The global economy is witnessing previously unseen levels of competitiveness, forcing business leaders to contend with unprecedented challenges. No longer can companies seize and hold a customer base by operating adequately. In order to enjoy a competitive advantage, an organization must operate at exemplary levels of performance in every facet of business and maintain that degree of excellence indefinitely. This is achieved through careful alignment of operational systems and the use of innovative process management initiatives. “Unless an organization is uniquely qualified to deal with its customers by understanding its own strengths and weakness,” writes internationally renowned operational management expert Christopher K. Ahoy, “it will be unable to understand what is required to move from the current paradigm of doing business.”
In Customer-Driven Operations Management, Ahoy distills the most current business theories and practices that will help you weed out and eliminate operational inefficiencies and put in place the necessary metrics for providing products and services better, cheaper, and faster than ever. Ahoy walks you through the steps of creating a world-class organization, which include
Mapping your company's processes to target weak points
Realigning management systems from functional to process-focused
Setting benchmarks throughout the process to help quantify levels of success
Establish a system of knowledge management for the seamless alignment of teams and departments
Improving process management using Lean, Six Sigma, and other methodologies
Create a sound strategic planning initiative to eliminate future surprises
With diagrams and figures to highlight salient points, Customer-Driven Operations Management clarifies and simplifies the otherwise daunting task of enacting major changes in your company's operations systems.
A Proven Formula for Gaining and Maintaining the Competitive Advantage
In today's increasingly competitive global economy, operational excellence is absolutely essential for any organization that seeks to thrive, not just survive. This means enacting measures to defragment existing processes and putting into place a system that facilitates continuous quality initiatives and systemic improvement.
Customer-Driven Operations Management provides the tools you need locate the weak operational links in your organization and offers prescriptive measures for building a world-class enterprise. With optimized customer-focused operations in your sights, you can target all levels of operations to create an effective organization with operational excellence. This innovative program explains how to:
Set the right metrics for critical success factors
Train employees in pivotal positions
Eliminate waste and inefficiencies
Optimize the work-flow process
Improve procedural capabilities
Customer-Driven Operations Management explains how to combine Six Sigma, Baldrige, Balanced Scorecard, and other popular management tools into a fully integrated system that will increase productivity and profits. This forward-thinking guide, based on years of intensive research, has all the information you need to move your company from a state of “as is” to one of ideal operational effectiveness.
Christopher K. Ahoy is associate vice president for Facilities Planning and Management at Iowa State University. An internationally recognized expert on quality initiatives, he is responsible for having his organization become a three-time recipient of the state of Iowa’s annual Iowa Recognition for Performance Excellence Silver Achievement award.