Process Mapping

In order to eliminate waste we map processes and evaluate for opportunities. This is beyond the shop floor and extends to administrative functions. This service ranges from creating SIPOCs for departments to high level order-to-invoice maps for the enterprise.

Our Process Uncovers Waste

We approach the challenge from two different directions:

Order-to-invoice process maps for the enterprise.
SIPOC (supplier, input, process, output, customer) analysis for each department in the enterprise.

Process Maps

We interview the entire organization and piece together the steps required to move from order to invoice. Special attention is given to what we call SPC (Supplier, Product, Customer) events as handoffs between departments are identified. These are true opportunities for Lean Management concepts.

However, significant gaps remain after a process mapping event, which is what our SIPOC analysis exposes.

Supplier/Input/Process/Output/Customer (SIPOC)

By taking a second cross section of the organization we learn the entirety of what each department is doing. We learn what the enterprise believes their outputs should be and back into the processes and inputs required to generate those outputs.

Through this process we uncover steps that were missed in process mapping, parts of the organization not directly involved in order-to-invoice that would benefit from Lean concepts, and gaps between outputs from one department to another department's inputs. It's a gold mine for alignment and waste elimination.