3.02 - A Process Model
The importance of establishing the fundamental business processes and in particular the processes which serve the end customer are emphasised in:-
Competitive Advantage by Michael Porter, Lucas Engineering Systems Handbook by John Parnaby and Re-Engineering the Corporation by Michael Hammer and James Champy
For many manufacturing business the simplest process representation has two key processes which serve the customer:-
- The Product Introduction Process – which results in new products being developed to meet market needs.
- The Operation Process – all the activities to make today’s products for today’s customer needs.
Support processes ensure that the key processes function efficiently, for example, Human Resource or Finance.
Individual businesses may not fit this model, but a simple starting point should be established before embarking on process decomposition or simplification.
This simple concept integrates well with the idea of natural groups or teams, a group of people organised around a process element and responsible for its effective operation and continuous improvement.