You might have heard about Operational Excellence quite a lot of times. Hearing it opens up the ways how you can cut costs and increase profits. Just because it talks about cost-cutting and increasing profit many organizations might find it lucrative. But that should not be the case.  Let us look at a few points you should keep under your consideration before beginning with your Operational excellence journey. These points will help understand Operational Excellence better and thus reap greener results for your organization:

• • Do not follow the crowd: Many times people think of starting operational excellence just because it’s highly in trend and every company around is using it. But in such cases, organizations often do not have the required knowledge, expertise and resources to begin and thus do not get desired results with Operational Excellence (OE). In such cases, before beginning with the OE, you must obtain all the knowledge about it. You should understand the need, how long it will take to give the desired results, how will it help your organization, etc. Before beginning with any new thing, first know and understand its cause and effect.

• • Do not take it as a burden: Many a time’s organizations begin with the OE journey but afterwards they feel as it is just a collection of tools and a burden to their regular routine. No, it is not. Operational excellence is not just the collection of the tools, rather than that it’s more of a culture. Operational Excellence initiatives should come from and be embraced by everyone in the organization. No matter what is his or her education, skills, expertise and position in the company.

• • Higher OE expertise: Many organizations believe that having just a few of the internal employees with some knowledge of OE is enough to begin with the OE. But it’s not true. The knowledge of those people might help you once the journey has begun but does not help you to begin and sustain the journey. Only the skilled and experts can correctly help you with your OE journey implementation. No one else.

• • Pay attention to the bottom level: Organisations mainly follow the top-down flow of command. It mostly pays very little or no attention to its bottom level. But you need to understand that bottom level is key to success for your OE journey. They are the actual implementers. If you do not listen to what’s coming up from there or ignore it, you might never succeed. OE is something that will need 100% participation from all the levels of the organization. Hence, keep all the levels engaged and involved in the OE journey.

• It’s a journey: Companies many a time implement a few operational excellence tools and methodologies and consider it as the end of the OE process. But, Operational Excellence is a journey without the destination. If you truly want to be successful in your OE journey, your organization and your people will have to take time to challenge the status quo. It is surely difficult in a fast-changing world, but it is mandatory if you want good results from your Operational Excellence efforts.

Hence, Team Faber Infinite has been helping organizations in the operational excellence journey. We have worked with clients across sectors and geographies and helping them in their operational excellence journey. To know more about our offerings contact us at consulting@faberinfinite.com

Written & Compiled by Faber Priyal & Faber Mayuri.