Case Study - Project Olive
The Business: A water and sewerage testing and analytical services laboratory integrated as a commercial division of a large public water utility. The lab was formerly owned by local government council.
The Brief: As Project Manager review the lab operations to determine methods to improve output and capacity constraints and causes of sub-optimal financial performance, and to implement solutions. Provide introductory training and awareness on 5S and Lean principles.
Background: A reasonably well equipped laboratory was perceived to have bottle-necks causing extended lead times and complicated by multiple testing procedure routings, and multiple jobs.
The lab was run on a per Department basis with the microbiology lab, external pick-up and sampling, and general chemistry lab running in isolation. The sampling process planning was a scheduling activity covering a wide geographical region without any consideration to the loading on the lab. The result was the lab was under-utilised in the morning and staff under pressure & working overtime in the afternoon, due to short shelf life of the samples.
The scope included:
The Brief: As Project Manager review the lab operations to determine methods to improve output and capacity constraints and causes of sub-optimal financial performance, and to implement solutions. Provide introductory training and awareness on 5S and Lean principles.
Background: A reasonably well equipped laboratory was perceived to have bottle-necks causing extended lead times and complicated by multiple testing procedure routings, and multiple jobs.
The lab was run on a per Department basis with the microbiology lab, external pick-up and sampling, and general chemistry lab running in isolation. The sampling process planning was a scheduling activity covering a wide geographical region without any consideration to the loading on the lab. The result was the lab was under-utilised in the morning and staff under pressure & working overtime in the afternoon, due to short shelf life of the samples.
The scope included:
- Developing a value stream map and process flow chart.
- Auditing key equipment utilisation and identifying related operational issues.
- Analysing job test records and finding and identifying a large portion of repeat jobs with labour times that could be used for forecast loadings.
- Auditing existing sampling planning process to find a practice of copying past runs and repeating errors.
- Validating key sampling records to determine key logistics information was not documented effectively and coordinate the development in a common database.
- Developing a sales and operations planning process to improve visibility of the plan and resource loading and developing a cross-functional review to further refine the plan. The schedule developed included a traffic light system highlighting loading on key equipment or test procedures. This was a key impact outcome.
- Develop a financial dashboard with key operational, HR and financial metrics.
- Review and correct the operational hourly rate used for costings.
- The project was extended to do an audit on another lab for a potential JV bid and identified broader opportunities and operational efficiencies for both Labs.
PACE Outcome Assessment.
Using a Problem, Assessment, Corrective Action, and End Results framework, the review of the project headlines are:
Using a Problem, Assessment, Corrective Action, and End Results framework, the review of the project headlines are:
