Building a Vision of Where you Want To Be: Team-driven Strategic Planning and Reducing Lead Times In High-Tech Design/Build
Design/Build Systems Integrator $60mm Sales Revenue
An entrepreneur expanded his Canadian high-tech firm eight-fold over a period of seven years. The firm expanded so rapidly that it outgrew his ability to personally control all facets of the operation, which eventually encompassed seven plants located throughout North America. The challenge that he faced, was in determining what changes should be made to develop the organization for future growth, and at the same time, foster a unity of purpose and cohesiveness among the top managers. We assisted the firm by conducting a strategic organizational evaluation and providing direction for the company.
Through interviews with both key managers and customers, we identified a strong entrepreneurial spirit and technological creativity within the company. However this was offset by a lack of good organization of tasks, a conflicting functional management structure, inconsistent management styles, and a poor record of making on-time deliveries. Customers felt the company was not customer driven. Two core businesses consisting of systems integration and parts manufacturing were mixed within the organization structure.
We recommended a transformation, focusing on developing project management capability, and reducing design/build lead times by a third. We also recommended a new organization structure featuring two mainstream divisions to reflect the nature of the business: systems, for the integration business, and manufacturing for the high tech parts business.
A formal marketing function was recommended to stay abreast of market dynamics, and coordinate advertising and promotions. This new group would also conduct market research and plan future products.
The new organization structure featured project development cells using concurrent design methodology to reduce throughput time. The cells consisted of self-managing teams, designed to improve communication and coordination of resources. To support the cellular concept, a new performance appraisal and reward system was developed. We developed an action plan to manage the transition.
One of the objectives of the continuing work was to set a long term direction for the business, providing a means that integrates business planning and continuous improvement, with the daily effort of managing the business. Through facilitated offsite sessions, the top managers produced the following:
- A statement
of purpose that describes the reason for existence
- A mission statement that focuses on the core business and
markets
- A set of strategic outcomes to be accomplished in the next
five-year period that reflect key business results to be achieved
- A set of long-term actions needed to accomplish the
outcomes, with assumptions
In essence, the team created the fundamental building blocks providing the future direction. Next the long term vision was converted to short range executable and measurable form. Top managers produced the following:
- Written policies that perpetuate the entrepreneurial spirit, and define how the business will be run
- Written statements that delegate authority and accountability from the founder of the business
- Key indicators for top managers that provide the means for measuring performance
- A set of objectives for top managers to be used in the business plan, that reflect the action needed to accomplish the long term outcomes
- Functional specifications for a project management, budgeting, reporting, and controls system
We
also developed a new streamlined work-flow process to reduce the office
and factory throughput time. This featured the use of concurrent
design/build methodology, to replace a lengthy sequential process. The
company used this immediately, shaving three weeks from its lead times
on the first try. As a result of group interaction, top managers are
operating more cohesively than ever before. The prognosis is excellent.