Are you continually improving operational capabilities? Are you able to seamlessly fulfill additional demand? Is your team supported effectively within the areas below?
Productivity | Continuous Improvement
Can you predictably decrease unit costs? Is there a lean process black belt on board?
Is there verifiable continuous improvement? Is team and individual input accepted?
Has idle, down time and other waste been minimized? How is this benchmarked?
Project Management
Are planning methods rigorous enough? Is staff and resource utilization maximized?
Is there a consistent protocol and trackable steps for one-off projects?
Are change orders being executed at a high level of expediency and accuracy?
Inventory | Purchasing
Is your procurement function delivering a strategic cost advantage?
Have you maximized inventory turns and minimized inventory carrying costs?
Are your fill rates evidence of well coordinated sourcing versus demand prediction?
Field Management
Does your staff deliver the same or higher productivity in field then at the office?
Have you optimized scheduling, routing, and incentivized customer behavior?
How have you minimized liability, while maximizing customer and staff safety?
Logistics | Supply Chain
Do you have the right balance of internal and external sourced functions?
Are delivery time frames and transport costs optimized?
Are your delivery methods enhancing the value added received by clients?
Safety | Quality Assurance
Are effective methods to pre-empt the majority of quality problems in place?
Do you measure performance and incentivize around specific quality metrics?
Are safety considerations well defined and built into every process?
Customer Service | Warranty
Are after the sale costs predictable? Are long term service costs well controlled?
Do you have a system that ensures continuous, unadulterated customer feedback?
Do you have a customer centric culture? Is there a customer advocate on your board?
What Do You Think?
Is this an area of strength waiting to be better leveraged? Or is improvement needed that will allow the organization to progress overall?
How long has this been true? What are the best options for addressing it? What outcomes are realistically possible?
What other areas of the business need to be focused on to support initiatives in this area?
What approaches may be valid?
Can you deliver when and how needed?
Can you fulfill today’s demand at a superior quality level and scale quickly from there?
How do you deliver more selection and features without diminishing ROI or delivery time?
Does your executive management team have proper operational and execution skill levels?
