Operational excellence

What we do:

Managing Quality

Quality is now very rarely an order winner – so often customers expect nothing less than full functionality and exceptional reliability. So how does a quality management system help you meet customers’ needs?

You won’t be surprised to know that it is about people and how you manage them; in many cases the badge is only the acknowledgement that you have a system in place. ISO procedures are a record of how you manage processes but when you have an engaged and active work force constantly improving your work flow that is when it can become a competitive advantage.

An effective quality system will continuously reduces costs, internal errors and is often the voice of the customer. In many ways it is similar to Lean Thinking and so works best when it is dynamic and constantly evolving through the frequent engagement of your people and your customers.

ISO have designed a management system to not only ensure that you understand the customers requirements but that you are able to predict the resources required to deliver it and that you have worked through the risks. At the core of these systems is a learning process that requires a feedback loop, when you have a problem have you learnt from it and are you improving your process to prevent a repeat by getting to the root cause.

ICE can design and help you implement ISO9000 and the aerospace addition often known as AS9100. We say help you because just like people management it is our job to support you in the process and get you up to speed as fast as possible – in the end it is your quality system!

The ICE approach is to help you build this capability quickly in your business and SUSTAIN it!

Applying Lean Thinking

Lean is often quoted as being “the systematic elimination of wastes”. As with most definitions it is not very helpful when it comes to the - so how do we do it?

It all starts with: what is value? In some ways it is the same questions as in the quality management system – why do your customers buy from you?

This is not as simple as it sounds – easy answers such as “it’s our quality”, it’s our prices, it’s our response time” are not detailed enough.

To get the maximum benefits from introducing lean philosophies, top managers should be seen to be involved from the start.

ICE use very detailed mapping to dig deeper into the processes. It often comes as a shock when the business understands just how few “value adding” steps there are! Once you as a business know what the customer values the process redesign can begin to eliminate the non-value adding or waste, releasing time for people to focus on the things that really matter. This must be done with the people who do the work – ICE will train you and your team in the use of the tools but mainly act as facilitators and guides with the people – you cannot impose lean, so once again staff engagement is vital to get the optimum benefits and sustain them.

Lean thinking has been adopted across the industrial business spectrum including Banking, The NHS, legal, retail, The Ministry of Defense and in many service businesses because it gives the customer more of what they have paid for!

Implementing Continuous improvement

One of the most challenging and talked about issues in businesses is how to create a continuous improvement culture. At ICE we talk about three scenarios – the first is a history of small changes started but not followed through. There is often no structure or review system and staff who work in these environments often say “we start things but they never stick or here is the next flavour of the month”. Activity looks like a saw tooth - short bursts that fall back away very quickly. This is not continuous improvement!

Scenario two is much better, there are initiatives and they are sustained so over time performance looks like a staircase, small jumps followed by steady achievement. This is good practice but it is typical of management led top down initiatives – good but not great.

The scenario we seek at ICE is to combine the discipline of the staircase with the creativity and drive of the people to create an accelerating curve, many changes are explored in a structured way and adopted by all when shown to be the best way. In this final scenario managers are the supporters not the drivers – a different skill set and a powerful competitive advantage.

The ICE Operations team will work with you to help you develop the structures and processes to support continuous improvement. We will help managers and supervisors understand and use the tools and techniques available to support continuous improvement. We will also support them as they attempt to involve their people in the process. Without this engagement of the people it will be more difficult to build the culture that will ensure that the search for continual improvement is maintained.

Creativity and Innovation

In a world that is rapidly changing standing still and surviving as a successful business is not really an option. The focus on creativity and innovation as an important feature of business has therefore never been greater but….what is creativity? What does being innovative mean? Is their a difference?

Mark Twain said ‘the man with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds’.

This implies that creativity only becomes innovative when the idea becomes useful.

For many organisations their approach to creativity and innovation has been process driven, often involving the introduction of improvements through the use of technology, having an R & D team, business improvement teams or perhaps a staff suggestion scheme. This approach is simply continuous improvement however creativity and innovation can be much more than that.

To bring maximum benefits from the introduction of creativity and innovation, the ICE team believe that culture change is needed if more than the usual few committed individuals are to be utilised in the process. You could say that creativity is the desired culture, innovation is the process.

Therefore to develop a really creative and innovative organisation involving and empowering all staff is essential; the people who are not committed, at worst, will be a tiny minority. For many organisations and their managers this requires a different approach to leading and managing people.

The ICE Innovation Process has been developed to help companies bring a more strategic and structured approach to developing products, processes and services that we deliver through pilot and roll out programmes or as training programmes for programme leaders or a combination of both. Our specialists will work with you to assess the extent to which staff engagement and ‘buy in’ has become part of your organisational culture and through a range of our training programmes help you to create this essential element of how to build a creative and innovative organisation.

The ICE approach includes a number of tools and techniques that can be used to develop, support and enable people to be creative to ensure that you and your organisation can gain the optimum benefits.

Supply chains for the 21st century (SC21)

Achieving supply chain improvement is critical to the continued competitiveness of the UK aerospace and defence industry and the SC21 programme aims to accelerate the process. With international competition increasing, the participation of companies of all sizes throughout the UK supply chain is crucial to delivering real results from this modernisation programme. The programme is being led by A|D|S the UK trade body for the Aerospace Defence and Security industries.

Aerospace industry sales were £19.8 Billion in 2009 with 124,000 people employed. 45% of suppliers are SMEs and it is estimated that there are 2500 SMEs in UK aerospace industry alone.

SC21 companies are being encouraged to sign up to a formal recognition process that reflects the contribution and commitment of their supply chain. It costs nothing to join SC21 but those companies that do so can benefit from specific savings - for example they may achieve reduced overheads from being subject to fewer supply chain customer audits. Through participating in SC21 businesses also gain greater understanding of how the industry will be changing in the future and enhanced awareness of the latest developments in the sector, both of which are key competitive advantages to them. This is why so many have joined the programme and are committed to achieving its aims.

The ICE Partnership have committed to supporting the SC21 initiative and have A|D|S approved diagnosticians on the team who can help organisations achieve SC21 by taking them through the steps of first signing up and then what is required for an initial readiness assessment. The readiness assessment is a “where are we now” check so that the business can build an improvement plan. It is a classic gap analysis and improvement plan system – and that is its strength.

Support and training for the programme is also available from ICE whose training materials are approved A|D|S.

Organisations that achieve and maintain agreed criteria in terms of delivery, quality, sustainable improvement and the associated improvement frameworks (business and manufacturing excellence) will receive recognition in the form of a bronze, silver or gold award sponsored by an SC21 customer. Implementing these four aspects of development and performance achieves a benefit to all parties in the areas of competitiveness, enhanced customer perception and reduced internal costs. The marketing power of an SC21 star is huge – it is not an easy standard to achieve, customers know this and are now seeking out suppliers who are working towards or have met the criteria.

For more information contact ICE or visit http://www.adsgroup.org.uk where there is a full SC21 section.

Maximising the use of IT

Are you concerned that :

• It’s difficult to find the management information you need to run your business?
• Disparate silo’s of information are limiting business growth?
• Your business processes are over-complex and inefficient?
• Effort is wasted through duplication of data and its input?
• Your business systems are insecure and unstable?

A national survey of SME’s use of IT in 2009 stated that “Much of the investment in ICT is directed at meeting bottom line issues of cost and productivity but little use is made of potential strategic applications”.

In today’s ever changing world, the ability to capitalise on your investment in IT and use it for strategic gain is imperative.

The ICE Partnership offer a complete review of your IT systems, challenging your current processes and identifying duplication or gaps. We make realistic recommendations that enable you to be confident you can get the best out of your systems… whether that’s a different way of capturing data in a spreadsheet, a new back-up and recovery plan or selection and implementation of a compete business software solution.

Just imagine the competitive edge when you have all the information you need to be responsive and flexible in this changing marketplace, and also have the capacity to take the appropriate action…

IT solutions are purely tools … engage with the ICE Partnership to ensure they work for you