Client case
When an unstructured way of working no longer suffices
Problem
Our customer managed his production department through a mix of legacy software, Excel sheets, Access databases, email and shared network drives. In the past 8 years, several attempts have been made to replace parts of this software landscape. All these efforts were unsuccessful. The assignment was to lead a project with the aim to select and implement one system that supports both the planning and registration processes of the production department. The goal the production department had in mind, was a user-friendly solution for the work floor and one “single source of truth” for the production department and all other departments who are dependent on the results of the production process (e.g., packaging and supply chain).
Maarten was the project leader for this project. Maarten creates trust. With energy and enthusiasm Maarten knows how to inspire project members and with his decisiveness he can turn a failed project into a successful one.
Approach
If several attempts have been made to successfully complete a project and it has not happened still, the system or the implementation partner are often not the cause. Other factors are at play. Think of ineffective leadership, an incomplete overview of all project stakeholders and their visions, lack of involvement of the stakeholders, wrong (financial) incentives, changing project goals, unclear functional requirements, lack of direction, insufficient planning and / or procrastinating decisions.
At the start of this project, we therefore spent a relatively long time thinking about what we had to do differently in order to realize a successful project this time. We have formed a new ‘leading coalition’. This team, consisting of a mix of external parties, new employees and department heads, showed a working solution to the end users in a short time. This prevented project fatigue. In addition, a lot of effort was put into the area of change management before, during and after implementation. The users were trained and supported on the work floor. The new managers were coached in their role as change managers and in demonstrating good example behaviour. Senior management showed themselves as a sponsor of this project and emphasized its importance.
Results
The production process has been standardized, which has radically changed the way of working for many production workers. As a result of this project, all departments dealing with the production process now have real-time insight into the expected and available production quantities by means of interfaces and reports (PowerBI in this case). By using scanners (supported via PowerApps), the system is directly fed with real-time data from the production floor and administration on paper, via Excel, email etc. is unnecessary.
Decisive factors during this project
The customer expressed it as follows in the evaluation: “The preconditions of the project were not ideal. It takes tactics and decisiveness to operate in this environment successfully. The difference that Next Ready Partners makes, is that they also tackle issues that are not directly related to the project but are necessary for results.”