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Quick Glance Case Study: Customer Product Repairs

“Using simple Lean techniques, such as the Fishbone Diagram, has enabled our business to eliminate costly failure demand with some really simple changes that do not require huge budgets or resource-heavy project teams”

After completing a ChangeWise Lean Practitioner training course, one candidate submitted the following work-place project to gain their qualification to LCS Level 1c.

The Business Challenge

As a field based operative, I noticed that when the Maintenance & Repair Teams visit customers to fix product issues, the entire product was often unnecessarily replaced as part of the solution. This could sometimes take weeks or months, resulting in a lack of performance metrics for both domestic and commercial customers for long periods of time. This significantly impacted customer satisfaction scores and resulted in lost revenue for the business.

An end-to-end Lean review was required to assess the product repair process.

Photo by Julie Molliver on Unsplash

Key people involved from client site

Field Operatives, Maintenance & Repair Teams, Operations SLT

Lean Methodology Employed

DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analise, Improve, Control)

The candidate completed a full Lean review of the end-to-end current state process.

Various Lean methodologies were employed, specifically SIPOC, Value Stream Mapping, 7 Wastes, Root Cause Analysis.

Key Current State Findings and Techniques

A SIPOC and Current State Process Map were created to better understand the product repair process. Data was collected from more than one region to ensure consistent errors were identified.

This identified key issues generating the majority of defects:

  • Forms/emails were not being sent to the correct resolution teams
  • A form processing error resulted in the repair jobs not getting raised when the form was received
  • Data/incorrect information entered on forms resulted in incorrect resolution actions

The Fishbone Diagram method suggested that errors were a result of operatives applying incorrect processes due to an unclear and out of date current state process.

Outcomes and Benefits

With the root causes identifies, we were able to make some simple changes to resolve the issues:

  • Correct process steps confirmed and communicated to all resolution teams and operations to ensure:
    • Correct data is sent to the right team
    • All required data is available and accurate
  • Email addresses reviewed and updated
  • Forms simplified
  • Briefing/refresher sessions for all who touch the process
  • Communication to the SLT to ensure they understand the correct process and the expectations of their team
  • Continuous Improvement: Process to ensure any failure demand (further issues) are captured, including a feedback loop and process for any future issues

Photo by Jonathan Hoxmark on Unsplash

In Summary

This Lean review has allowed us to quickly and easily resolve issues that were not only costly to our business, they also significantly impacted our customer experience. The new future state will allow for continuous improvement, and ensure issues are identified before they lead to costly changes.

Interested in looking at how you can use simple Lean techniques to improve your cost base whilst increasing customer satisfaction? Contact us for an informal chat at info@changewise.co.uk and let’s talk about how we can help.

ChangeWise believes employee engagement is the foundation for successful Change. Training and coaching your people to use simple continuous improvement techniques will enable your organisation to continuously adapt and stay ahead in a constantly changing and challenging environment.

For updates and interesting Lean Change insights, connect with us on LinkedIn.

Find out more about our training courses at www.changewise.co.uk

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