How to adopt new lean techniques thanks to ELP – Part 1

Frederic Dufour / Jan 05 , 2020

As modern management methods have evolved over the years, most businesses have shifted to adopt Lean Techniques. This article will provide guidance regarding the adoption of Lean practices that lie at the heart of the Enterprise Lean Planning methodologies.

The first task is to recruit the right resources in order to balance your workforce. Resources should be placed at the centre of your planning process in order to form a successful human resource strategy. By describing your resources through their specific roles, skills, levels, efficiency, and calendars, so that everyone can be used efficiently according to their capabilities.

To do so, you must first qualify and quantify the optimal workforce based on the project portfolio. It is then important to compare the optimal workforce with the existing workforce. Imagine and test a series of scenarios to match job requirements and resource offerings using simple HR techniques that include recruiting, career transitioning, training, and using temporary employees. By estimating realistic productivity, you can adjust the salary envelope and determine an optimal cost.

The next task involves identifying profitable projects. A particular project does not necessarily have a positive effect on the entire portfolio, even if its expected income seems very attractive. Importance should be accorded to the marginal effect of a project instead of its income or its theoretical profit. Therefore, it is useful to ask yourself if the real added value of an additional project is positive, before taking it on.

To do so, start by calculating the expected revenues generated by your existing project portfolio. Then test several planning simulations with the additional project included and compare the forecast revenues of each possible outcome. Based on these results, either reject the project if the cash flow does not increase thanks to the additional project or modify the existing portfolio to make it globally more profitable thanks to the new project.

This third task consists of anticipating any potential problems and risks. Risks such as illnesses, unplanned tasks, and unexpected changes are frequent throughout the duration of the plan. These events are so frequent that we often have statistics for their occurrence. These should be taken into account based on their occurrence and then the effects should be incorporated into your plans through risk coefficients. This is achieved by carrying out simulations, comparing them and finally choosing the most realistic plan according to.

Once you have decided to implement these decisions and changes, you need to ensure that you will be able to track and monitor their effectiveness, including the design and implementation of key performance indicators (KPIs) and the production of regular reports and dashboards based on reliable operational information.