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Metal industry equipment manufacturer
Development and management of product management processes
Problem:
The transparency of change management is poor. Changes come from various sources, and managing them is difficult. The lead time for product changes is long, and the requesting party does not see the progress or initiation of the work.
Objective:
To describe the management of product changes as value streams and to identify areas for improvement, as well as to implement selected actions for process development.
Background:
Product changes, including approvals, take a very long time, often months. The requesting party (e.g., production) does not see what happens to the change request or whether the change is implemented at all. There is no feedback channel towards the requesting party. There is a form available for change requests, but it is mostly not used. Changes are agreed upon during coffee breaks or otherwise alongside work. The workload of change management is in the hands of the team leader, in their notebook, and in their own Excel files. There is no visibility of changes at the corporate level, and in various exceptional situations (e.g., sick leave, holiday periods), the situation is very unclear. The long lead time for changes causes friction in the organization and is often visible to the customer as well.
Implementation:
The project began by describing the main process of change management and the factors affecting it. The problems identified thereafter were prioritized, and for the largest ones, a root cause analysis was conducted, revealing many significant areas for improvement. The most significant improvement was the renewal of the change management leadership model to Lean daily management. To support this, system tools were created that enable the transparency and management of changes even during remote working hours. To introduce new changes into the process, a standardized model was created, where feedback also goes to the requesting party.
Result:
Significant improvement in information flow and effective sharing of situational awareness related to changes throughout the organization. Clear prioritization of changes and faster lead time for changes in the process. Overall satisfaction with change management increased significantly. The management work of the team leader also became significantly easier.
