What Exactly is Operational Excellence?

The team at Clarity Lean and Visual Management talks a lot about operational excellence. If you’re wondering why we place so much focus on it, read on to discover how it will benefit your business in a variety of ways.

Clarity Visual Management Warehouse and Factory Layout

What is the operational excellence definition?

As a concept, operational excellence has been around since the 1980s and can be applied to multiple sectors. Put simply, it involves setting the goal of achieving outstanding levels of efficiency, accuracy and performance in everything you do as a business. As a result, it can take many forms depending on your processes, departments and the nature of your company.

How do I identify operational excellence?

There are many ways to measure operational excellence, with a core focus being how effectively your business manages its people, delivers to its customers, collaborates with suppliers and partners, and benefits society whilst satisfying stakeholders. Needless to say, excelling in all of these areas simultaneously is no mean feat, which is why a clear, consistent and sustainable approach is required.

Where does Lean come in?

“Lean” and “operational excellence” are terms that are often used interchangeably but they’re actually separate entities. Lean is a set of tools and practices that combine to enable operational excellence, making it the system that leads to the outcome.

Lean itself was developed by Toyota over many years and has since become the most effective way to embed a culture of operational excellence. It’s a tried and tested methodology that can be fine-tuned according to your business, although the principles remain the same because it’s all about eliminating waste whilst maximising output.

Continuous improvement is key

In order for your business to remain agile, it’s crucial that complacency doesn’t set in. When a company believes that it’s reached perfection, it immediately begins to miss opportunities for enhancement and loses its competitive edge.

We’re passionate about supporting our clients in adopting a mentality of continuous improvement. Waste, constraints and inefficiencies can arise very quickly, so by dedicating your time to continuous improvement you can nip problems in the bud and innovate to a far greater extent.

Monitoring and measuring are key

Whilst some errors can be clearly identified, many develop slowly until they eventually inhibit your processes. This can be in the form of wasted time and resources, disjointed communication, delayed service delivery and any number of other issues that affect the success and reputation of your business.

By constantly monitoring and measuring your processes, you can pinpoint discrepancies and bottlenecks and rectify them far more easily than if they were left to grow.

Your strategy will benefit as a result

A strategy is nothing without concrete data and a deep understanding of how everything within your business is interconnected. When you apply Lean principles and the right kind of visual management products, you’ll always remain in the know and be able to see how your company functions on every level.

This clarity and precision allows you to strategise far more effectively, leading to greater results in a much shorter timeframe. In the process, keeping all of your teams on the same page will ensure ongoing employee engagement and optimised productivity in everything they do.

It’s time to achieve operational excellence

We’re your go-to consultants for all things Lean and visual management. To find out how to achieve operational excellence, get in touch on 01482 296451 or fill in our contact form.