Business Results & Performance (Part 2 of 4)

Business Results & Performance is a direct output of solid business planning & strategy of the organization.

There are a number of key management domains that are the building blocks for this business management principle.

This week, we are reviewing one of four business management principle domains:

2. FUNCTIONAL MANAGEMENT

This week, we will focus on the domain of FUNCTIONAL MANAGEMENT and the criticality of its affect on achieving business goals and growth.

What we are speaking about this week are a number of process elements performed by operational management on a daily basis that determines Functional Management and a working behaviour of a manufacturing company.  One might think that the use of the descriptive “behaviour” is a bit odd in this context.  We can assure you that operational behaviour is a huge affect on how smoothly or chaotic an organization is ran.

Program/Project Management experiences challenges with the output of such behaviours that either makes their function predictable or marred with fraught in the face of the company’s customer base.  As with many high-tech manufacturers, Engineering or the Technical work forces feels the same impact as they are often a direct link to the customer who is demanding performance, results and supply of product with technical deliverables.  It is key that the entire organization realizes how and what Program/Project Management is about.  Many companies view project management as a timeline schedule.  That is only a method within the PM Toolbox.  There are a large number of project management processes with a collective accountability of all project activity and functions contributing to the end result.

Customer Satisfaction is best managed through well established functional processes supported by a planned set of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) used to communicate progress, status and assurance of meeting contractual obligations.  Our previous blogs and videos related to the  Business Management Health Assessment series provides insight into the foundational elements of performance management to support and deliver expected results.  Those are fundamental building blocks needed for this topic for which we are speaking of today.

It stands to reason that the same premise of KPI management supports not only management, monitoring and control of production and productivity, but also is a critical tool to assess, analyze what is routinely taking place within your factory.  That data is very important to extract lessons learned and apply changes back into the processes that drive your organization on a daily basis.  Think of it as a bit of artificial intelligence (AI) application.

This is also where Quality Assurance chimes in as the operational effectiveness curators for an organization.  Their expertise and contribution to supporting management’s business objectives is paramount.

When it comes to the technical or engineering body within the company, KPI management is a critical tool to help navigate through the scope of work they must deliver.  You could ask yourself, how well do your project engineers manage and work in tandem with the overall Program Management of the products you deliver?  This aspect of the operation should not be overlooked.

As many organizations, a large part of what they deliver (in terms of product) come from the supply chain.  In fact, most high-tech companies subcontract 80% of what they deliver to the OEMs.  Therefore, your company’s management and control of the supply-chain is as important as your own company.  Part 3 of 4 in this series will delve more into KPI management, so stay tuned for the article.

As always, we encourage you to reach out to us on this topic.  We are practitioners with a true passion to help manufacturers like you meet your objectives.  It costs nothing to enquire, and we wager that you will be glad that you did.