Process Engineering

Processes are the bloodstream of any organisation. One can consider that processes are the biggest contributor to the welfare of the company. These influence quality of product, cost of production, client satisfaction, agility and almost every metric that is important for any profit seeking company.

The basis of our service is process modelling. For this we use tools like Aris and Visio or whatever toll the client favours. These process maps allows all stakeholders to have a better understanding, which in turn leads to fruitful collaboration to improve and optimise.

We often build large context maps that link a number of process areas – with process detail. These always reveal insights as to how things fit together at a higher level. It is not uncommon to have these printed and laminated to become the reference maps for line managers.

However, business process maps are not the end goal of process engineering – it is simply a tool that is used to facilitate process improvements. The real value is obtained from engineering the process to optimise its performance.

Proven techniques like statistical analysis (that is typically used in Six Sigma projects) can be employed to drive performance improvement – as long as the inspections costs outweigh the benefits. In essence deeper understanding of the various variations in the processes are highlighted – as the “ideal” process so often modelled as a first pass is not the one that plays out in the actual production environment.

Metrics and process analysis bring more information to the table. For instance, task volumes and frequencies allow better capacity planning – very useful in new business areas that have no history to rely on, or where growth is expected and resources are constrained.

Most processes are performed across teams – and this is where management complications creep in. Overall process performance typically drops, and traceability become vague. Our techniques force the identification of service level agreements, and how to improve adherence.

Process engineering is as much art as science, as not only can one apply proven analytical techniques, but one can improve matters with ingenuity and creativity.

Experience has taught us that process engineering is the foundation of all projects. It enables discussion and understanding, it reveals business and system requirements, and it is useful to train incumbents, helps with software testing and more.

For more information please contact us…