Our Services

"We help organisations to smooth out their operational problems".

This can include:

• Re-starting failed initiatives
• Troubleshooting of general operational problems
• Reducing lead-times through the entire order fulfilment process
• Improving on-time delivery performance
• Getting more out of current computer systems
• Coaching key members of staff so that they can meet their job description requirements
• Streamlining business processes
• Supporting profit maximisation through waste reduction
• Delivering training through structured workshops

These are our 'normal' services, and usually we find that people and businesses don't fit into neat boxes, so from our intial business review we can tailor our approach to suit your needs and style.

Below are some more details about what we get up to in general.

Troubleshooting

Sometimes a business just needs a fresh pair of eyes to help identify what the problems are in the business (or process) and to work with them to devise some routes to improve.

Smartspeed works with clients in different organisations in different industries to help them sort out problems with the people working with those processes. The common factor is - the businesses that we help have an operational aspect - that's it!

Whatever the grey cloud of mystery is floating over a business, Smartspeed will pull out the pertinent points to help support a business to move away from struggling and fire-fighting into proactive improvement and delighting customers - what the company is there to do in the first place (and of course generate a profit).

If you have any questions about how we do this, then please get in touch using the details at the bottom of the page, or using the 'Contact Us' option from the left hand side menu.

Coaching for higher performance

One of the main activities that Smartspeed finds itself involved with is that of improving key members of staff's performance through a coaching approach. When people in the organisation are not achieving what you need them to achieve, a coaching approach can often work wonders - as long as the people involved are interested in resolving any problems that they are facing. From working with numerous people in this capacity we have found that the split between approach to tasks and technical skills is roughly 70:30, that is people tend to have more of a problem with the approach to situations in which they struggle than the technical content of the problem. Whatever the mix is for your staff that are struggling we are happy to work with you and your team to find the right tailored approach to remedy the situation. Our excellent people skills mixed with extensive technical knowledge makes us an ideal organisation to support your business coaching needs.

Production Control, Planning and Operations Management

One of the most taxing jobs is the planning and balancing of a manufacturing facility (let alone the rest of Operations Management!), many of the problems that we are faced with on a daily basis are caused through problems from not having a robust planning system or tools at hand. Smartspeed often work with their clients to make better use of their existing software control systems (such as MRP and ERP based systems) so that the tools that they thought that they were buying can be utilised and not hidden away. In other cases Smartspeed will support their clients to develop bespoke systems using whatever tools they feel comfortable with - such as Excel or whiteboards. The key here is to combine good logic, sensible planning techniques and experience with a format that is suitable to the person who will be ultimately running this part of the business.

Improving Internal Customer and Supplier Relationships

The principle of 'Moments of Truth' applies equally well within the organisation as well as from your external customers viewpoint. Using some basic tools and the participation of the workforce, Smartspeed can help identify where the information and cooperation bottlenecks are in the business and then find the routes to remove said bottlenecks. Simplicity and education can help your organisation to implement other initiatives that you are planning. We have found that many times good projects geared up to improve the business fail and the implementation team cannot fathom out why. By removing these impediments to implementation success we find that project success is greatly improved and weaving this work in with the education of the change project and you have an excellent formula for smooth effective change management. A great way to use this idea is through Management Training to then spread this useful principle through the organisation - reducing the time taken to implement change, and reducing cost for yourselves. Computer Systems Computer systems can cost a lot of money and to get the most out of these systems we need to understand them. Smartspeed help in this area by coaching people to open up the functionality of the system and to start getting the system working for them, rather than being a slave to the system. Getting the most out of your management systems and manufacturing systems can streamline day to day activity, and is an area worth considering. Whether you have a messy network system with plenty of excellent documents that no-one can find, or people are struggling to use your business system - Smartspeed can help to change this situation for the better. Sustainable Projects (and change management!) Smartspeed believes in delivering projects that have a sustainable change to the business, this is why we follow the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) principle when managing projects. We can teach / implement this principle to your organisation for both new and existing activities. If you are unfamiliar with PDCA then you will find amongst the general Continuous Improvement literature available on the Internet. PDCA is also known as the Deming cycle and is also leads us to why so many projects fail. The last two elements are the Check and Act stages. When you are spending money and resources on projects you need to make sure that you are getting value for money and that the change is taking effect in the business and delivering the right changes. The other element that is massively overlooked is about how to keep the improvements in place once the project has ended and it moves into day to day operation. Change management is more than just a series of techniques, it also includes the ability to lead projects through the business, which includes engaging with the people in the business who are either effected by the changes, or are making the changes happen. Strong consistent communication needs to take place as projects don’t happen on their own, and people like to know what is going on. The personalities that are involved change the dynamic and because of this the people (or ultimately one person) who you choose to manage and lead a change programme needs to be right for the needs of your business. Smartspeed Consulting work effectively with all levels of an organisation and through their pro-active approach to communication and project involvement getting the people on board with the changes is never a problem. We want to leave you at the end of the project with a sustainable improvement and follow some simple principles to do this – PDCA. Smartspeed's approach to PDCA is shown below: Lean Smartspeed can help organisations to drive out waste from their organisations and hence increase service and product delivery whilst minimising their costs (and maximise profit of the operations). Guiding your staff through a lean transformation is a great way to introduce sustainable change into the business. One of the real benefits of doing this kind of work (apart from creating more profit through happy customers) is that people who work in the organisation start to 'switch on'. Getting the brains within the organisation working to help your organisation's mission makes Lean a win - win - win proposition (company - employees - customers). To discuss any of these items further then please get in touch using the details below, or using the 'Contact Us' link on the left hand side menu.