Reaping the benefits of Lean Management – Our Services in Action

As part of our commitment to help organisations reap the rewards of increased efficiency, IiE offers a range of lean management tools and techniques.

Over the years, scores of companies have seen significant benefits from our programmes, one of the most recent being Orbit Heart of England.

Part of The Orbit Group, one of the largest housing groups in the country, Orbit Heart of England is dedicated to providing high quality, affordable homes to those in greatest need across the Midlands.

In fact, Orbit’s use of lean management has already resulted in an estimated £240,000 cash saving as a result of a more consistent approach to specifying voids works and improved budgeting on repairs/property maintenance. Additionally, clear definition of roles and responsibilities has resulted in less ‘wasted time’ and an estimated saving of six days per void (equivalent to £82,500 per annum) thanks to improved communication and administration procedures.

In 2009, the organisation identified a number of issues associated with the way it was re-letting properties including inconsistencies in costs and standards across different geographic locations, poor customer satisfaction and unacceptable time lags between tenants vacating a property and new tenants moving in.

Keen to address these as quickly as possible, the senior management team explored various options and in November 2009, Orbit embarked on a quality improvement programme with IiE. “With IiE’s support, we were able to conduct a thorough business review,” said Louise Oakley, Head of Business Excellence at Orbit Heart of England.

Under our guidance, Orbit pulled together a team of front-line and managerial staff from across the business to look at its re-let procedures. Using the DMAIC lean technique (Definition of problem; Measuring/mapping process; Analysis; Improvement; Control) the team reviewed existing ways of working and immediately identified several areas where they could operate smarter.

“Despite being unfamiliar with the lean management techniques used, the team quickly got to grips with them and it didn’t take long to reap the benefits.”

For the full case study please click HERE.

“Without doubt, IiE has helped us become a more efficient organisation,” continued Louise. “Staff and customer satisfaction has improved and we’ve been able to introduce clear processes that everyone can relate to. Going forward, we’ll be using lean principles to underpin everything we do and I’d definitely recommend this type of exercise to others.”

For more information on lean management and how it could benefit your organisation, please contact us on 01675 460033.