Early in March I had the opportunity to present to a group of twelve bankers at a local commercial bank here in Portland, Oregon. I discussed how applying value stream and process-mapping tools to your business can help to streamline processes and procedures and increase efficiency.
A value stream is a sequence of events or activities required to deliver goods and/or services to customers, both externally and internally. It includes all the activities that start when there is a request and a deliverable. These activities occur hundreds of times a day within businesses; unless they are examined, there are often disconnects, redundancies, and unnecessary complications and confusion as to how work gets accomplished on a day-to-day basis. This confusion and complication tends to cause chaos—the enemy of efficiency. Without examination, this tends to get worse rather than better.
To eliminate these impediments to efficient flow within a work system, it is necessary to understand the current state or conditions. This is done through value-stream and process-mapping tools. Mapping the current conditions allows everyone in the organization to see the truth about how work gets done and how they are performing. It also tends to create a sense of urgency for improvement and helps reduce resistance to change.
Value stream and process mapping provide the opportunity to redesign the workflow to increase efficiency and eliminate unnecessary actions and steps. Those extra actions and steps tend to get added in to systems and processes over time.
The bankers I presented to were able to see how value stream and process mapping could be applied within their bank to increase the flow of work through the various systems—without increasing costs. The result is an increase to bottom line revenue. They also recognized how value stream and process mapping could help their customers improve top-line revenue, reduce costs, and improve bottom line results—reducing the risk to the bank in the process.
If you would like a deeper understanding of how these tools can help increase your efficiency on the shop floor or within your office, give me a call. It costs you nothing to have that first conversation to discuss how we can help you increase top-line revenue and bottom-line profits. If not now, then when? 503-312-3145
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