This UK manufacturer of luxury goods has a well-earned reputation for delivering quality customer experiences and consistently review their processes in order to maintain these high standards.
It is essential, therefore, that not only their own internal processes are robust and effective but also their supplier network operates to the same high-quality standards.
Prior to expanding their manufacturing base to Asia and South America they performed a complete review of their supplierĀ managementĀ processes and found high degrees of variation in the methods being used. They realised that for their expansion to be successful they needed to resolve these variations rapidly, in advance of the supplier management processes being deployed overseas.
PMI launched an assessment of the current, āas isā process with a cross-section of the practitioner community, facilitated through workshops and observation. It was found that there wasnāt āone wayā in which the process was being operated. There were multiple versions of the process documentation and the documentation allowed too much scope for self-interpretation.
PMI used a āsyntheticā process into which best practice from all the different ways of operating the process could be fed to create the ābest-known wayā to perform the process.Ā This method generated great results and helped to gain consensus amongst the process operators.
We worked with the management team to ensure they secured the cross-functional engagement which was critical to the success of the project. By getting this buy-in and a sense of ownership with the management and process operators it ensured they were able to aļ¬ect change and the necessary process improvement to achieve their high output standards regardless of location, country or supplier.
The company now has a system that is clear and coherent that can be deployed ā the process is mapped, the process can be trained, it can be confirmed that people are operating it, consistently, throughout their global community.