Creating Profit using Lean Office and Administration

Every company—no matter the industry—has a front office/administrative function. It has been estimated that 60% to 85% of all waste occurs in or because of the practices in this area.

Note: Front Office Lean can be used independently (as in a service-type business) or can be combined with any of the other Lean practices (like Lean Healthcare or Lean Manufacturing.)

Have You Ever Asked…   

INTERNAL

• Are office inefficiencies, complexities, or chaos leading to low worker morale, wasted effort, low productivity, or high turnover?

• What kind of effect are poor office practices having on the rest of your organization?

EXTERNAL

• Are you irritating (or losing) customers due to disorganized, slow, or inefficient office practices?

If you even remotely answered “yes” to any of the above questions, then it is clearly a case for implementing a structure of Lean practices that will eradicate these occurrences.  A Lean office produces or does just what is needed, when it is needed, with no additional labor, costs, or time. Furthermore, Lean offices outperform traditional offices in Quality, Delivery, Cost, and Morale.

By reducing errors, cycle-time, expenses, and improving morale you will see shortened delivery times to customers, reduced inventory levels, and increased office staff capacity. All of these improvements lead to greater profits.

Interesting Facts:  

Typical Office Waste

• Since the 90’s the use of paper in the office has increased 8:1. (Ironic, huh!)

• 30% of staff time is spent in meetings.

• 75% of all paperwork contains some type of error.

• 60% of people in an office do not know who actually uses, wants, or needs what they generate.

 Lean Office Results

Quoting Process decreased from 8 days to 1 day (an 87% improvement with an annual savings of $56,000).

Order Entry process decreased from 5 days to 6 hours (85% improvement for an annual savings of $120,000).

Engineering Design decreased from 4 weeks to 2.4 weeks by restructuring (40% improvement for an annual savings of $230,000).

Where to Start

Lean is about eliminating wasteful practices in a business.  This loosely falls into two categories: wasteful activities and wasted time. 

Office waste is often difficult to see or quantify so it is, therefore, harder to identify.  We become entrenched in “we’ve always done it that way,” so we presume that it is necessary.

Many people think that Lean is only about making it faster, more efficient, or cheaper.  The reality is that our FIRST question is usually, “Should we be doing it at all?”   

To that end, GDC has a systematic approach to answering this question.  Our Lean Office process follows the six (6) critical steps to creating “value” for the internal and external customer base. We use advanced analytical tools to diagnose and then improve or correct the current process(es).  We help you to create a sustainable set of “best practices” and leave you with the tools to continuously improve what you do and how you do it.

YOU CAN IMPROVE and GDC will show you how.

“You can’t afford to wait until it’s too late.”

Allow us to come in to give you a preliminary assessment.

GDC Total Business Solutions offers a full range of services that includes mentoring programs, à la carte, workshops, project management, process-focused improvements, or full Lean implementation.