Re-engineering in the Service and Manufacturing Industry

Re-engineering in the Service Sector

In the service sector, despite speed and courtesy in addressing issues, a customer’s hostility persists due to the inability of the service provider to maintain consistency in delivery and service. According to Janson, the concept of re-engineering holds a significant promise for the service sector. The enablers of BPR in the service sector are: ^[1]

2. Design work processes in light ofre-engineeredgoals: Companies that design work processes according to re-engineered goals become more focused towards the customer. Organizations that re-engineer their processes often make drastic changes in existing jobs by integrating work procedures or tasks and empowering workers with more authority and responsibility.
3. Restructure to support front-line performance: In a customer-focused environment, every aspect of the re-engineering process strives to promote the highest level of service to its customers, especially those who come into direct contact with customers. Consequently, re-engineers build work teams to support their customer service representatives or create “workstation professionals” who can perform both front and back office functions.

New technologies should be introduced to support performance in order to achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction. Technology should be used to automate secondary work func­tions, leaving service workers free to concentrate on more critical matters such as satisfying customer needs and solving problems.

M Re-engineering in the Manufacturing Sector

The enablers of BPR in the manufacturing sector are given below:

Agile manufacturing: Agile manufacturing enables businesses to be flexible on various facets. Agility is achieved through regular business process re-engineering and re-segmenting of business processes.

Lean manufacturing: Lean manufacturing is based on production systems used by Toyota. Lean manufacturing means working with limited inventory, waste elimination and reacting speedily to changing conditions. Lean manufacturing has the ability to quickly respond to customer demands. Manufacturers that have embraced the concepts of lean manufactur­ing have found that significant gains can be achieved from putting process issues first and technology second.

Just in time (JIT): JIT is a philosophy of producing products on order. JIT means that the product should be delivered “in-time.” The core principles that help to speed up the produc­tion in the just-in-time process are as follows:

• Use of multiple small machines
• Group technology
• Production smoothing
• Labour balancing
• Set-up reduction
• Standard working
• Visual controls
• Minimizing inventory, minimizing work in process and synchronizing production.

Collaborative manufacturing: Collaborative manufacturing is also referred to as e-manufacturing. This is about the rethinking of traditional processes and relationships with suppliers and customers, and enhancing them with technology in order to collaborate with trading partners in real-time. Sharing accurate real-time data is at the heart of e-manufacturing, which is the essence of business-to-business e-commerce. The key processes that can benefit from collaborative manufacturing are:

• Planning and scheduling
• Product design
• New product introduction
• Product content management
• Order management
• Sourcing

Intelligent manufacturing: The goal of intelligent manufacturing is to satisfy customer needs efficiently at the lowest possible cost by leveraging on automatic decision-making capabilities built into manufacturing systems. An intelligent manufacturing process is able to self-regulate and/or self-control to manufacture the product within the design specifica­tions. These concepts have been used in shop floor automation, assembly line automation, etc. In order to adapt to this concept, the focus is not only on automating systems, but on re-designing dependent business processes around this by leveraging on BPR. Intelligent manufacturing is achieved in three ways:

• Existing manufacturing processes can become intelligent by monitoring and controlling the state of the manufacturing machine.
• Existing processes can be made intelligent by adding sensors to monitor and control the state of the product being processed.
• New processes can be intelligently designed to produce parts of the desired quality with­out any need for sensing and controlling the process.

Production planning and control (PPC): Through process re-design and technology lever­age, the manufacturer is able to obtain a holistic look at production and alter the schedule on a daily basis in the effort to increase revenue, thus satisfying his customers and investors. PPC leads to flexible, multi-purpose production lines, allowing for greater responsiveness to market demand through a “make to order” process, which reduces space requirements. PPC also increases productivity, adjusts production plans to meet market demands and achieves corporate financial goals.

Product design and development: New product development has been recognized as one of the key growth drivers today, propelling manufacturers to future success.

[1] Make the customer the starting point for change: Identify the customer’s needs and create the kinds of jobs and re-engineered structures that can satisfy these. Employees at all levels must readjust their thinking and recognize that customer satisfaction is the overriding goal to achieve a stronger customer focus.