Commerce/retail sector
The rapid development of the online retailer Amazon is bringing about a rethink in the industry. Business processes must be streamlined to create capacities within the organisation to allow new ideas to be developed and implemented.
An important condition for streamlining processes is the digital transformation within retailers’ administrative departments.
The problem:
A digital transformation only creates the desired added value if the quantity of non-value-adding activities in the transformed processes is minimised or eliminated.
Challenge:
The processes must be recorded and documented structured in such a way that the non-value-adding activities can be easily identified by the participants involved.
Solution (Lean SIPOC, RACI):
In collaboration with selected key users from Administration, the processes within the administrative areas are recorded according to the SIPOC, RACI system in various kaizen workshops. A selection of the recorded and evaluated processes:
Purchasing, checking clarification cases, reporting, editing master data, instructions on the handling of poor-selling products, returns, delivery zone, checkout, inventory, label printing, collection box, checkout cockpit, user maintenance, authorisations, opening a new branch, material creation, technical support, interface maintenance, form maintenance, content maintenance, order process online shop, internal processes online shop, order processing, dispatch processing, master data administration customers, dispatch processing, subscription administration, supplier complaint, master data administration service, warehouse, customer orders wholesale, product range configuration, consignment, fixed wage, etc.
Result:
The following is implemented within 30 - 40 working days for an organisation with approx. 1200 employees:
- The activities in the processes are documented and categorised as “value adding” and “not value adding”
- For the “not value-adding activities”, the processes are adapted on the drawing board (new target state) in such a way that these activities no longer have to be performed
- Lean PDCA (“Plan Do Check Act”) projects are determined in order to be able to transfer the processes adapted on the drawing board into the line organisation
- Training and auditing concepts are defined to allow the employees in the line organisation to become qualified in the new processes and be audited.
