“I was very impressed by the speed these results came through”

Joyce McCaw, CEO

Business Situation:

Careers Wales North East had a desire to introduce a methodology to drive continuous improvement and reduce costs, due to year on year contractual budget cuts from central government. Initially CWNE were looking for a 5% reduction on their £5million spend.

 Business Solution:

 Through using best practice project management techniques, developed in high volume manufacturing environments and using elements of the PRINCE2 project management tool kit, Lighthouse Consultants were able to map the current administrative processes, design future Lean processes and put in place the required supporting documentation and measurements.

In addition, Lighthouse Consultants delivered a series of workshops for Project Management and Process Mapping requirements to transfer certain process improvement skills.

Results:

• Consistent approach across all 3 sites
• 2/3 reduction in printing requirements
• 1/3 reduction in filing/archiving
• Significant reduction in stationery
• Cheaper postage – all letters 2nd class (£750)
• 225 hours of Career Advisor time saved (30 days)
• 1200 hours of Admin support time saved (135 days)
• Released team leaders time spent on auditing the process
• New 1 page procedure replaced 14 pages in existing manual

Reduce the duration between Career Plan written to being posted from on average over 10 days to 100% of career plans being issued within 3 days of interview.

“Lighthouse Consultants helped my organisation grow to be the company I knew it could be.” John Blower, Business Development Director

www.filsol.co.uk

Established in 1981, Filsol Solar produce high efficiency solar water heating panels which they supply together with the full range of components required for an effective solar water heating system.  They also supply a range of photovoltaic solar panels and related equipment to clients seeking an electrical solar system.

 Business Situation:

With the need to reduce carbon footprint, more homes than ever are moving towards utilising solar heating and electric systems.  Filsol Solar had therefore seen significant growth in demand, in particular an order from British Gas meant their order book expanded from 50 units per month to 200 units per month.  This rapid expansion needed to be cemented with robust business management practices. 

The manufacturing process is labour intensive, with only two major machines in use and the rest manual operations.  Due to their location in South West Wales, there was limited availability of additional resources, and there was therefore a need to increase capacity without increasing staff.

Business Solution:

The Production Manager and Production Supervisor were trained in the concepts of Pull, Customer Pull and One Piece Flow.  A new layout was designed, with a two-bin replenishment system for parts.  This was then implemented by the Production teams themselves during the slower ramp-up period.

A one-day SMED blitz took place on the two key machines – the pressure testing machine and the spot welder – which are used for nearly all products.  Internal and external activities were identified, 5S was put into place for tools and equipment and changeover times were reduced significantly.  In addition, one piece flow ensured that there was a steady flow of product through the machines, rather than batched work causing alternating backlogs and downtime.

In addition, Lighthouse Business Consultants Ltd worked alongside key managers within Filsol, to formally cement the new process changes by developing a formal quality manual and human resource manual.

Results:

The key result was a 300% increase in output, from 50 to 200 units per month, using the same people, equipment and space.

Key managers within Filsol have been trained in Lean techniques to allow them to redesign their shop floor layout to single piece flow to accommodate further growth in production, while maintaining the same site, equipment and number of staff.

Completed quality management manual and HR manual, on time, within budget and delivered without disruption to company growth. The company is currently seeking recognition in ISO9001:2000 and Investors in People; and is in talks with financial advisors regarding floating on the ‘AIM’ alternative stock market. 

‘Physically and mentally motivating.’

‘Confidence boost.’

East of England Business Link

www.businesslinkeast.org.uk

“Business Link is the place to go for information, practical advice and support for new and established businesses.  Our aim is to help businesses grow and become more profitable.”

Support offered includes:

• Answers to any business question through the Information and Intelligence Centre.
• Free one-on-one business advice from experienced business advisors.
• Workshops and briefing covering a vast range of business topics.
• Access to a broad range of solutions.

All support offered is independent and impartial, and many services are provided free of charge. 

Business Situation:

The East of England Business Link provides a suite of workshops for potential entrepreneurs, designed to take individuals on a successful business journey. 

 The workshops have been designed for those considering self-employment but are unsure what first steps to take.  In particular the Business Ideas workshop is for people who think they want to be their own boss, but haven’t had the right idea yet.

Business Solution:

Lighthouse Consultants is the lead supplier for the East of England Business Link’s Business Ideas Workshops.

 These one-day workshops are fun, informal and informative, and aim for each delegate to leave feeling inspired and full of entrepreneurial spirit.  They cover: 

• Why you want to start your own business
• Your personal profile
• How to generate more ideas
• Sources of business opportunities
• Where to find customers
• Gaining inspiration from success
• Building confidence

 Results:

Lighthouse Consultants has consistently received positive feedback from delegates:

 ‘Physically and mentally motivating.’

‘Confidence boost.’

 Some potential delegates have specifically asked Business Link for dates when our presenters were in attendance, due to the positive word of mouth feedback from previous delegates.

 This is assisted, in part, by the fact that our lead deliverer is also an accredited business advisor, so has an additional depth of experience to bring to the workshops.

 “We were very pleased with their efficiency and professionalism.”

Mandy George

Practice Manager, Law and Standards

Business Situation:

The Law and Standards Department of NCC had become over bureaucratic and inefficient, with the back office administration teams becoming complacent in their approach to work. Lighthouse Consultants was asked to review the department in line with best practice Project Management and Lean Process Improvement techniques.

Business Solution:

 Lighthouse Consultants conducted a ten-day review of the back office operations.

 Three back office functions were process mapped – the legal operations relating to housing, family welfare and business – and operational quality of the services offered analysed.

 Opportunities for improvement were documented and recommendations made for Quick Wins and mid-term operational model changes.

 Results:

 Over 30 recommendations were made on how to improve operational efficiency of the Law and Legal Standards department

• Trained the whole admin team in Project Management and Lean improvement techniques
• Changes were implemented within 2 months of the recommendations being made
• Effectiveness and efficiency measures increased from day 1 of the changes being implemented.

“Lighthouse [Consultants] were recommended by the Institute of Customer Services.  Originally we wanted to improve our staff and make a difference to the front line staff’s communication within their team.  After the first impressions training we had such a different team walk through the door, that we decided to further the administration team’s skills and requested they all go for the Service management training course. “

 Andrew Walsh Ombudsman Director

www.ombudsman-wales.org.uk

Business Situation:

Initially on our first site visit to Ombudsman, after being contacted directly by Andrew, Lighthouse Trainers were informed that there were issues within the team relating to communicating with each other, and their internal customers. Andrew was looking for a way to bring to the team’s attention, their failings in meeting their internal service level agreements as well as improving communication between teams and with customers overall. To bring them in line with the Institute of Customer services First Impressions objectives.

The organisation’s aim was simple, to put the customer at the heart of everything they do and to refocus their operatives on those people who matter.  First Impression has given them that objective.

Business Solution:

Lighthouse Trainers were able to diagnose the real issues affecting the team and the organisation.

Lighthouse Trainers then developed their training courses around the firstimpressions participants guide and added to the course ways of dealing with difficult situations and difficult customers, how to put an action plan together to improve communication within the organisation as well as with a team.  We also developed some team building exercises to improve cross team working.

Results:

Once the course was completed the team had to complete their assignments individually, and after marking the assignments, We realised that there was some fantastic recommendations from each individual and we suggested that as a team they put all their recommendation together into a presentation and present their ideas back to the director – which they did.

Consequences:

Andrew took on board all the recommendations that the team made, and implemented some of their recommendations immediately, which not only improved the relationship between the director and his team but also improved the overall internal team communications.

Due to the success of the tailored training course, Lighthouse Trainers was invited back to Ombudsman to provide further accredited training to the administration staff, namely Service Management training, which helps to train further team leaders to achieve excellent customer service. This training was completed in early January 2008.

Business Situation:

In recent years the Ordnance Survey has invested heavily in LEAN business improvement techniques and was now looking for ways to extend their knowledge and tackle difficult business problems.

In addition, the Ordnance Survey was looking to transform its business and streamline its operating model in preparation for a government decision on its future.

 There was a need to link business strategy to organizational structure and performance improvement projects.

Business Solution:

Lighthouse Consultants offered advanced business improvement techniques, using cutting edge research and the latest computer powered analysis.

In order to offer Ordnance Survey a formal accreditation to support these advanced techniques, modules were developed to combine Lighthouse Consultants’ 6Sigma Black Belt training programme with specific projects using Ordnance Survey’s data.

The senior managers were mentored through the strategic DMAIC Performance Improvement Framework, understanding key dependencies and processes between departments.  Projects were selected that were directly linked to the organisation’s long-term strategic requirements.

Results:

• Used the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC methodology as a Performance Improvement Framework to understand overall performance and constraints.
• Re-configured departments to focus on Continuous Improvement.
• Developed implementation plan for pan-organisation roll out, including champions, technical experts, Black Belt and Green Belt training, and senior management briefings.
• Accredited Black Belt professionals.
• Significant Quick Win savings, due to strategic project selection.
• Utilised Six Sigma tools for strategic business decision making. 

The Royal College of Nursing is the largest professional union for nursing in the UK, representing over 380,000 nurses, health care assistants and nursing students, both in the NHS and the private sector.

Business Situation:

Following their success at RCND – the RCN members’ advice and guidance call centre – Lighthouse Consultants was invited to review the back office processes in the RCN regional boards, with the aim of improving and standardising RCN’s service delivery.

Each of the 12 UK regional boards had strong individual cultures and corporate identities, which had created a postcode lottery with respect to service level delivery, varying widely from Northern Ireland to the South East.

Business Solution:

A Lean Review and analysis was undertaken in each region, mapping service delivery and back office functions related to trade union activity.

 An initial pilot in three areas was rolled out across the whole of the UK over the course of a year.  5 days were spent in each region, mapping processes, identifying opportunities for improvement and training internal teams.

These were analysed to identify best practice, taking necessary local variations into account, in order to develop a standardised future process.

Results:

Quick Win recommendations were developed for each local regional director, enabling improvements to be made even before the final future state design was implemented.

A future state map of service delivery was developed for all 12 regions, including a bespoke in-house web enabled case management database.  This allowed, for the first time, managers the ability to performance manage the 12 regions with respect to service delivery.

Lighthouse Consultants then rolled out this software, including training in software, forms and processes.

Lighthouse Consultants has also been able to develop the further understanding of Lean within the RCN, helping them grow in maturity as a whole, as well as the team deployed.

 Kevin Hasler RCN Direct Director

Business Situation:

RCN Direct is the main call centre for all 380,000 members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), providing advice and guidance on a wide range of issues.  It was struggling to meet its own performance criteria in handling membership inquiries, and needed to change the way in which it operated.

Call waiting for 70% of calls was longer than a minute, with some calls at peak times taking 30 minutes to be answered.

In addition the RCN parent organisation as a whole wanted to move to a “one number” strategy which would have resulted in a doubling of call volume numbers.  There was no investment available to resource this.

Business Solution:

Lighthouse Consultants used a team-based problem solving approach to process map all non-call related processes, including offline payments, call write ups and inter-departmental referrals.

Areas for improvement were identified and an action plan developed, including Quick Wins, Tactical Changes and Strategic Choices. Overall 50+ recommendations were made, including a productivity bar to measure non-value adding time.

 This diagnostic and action plan development was conducted by a 3 person consultancy team over 20 days, with further support in implementing the action plan available as required.

Results:

Once the quick wins were implemented and tactical choices started RCN Direct were able to:

• Double call capacity
• Answered all calls within 30 seconds
• Avoid any expenditure on additional staff or telecoms equipment
• Staggeringly improve both external and internal customer satisfaction scores

The strategic choices offered including moving to a fully decentralised or fully centralised case management model for long-term further improvement.

RCN Direct has been able to offer more value adding services to both its membership and internal departments, supporting improvements across the whole of the Royal College of Nursing.

In addition, Lighthouse Consultants was invited to value stream map, and apply Six Sigma process optimisation strategies to the whole case management process across the Royal College of Nursing.  This case management process is intended to start with a call to RCN Direct, and then is managed locally out of 18 regional offices across the whole of the UK.  The process also includes a formal legal department, for cases requiring such advice, and provides very detailed and increasingly complex support for members.

Lighthouse Consultants is very proud to have spent the last three years working with the RCN, as this reflects the level of confidence the organisation has in us, and the quality of outcome we have provided.

Business Situation:

RCN Nursing is responsible for the professional side of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN.)

Following Lighthouse Business Consultants success in improving processes within the Trade Union arm of the RCN, they were invited by the project manager of RCN Nursing to help map, describe and improve several key processes; in particular how 41 individual professional competency-based nursing forums access funding from the RCN, in order to further their specialism.  This was a particularly complex situation due to the governance structure.

 Historically the forums had been self-governed but after intervention of the Charity Commission they needed to rationalise from 78 to 41 forums, and to bring their management, especially their financial management, in house to RCN Nursing.

 The Nursing department had no extra money to fund this, so needed to find it from savings within the department.

 The situation was further complicated by the fact that some forum work is done under the charitable arm of the organisation, some under income generation and some is driven politically.

Business Solution:

Lighthouse Business Consultants Ltd mapped the current process, identifying issues and potential areas of conflict.  

We developed a new way of working, restructured the department, designed and improved a series of new operational procedures and implemented an improved series of management controls to track forum performance.

Finally a bespoke software solution has been developed to allow the management of forums, especially communication and bid production to happen virtually.

Results:

The new requirement for in-house management of the forums was met with no increase in budget.

 In addition, a new system for monitoring the forum performance was instigated; and the Charity Commission requirements clarified by forum.

This housing association a social enterprise, spun out from the local council, and a mix of type and condition of housing stock has been transferred from council ownership, resulting in a £14m operation.

Business Situation:

• Need to budget the spend to refurbish the whole housing stock on a annual rota, covering approximately 800 units
• Historically always overspent, despite trying to use control charts to predict engineering spend
• Used “average unit cost” in the past, although housing units varied widely in size and refurbishment needs

Business Solution:

• Split the type of engineering work done on the housing stock into 3 sections
• Model each section, category a, b, and c, including process capabilities studies
• Build control charts not on means and SD, but on percentiles linked to capability studies, and the appropriate non normal distribution, for each section
• Identify and model properties/units which will liable to have a higher than expected cost, and treat separately
• Bring all costs together for a final control chart and scorecard approach to managing engineering spend

Results:

• Improved budgeting tool, more accurate than historical average approach
• Better understanding of variation within the process, allowing tighter control of contractors

Monthly spend versus budget is closer than ever before