Calling all manufacturing executives & managers

A Message From Jack Shannon

Business Process Review (BPR)

We perform several BPRs over the course of the year, so I thought I would spend time today to explain what a BPR is and clarify a common misconception about a BPR.

What we do in a BPR is pretty straight forward. In the review, we observe how the ERP system is being used to manage the organization. From that review, we make recommendations to streamline and improve the processes and procedures related to the flow of data in the company. For example, how to use the ERP to alert Procurement of projected material shortages, as opposed to having them look for shortages in a spreadsheet – usually after it was manually updated.

It's common that the initial expectation of the customer is we are going in to observe and find problems. This is the common misconception. You may be surprised to hear this, but that isn’t our focus of a BPR. In fact, to reference the material shortage example above, we usually hear about it before we go in. It was probably cited as one of the reasons given of why we need to go in:

Customer (waving arms): We have an ERP system, and we use a spreadsheet to find shortages! That’s crazy!

Customers know what their problems are. We are in there because they don’t know how to fix the problems. That’s the focus of the BPR: The customer educates us as to where the problems are, then we find the source of the problem and lay out a plan to fix it. If you think about it, this is no different from any other repair service you may call. I’ve never called a plumber to find a problem. I call a plumber because I know I have a problem and I want it fixed.

In some cases, once the customer understands the cause and solution, they take it from there. In other cases, we manage the project of fixing the issues. Many times, it’s a mixture of both.

Here is something to keep in mind if you want to tackle the issues on your own. Implementing any solution always results in unintended side effects. We may have given you the solutions to the problems we heard about an observed, but we haven’t addressed the unintended side effects, because we don’t know what they are When they arise, you don’t have a solution. This, along with people poking holes in the new process usually derails the project if you don’t have someone with knowledge and experience to help you navigate the twists and turns of your journey.

Is that a plug for our Services? I guess it is. But it’s also a fact. Remember, the goal of a BPR isn’t to find problems, it’s to find solutions. And they aren’t actual solutions until they are implemented. My experience is that if you need help identifying the solutions, you need help implementing them.

If you want to discuss this issue, just reply to the email that delivered this newsletter and let us know.