Arthur E. Skeats Consulting

Case Studies

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CASE STUDY 1: Major Oil Company CASE STUDY 3: Electronics Producer

TIME - to - MARKET Cut 42% for Pipeline Construction TIME - to - MONEY Cut 32% for Circuit Breakers

>> Biggest Delay was Regulatory Approval >> Biggest Delay was Production Reset after Breaks and Lunches

>> "Everybody Knew" Nothing Could be Done about Govt Regulators >> "Everybody Knew" Plant must Shut Down for Breaks and Lunches

>> "Everybody Knew" Regulators Required Final Design to Start Work >> Teams Found what "Everybody Knew" was Misguided

>> Inquiry Found what "Everybody Knew" was Cultural Folklore >> Operator Solution: Do Not Interrupt Hi-Speed Production Runs

>> Regulators PREFERRED Starting Early even with Prelim Design >> Operator Solution: Take Breaks & Lunches when Runs Complete

>> Regulators Could Integrate Task with their Overall Workload >> Operator Solution: Machinists Self-Manage Breaks and Lunches

>> Regulators Avoided Hounding by Oil Company to Finish Work >> Supervisors Pushed Back: Employees were "Out of Control"

RESULT: Delay for Regulatory Approval Cut 80% >> CEO Pushed Forward: Productivity Up 20% on No Investment

RESULT: Delay for Reset after Breaks and Lunches Cut 100%

CASE STUDY 2: Software Developer CASE STUDY 4: Traffic Jam

TIME - to - MONEY Cut 84% for Medical Information Systems SCENARIO: You're Stuck in Traffic

>> Biggest Delay was Client Approval of System Design >> A Ferrari is Not the Solution

>> "Everybody Knew" Clients Must Approve System Design >> A Faster Car Would Have No Effect

>> Experiments Found what "Everybody Knew" was Cultural Folklore >> Solution is to Somehow Avoid or Reduce the Congestion

>> Clients Didn't Notice if Design Approval was Never Requested >> P-A-C-E Methodology Reduces Congestion in Business Processes

>> Client Design Approval Added Cost not Value to the Product >> It's Not about Working Faster

>> Client Design Approval was a Non-Value Added Activity >> It's Not about Looking for Faster Equipment

>> Client Design Approval was Eliminated >> It's about Reducing Business Process Delays

RESULT: Delay for Design Approval Cut 100% >> It's about Reducing Non-Value Added Activities