Systems Innovation LabPeople · Systems · Design
Services03 · Process optimisation

Reduce delays and rework in the way the work gets done.

Work slows down even when every team is busy. Requests wait for an approval, information arrives incomplete, or one team's finished work becomes another team's problem. We follow the work across the teams that touch it, find where the time and the rework go, and develop a process that is easier to run.

01 · When this can help

When this can help.

01Faster delivery is accompanied by more defects, rework or pressure on the team.
02Work waits for approvals, or moves ahead before the information needed for a decision arrives.
03You are introducing software and need to check that the process being built reflects the work.
02 · How we work

How we work.

01
Follow the work

Trace the agreed process across the teams involved, including waiting, rework, decisions and the information passed between them.

02
Understand what each step does

Identify which steps protect quality or safety, which provide useful information, and which add effort without serving an agreed need.

03
Re-design and test

Develop the revised process with your team and trial it in an agreed area. Check the results before deciding what to adjust or extend.

03 · What you get

What you receive.

The proposal confirms the outputs, boundaries and responsibilities for your engagement.

A map of the current process, showing handovers, work time and waiting time
A reasoned recommendation for each step: retain, improve, remove or consider for automation
A revised process with clear responsibilities, decision points and required information
A trial plan and agreed measures to compare with the starting position
Handover to a named process owner
Discuss this problem →
04 · Is this the service you need

Scope, and what this is not.

This is the right service when one process or handover needs to work better. It does not require a whole management-system re-design, and it sits alongside an existing improvement programme rather than replacing it. Nor does it assume new software: we establish what the process has to do first, and consider a tool only where it supports that. Measures are agreed with you before anything is piloted, so the change can be judged rather than argued about.
05 · Optional: the method behind the work
One design problem

A faster process is not an improvement if it creates unacceptable risk or moves the burden to another team. We consider quality, health, safety and environmental requirements alongside time and effort, and test the trade-offs with the people affected.

06 · Questions clients ask first

The questions clients ask first.

Is this Lean?

The work can complement Lean or another improvement programme. Our contribution is to examine how the task fits people, information, tools and operating conditions, including why workarounds have developed.

Which processes first?

We agree the priority from your evidence: recurring delays, rework, risk or a difficult handover. A separate systems diagnostic is not required if the process and question are already clear.

How is success measured?

Measures are agreed before the trial. Depending on the problem, they may include completion time, waiting, work accepted without rework, repeat defects or missed checks. We review the starting position and the results together.

As found
More work than the shift holds.
Fourteen steps. The line runs over every day, and the overtime is structural.
Related

Tell us what is happening at your workplace.

Start with the problem, not a service name. We will discuss whether we can help, what information is needed and what a sensible next step could be.

Tell us what is happening →