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Equipment manufacturer
Development and Management of Product Management Change
Problem:
There is a lack of transparency in change management. Changes originate from various sources, making them difficult to manage. The lead time for product changes is long, and the requesting party does not have visibility into the progress or initiation of the work.
Objective:
To map the management of product changes as value streams, identify areas for improvement, and implement selected actions to enhance the process.
Background:
Product changes, including approvals, take an extended period—often months. The requesting party (e.g., production) has no visibility into what happens with the change request or whether it is being implemented at all. There is no feedback channel for the requesting party. Although a form is available for change requests, it is rarely used. Instead, changes are often agreed upon during coffee breaks or informally during work. The workload for change management rests with the team leader, recorded in a notebook and personal Excel files. There is no visibility of changes at the company level, and during exceptional situations (e.g., sick leaves, holiday seasons), the situation becomes unclear. The long lead time for changes causes friction within the organization and often impacts the customer as well.
Implementation:
The project began by mapping the main process of change management and identifying the factors influencing it. Following this, the identified issues were prioritized, and a root cause analysis was conducted on the most significant problems, revealing several key areas for improvement. The most notable enhancement was the transformation of the change management leadership model into Lean daily management. To support this, system tools were developed to enable transparency and management of changes, even during remote work. A standardized model was also created to introduce new changes into the process, ensuring feedback is provided to the requesting party.
Results:
There was a significant improvement in communication and the effective sharing of change-related information across the organization.
Changes were clearly prioritized, and the lead time for changes in the process was reduced. Overall satisfaction with change management increased significantly, and the team leader's management tasks became notably easier.
