Marketer of Agricultural Products and Services

COUNTRY: Canada

AREAS WORKED IN: Finance, Merchandising, Information Technology, Human Resources, Transportation and Logistics, Market Centres, Port Terminals

PRIORITY OBJECTIVES:

The process improvement project objectives can be summarized as the following:

• To improve performance and decrease costs by 21%
• To improve customer service and increase customer orientation
• To create a competitive advantage

In addition, the changes needed to be sustained. Coordinators were trained to support this objective through the on-going coaching of the management team and the implementation of the Process Improvement Program (PIT) and Internal Audits.

PVA’s RESPONSE:

To meet the primary financial and business objectives, the project team focused on changing the way Managers approach the business. They had to move them from fighting fires to pro-actively managing the business. This was accomplished through:

• Systems and Key Performance Indicators
  • Implementing enhanced work standards and Master Labor Schedules to establish crewing levels based on volume requirements
  • Implementing effective Daily Schedule Controls for the Front Line Managers to better set expectations and follow-up on results achieved  
  • Implementing key volume indicators to utilize in conjunction with financial indicators
  • Implementing variance or off-schedule reporting
  • Implementing a formal, structured communication to foster a continuous improvement environment – including Planning Meetings, Review Meetings, etc.

• Management Behaviours
  • Clarifying roles and responsibilities and increasing the levels of active supervision being performed by the Managers
  • Providing management with a balanced program of classroom training and on-the-floor coaching to deliver increased operational accountability

• Problem Resolution
  • Applying process mapping and observations to identify major opportunities for improvement
  • Implementing a company-wide structure to manage opportunities and solutions that consider all internal customer/supplier impacts
  • Implementing effective problem solving tools such as prioritization, root cause analysis, and costing

• Managers are now identifying more variances and are resolving more obstacles affecting their employee’s work day

• Focusing on continuous improvement through the development of base performances, enhanced target setting and the further development of team goals.

PROJECT RESULTS:

The following improvements have been realized:

• Substantial reduction in costs across all areas
• Improved communication – both inside and across departments
• Improved quality of customer contacts
• Enhanced work standards, continuous improvement targets and project milestones
• Improved project management tools and behaviours
• Improved active management tools and behaviours
• Increased involvement of all employees in problem resolution
• Improved Workspace Planning resulting in the reduction of space requirements
• Enhanced automation of some processes and outsourcing of others
• Re-engineered the merchandising process and re-organized the department to combine the logistics and accounting activities. This was done to improve information flow, accountability and efficiency.
• Established an “Ideal Market Centre” model focusing on standards, revenue generation, customer service, best practices and crewing requirements
• Reduced the number of Market Centres by 19% resulting in improved costs

PERPETUATION OF RESULTS:

In order to ensure that the above improvements were sustained the following activities were established:

• Coordinators were trained and certified to be responsible for maintaining all aspects of the project installation through audits and coaching.
• A Process Improvement Program (PIT) was installed to manage improvement opportunities that will continue to be submitted by the employees.
• The local management team is committed to sustaining all of the changes and staying the course.

Audits are occurring that will further support the sustainment and evolution of the implemented changes.