, tools and skill development

• Instituted a system for managing breakthrough initiatives critical to the group’s strategic plan
• Reduced waste and focused employee and manager energy on the fixes that mattered most
• Improved employee recognition so desired behavior and results were reinforced and engagement increased

Client Results

• Overall employee engagement increased 21% over three years
• Highest patient satisfaction in the program’s history
• Five consecutive quarters of strong patient appointment availability (best in its history)
• Director reported feeling a stronger knowledge of the operations, actual performance and key future goals
• Strong financial performance despite a very challenging economic recession