1. How to Implement Operational Excellence in Organizations
Operational excellence is about achieving full potential of organisations performance. It goes
beyond cutting costs. Many organisations struggle to achieve the most obvious deliverables to
the customers.
• Quality of products and services
• Delivery performance in line with customer requirement – CRD
• Fulfilment of ordered quantity.
• Cost of goods in line with the market demand.
This is the tip of the iceberg. The real reasons for such poor performance in results can be linked
to poor operational stability and lack of right systems which in turn can be linked to the way of
thinking and execution of key things.
Principle of Operational Excellence
Customer focus: Align all your functioning in line with the customer’s changing
requirements. Deliver the right quality, right quantity at the right time at the right place at the
right price.
Operational Stability can be improved by focusing on 4Ms
• Machine : Having right machineries in working conditions and producing products in the right
quality consistently. Total productive maintenance – TPM Concepts helps improve this situation.

2. • Manpower : Having skilled operators who understand the requirement of jobs and maintains the
machineries and produces the parts in line with the customer requirements and organisations
needs. Lean thinking, Training within Industry,5S are some of the concepts which help in achieving
these objectives.
• Material : Having the right material at the right time in the right quantity helps in optimizing cost
and ensuring the customer needs are met with optimum cost. For this, concepts such as inventory
management, Kanban, JIT and Lean concepts helps.
• Method : Producing parts in the right way with consistency helps in achieving
objectives. Combination of TPM, TQM, Lean, TOC, Quality Management Systems help in realizing
these objectives.
Related Article: best practices as combination of Lean, TPM, TQM, Kaizen, Six Sigma
To implement operational excellence effectively, the following
implementation strategies are commonly deployed
• Create Visual Organization with Best in Class 5S and Visual Standards. This becomes good
foundation for Operational Excellence
• Visual (Show Room ) Organization concept helps to maintain orderliness all the time.
• Create awareness and strong conviction to all employees about the need for change.
• Demonstrate skill enhancement, Cultural change and related PQCDSM ( Productivity, Quality,
Cost, Delivery , Morale and Service) results in pilot areas. Create a platform for horizontal
deployment of the same throughout the organization.
• Document and Standardize best practices to sustain the results and to make 5S and Kaizen
(improvement) a way of life.
• Introduce Lean Concepts to eliminate wastes and Non Value Added activities.
• Introduce Autonomous Maintenance concept
• Develop internal resources for facilitation of 5S Journey in their respective areas.
• Preparation of detailed Road map with clear milestones for every quarter

3. • Creation of 5S organization structure with roles and responsibilities – Champion, Core Team and
Zone Leaders
• Train 100 % employees on Applied 5S
• Start with 3-4 days 1S and 3S workshop to clear all long pending items and create Team culture
• Create organization metrics and dashboard to measure effectiveness of 5S
• 2S implementation in pilot areas and horizontal deployment
• 5S Standards manual creation
• Internal Auditor Qualification
• Introduction of Rewards and Recognition Systems (Including 5S linked to appraisals)
• Move to Level -2 after achieving 80 % score consistently in all zones – Includes TPM and Lean
concepts
• Develop internal resources through a structured 3 level certification process.
• Making people Learn and experience by doing. This eventually mean minimum needed classroom
sessions and more exposure at Gemba (Work spot)
• Facilitate and team identify problems and solutions which helps them improve ownership.
• Transforming Problem reporters to Problem Solvers to proactive preventers of potential problems.
• Creation of lean and organized workplace – Both shop-floor and Office, which will eliminate Wastes
and non value added activities, makes abnormalities visible, improve quality & productivity and
attract new customers
• Reduction of Overall lead-time to meet customer delivery requirements in High Variety, Low
Volume environment
• Improvement of utilization of key equipment through application of 5S and autonomous
maintenance concepts
• Reduction of inventory in all stages. Reduce the risk of cost of poor quality, slow/non moving items
using lean and Rapid response manufacturing methods
• Improvement of work Culture (Employee involvement, Morale, Skill ,Eager to learn and contribute)
• Reduction of gap between plan Vs Actual achievements through proactive actions. Less fire
fighting

4. • Improvement in Quality ,Cost ,Delivery and overall Lead-time. Eliminate/ Reduce Non Value
adding activities like duplicate handlings , Waiting, Over processing etc..
Related Article: How operational excellence through Lean, TQM, TOC and 5S help
organisations improve performance?
Seven Steps Business Transformation Systems is India based Consulting
company provides Business Excellence Solutions in the areas of Manufacturing, Service,
Education, Retail, construction, Hospitality, Aerospace and Healthcare. The Company is founded
and managed by Technocrats who are passionate and have vast industry experience in Business
Excellence. Our expertise includes Business transformation Strategies, Policy Deployment
(Hoshin Kanri), Quality Management Systems, Balanced Score-card, TPM, TQM, Lean, Six
Sigma, Business Process improvement and Environment & Safety Management Systems. Our
HQ is in Bangalore, India and we serve across globe Culture First –Tools Next
• Completely customized solutions.
• Integration with current best practices, organization’s objectives, Vision & Mission
• Hand holding Gemba approach
• Focused on Long-term results
• Total Employee involvement
• Best practice from various industries.
We follow Seven Steps Methodology as follows
• Initial diagnosis
• Set Priorities
• Selection of right strategy and road map
• Execution – facility the journey
• Validate results
• Standardization of systems
• Horizontal deployment and identifying new opportunities for improvement.
Our group vertical provides training services both inhouse and public
programmes on
• 5s training
• Lean training

5. • Lean Six Sigma Green belt training
• Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt training
• 5S Auditor
• Kaizen Training
• Total Productive maintenance
• Autonomous maintenance
• Corporate Quiz on Quality and Business Excellence
• Mistake proofing – Poka Yoke training
• Reliability Engineering training
• Lean logistics and supply chain
• Lean Culture
• Daily work management systems, LDM, Standard work training
• Quick response manufacturing
• Theory of constraints
• Training within Industry
Related Articles:
• Lean methodology in Manufacturing, Retail, Logistics and Supply Chain management.
• Skill development for employees through effective Training Within Industry
Some of the flagship training programmes conducted at Seven Steps Academy of
Excellence are:
Six sigma Green Belt
Six Sigma Black Belt
Six Sigma Yellow Belt
Skill development programme – Campus to Corporate – Precision Engineering
Applied 5S
TPM
Lean Experimental Learning Programme