The Need
The Lean Management Audit is a structured knowledge gathering and assessment activity based on your company’s vision and strategy, its development plan, and its annual policy. Cambridge Consulting Certified Management Auditors will work within that framework to ensure that your performance improvement program is headed in the right direction. The audit should consist of a set of interviews that are carried out at different organizational levels depending on the size and complexity of your company. The audit team must assess the current condition in all key areas and control points at the work unit level. The Lean Management Audit has Four basic stages:
- Preparation.
- Site visit to plant or individual work units.
- Analysis, scoring, and short-term prescription.
- Design & submission of final deliverable.
Preparation
The preparatory stage of Lean Management Audit begins with reporting and analysis. At every level from the smallest organizational unit to the boardroom, the audit team should review regular, ongoing operations as well as the entire work environment. In the context of regular reporting and analysis, the Lean Management Audit should not be a surprise to managers or to the particular unit being reviewed.
The Site Visit
The site visit is the plant’s or unit’s chance to show its daily operating conditions-and the auditor’s opportunity to observe, ask more specific questions, and note ideas that can be implemented more broadly. During a site visit, the audit team has an opportunity to see firsthand what the current state is in the key areas and control points of lean management. Usually a full day is scheduled to visit an entire plant. If the unit diagnosed is a department or a work area, the visit may be shorter. The audit team determines the length of the visit and prepares an agenda, after considering the ground to be covered and the depth of questioning to be pursued.
Analysis, Scoring, And Short-Term Prescription
Immediately after the site visit, the audit team typically meets with the management team to provide initial feedback and observations. The team reviews what they have observed and clarifies understanding of processes and procedures. The audit team leaves the facility and writes an audit report based on four basic elements: Strategic Framework, Fundamental Structure, Policies & procedures status and Organizational Strength.
Design & submission of final deliverable
The final deliverables will include the following main outputs:
- The current strategic framework of the organizations and whether the performance driers are heading towards the strategy.
- The compatibility of the current organization structure with the operations, strategy and objectives set.
- The adherence, violations and acceptance of currently implemented policies & procedures.
- A complete SWOT analysis to the organization showing areas of improvement and defining the opportunities that the organization must seek.
Cambridge Consulting Process
Cambridge Consulting deploys different techniques in designing and delivering Job Evaluation Assignments, the most suitable being determined by the characteristics of the organization, including its size, the number of jobs involved, the time available for the study, the past experience of those responsible for the effort, and other organizational traditions.
