Operational excellence solutions

We help Northern Ireland companies improve their competitive advantage by increasing their productivity and profitability.

Our Operational Excellence coaches are experienced Lean, Six Sigma, Supply Chain practitioners, with a wealth of commercial experience and expertise in a diverse range of manufacturing and service businesses.

A lean organisation understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continuously maximise it. Support can entail advice, guidance, sign-posting, 1-1 company facilitation, capability development through training and tutorials. Additional information is available through Best Practice events / Conferences and case studies.

Improving the resilience and capability of your supply chain is essential to business profitability and sustainability.

We can help your business improve its resilience, agility and competitive advantage by improving your productivity and profitability. By addressing non value-adding activity and inefficiencies within business processes or supply chains, businesses can typically expect to see a productivity improvement of at least 25-30%.

For more information on the support we offer, download our Operational Excellence Solutions brochure.

How will my business benefit from Invest NI Operational Excellence support?

We can help your business improve its resilience, agility and competitive advantage by improving your productivity and profitability. By addressing non value-adding activity and inefficiencies within business processes or supply chains, businesses can typically expect to see a productivity improvement of at least 25-30%.

We can help you:

  • Review internal operations or supply chains to identify improvement opportunities, priorities and actions
  • Review and define a roadmap for your digital transformation journey
  • Develop capability through training, coaching, mentoring and exposure to best practice
  • Provide your people with the tools and techniques to drive improvement and implementing appropriate systems and structures for sustainability
  • Involve and engage leaders to ‘make change happen’
  • On-going commitment to develop and grow the ‘right’ culture

Productivity Improvement Support

A lean organisation understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continuously maximise it. The ultimate goal is to provide maximum value to the customer through a perfect value creation process that has zero waste while creating a more agile and adaptable business. A popular misconception is that Lean is suited only for manufacturing, but that’s not the case.  Lean applies in every business and every process. It is not a tactic or a cost reduction programme but a way of thinking and acting for an entire organisation. To better understand Lean Thinking watch our Lean Thinking Tutorial.

We provide practical engagement across the entire enterprise from boardroom to shop-floor to improve and transform operations to drive quantifiable and sustainable benefits.  This approach helps businesses maximise their available resources to become more competitive, efficient and profitable, in other words making the work – Easier, Better, Faster, Cheaper.  

We Focus on developing capability within the business to facilitate sustainable improvements, depending on your needs our engagement can be through workshops, tutorials, case studies, best practice events and 1-1 mentoring and coaching.

Supply Chain Support

Supply Chain Management improvement provides a focus on reducing waste in the supply chain and making the most of resources that is commercially essential in today’s competitive and changing market place.

Improving and maximising the capability and your supply chain is essential to business agility, resilience and profitability.

Our supply chain experts who have a wealth of business and commercial experience can support you by helping to identify key supply chain risks, cost savings and improvements to your supply chain.

Find out more about our Supply Chain Resilience and Development Framework (SCRDF).

Supply Chain Checklist

Businesses need to ask some critical questions of their supply chains and while some may seem obvious, getting clear answers can often prove challenging. Download and complete the Supply Chain Checklist to identify possible opportunities to improve your supply.

You will receive mentoring / coaching support to address specific supply chain issues within your business.  Invest NI can support you by:

  • Providing advice and expertise in relation to supply chain management, disciplines and principles.
  • Identifying opportunities within your business and promoting the benefits of a structured approach to managing suppliers.
  • Facilitating, mentoring and coordinating supply chain improvement projects.
  • Financial support may be available for eligible businesses to recruit a supply chain resource.
  • Where required this support can be supplemented by other support and external delivery organisations.
  • For companies with a large local supply base, such as those working within our advanced manufacturing sectors, we can support them and their network of suppliers to help them collectively identify cost savings and drive supply chain improvements.

Workshops

We deliver a variety of workshops which can either be generic or bespoke (delivered on-site) depending on company needs.

Lean Fundamentals

This workshop provides attendees with insights on Lean principles, tools and techniques which have been developed by experienced industry practitioners. Using simulations and exercises the workshop will cover the practical application of the tools using a work based environment.

Lean for Services

This workshop provides participants with practical insights on how to apply Lean principles, tools and techniques within a service operation or support function.

Supply Chain Fundamentals

This workshop is designed to provide participants with practical insights on how to manage suppliers more effectively.

Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED)

This workshop introduces participants to the concepts and methods that lie behind Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) a system for dramatically reducing the time it takes to complete equipment changeovers.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

This workshop introduces the concepts and methods that lie behind TPM. Using tried and tested methods, delegates will learn that TPM is much more than a maintenance technique and understand how it can become an organisation-wide improvement methodology.

Practical Problem Solving using the A3 approach

This workshop introduces delegates to the 8 steps involved in problem solving and supporting root cause analysis tools and techniques.

Daily Kaizen

This workshop is modelled on the Team Leader/Manager role as defined by best practice. The emphasis is on coaching, motivating the team and driving improvements through enhanced communication and engagement.

Leaders Kaizen

The workshop has been designed to assist senior leaders/decision makers in the organisation to implement daily continuous improvement as well as provide a framework to successfully develop, deploy and implement a business strategy that everyone is engaged with.

Lean CI Project Management

Based on the principles of effective project management, this workshop is focused primarily on their application against continuous improvement activities and projects and the creation of an effective Mission Control area using visual project management.

Kata Coaching

Kata are routines to develop good practice and behaviours.

Download our Operational Excellence Workshop brochure

These workshops are ideally suited for anyone with responsibility for driving improvements in their business. If you would like further information or would like to enquire about attending any of the workshops please email opexquery@investni.com.

Tutorials & Webinars

Case Studies

Hear how Northern Ireland companies have transformed their businesses using lean thinking and created a culture for continuous improvement.

Best Practice Events


If you want to find out more, complete our enquiry form or contact us on 0800 181 4422 to discuss the next steps.

Our support may be subject to some eligibility criteria.


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