Anthony Kelly, Author at Process Insight UK

Want to become a CI Leader?

September 27, 2020August 28, 2020 by Anthony Kelly

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Join us on the journey to Black Belt Certification

We have trained and certified over 750 Lean Six Sigma Belts – you could join them by participating in our BB Data Analytics Remote Training programme starting in September.

3 early bird places are available for those who sign up quickly – these give you free access to our “silver” coaching package.

If you are looking to upgrade from Green Belt to Black Belt this programme could be for you. Also, if you are looking to develop or refresh your JMP^® Data Analytics skills this modular programme allows you to “mix and match” specific modules of interest.

Fully aligned with BQF certification requirements the next wave of our 9-week modular programme starts in September, click here to sign up.

The Process Insight remote JMP ^® training course has allowed me to rapidly progress my development towards black belt qualification. The modules have been engaging and interactive. The individual one to one sessions have also allowed me to apply the taught materials to my business problems and needs to further improve my understanding and application of the newly learnt skills and techniques. Overall this has been a great experience and I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of statistical analysis or Lean Six Sigma.

((Josh Limbachia , Teledyne e2V))

We are extremely grateful to over 40 delegates who have so far participated in the pilots of our Remote JMP^® Data Analytics programme (including two in-house programmes with Victrex and NLMK). Thanks to their support, encouragement and enthusiastic participation we are now confident that our remote training approach is here to stay, and is a great solution for anyone wanting to develop their BB/Data Analytics capability from the safety, convenience, and comfort of their home office – wherever they are located.

The programme is not a typical on–line training… just like our traditional classroom approach it remains instructor led, highly interactive, highly practical and supported by experienced coaching to help you apply the tools and methods to your own problems and data sets. You will learn in a friendly and supportive environment.
Even if a vaccine was available tomorrow we are convinced our remote training would remain a highly attractive option for many!

Clear, structured and well written course materials, workbooks and case studies striking the right balance between the theory and hands-on JMP^® experience. All this combined with the instructor expertise and coaching style results in another excellent course delivered by Process Insight.”

(Nick Goodman, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies)

You can join our Open Programme. Alternatively if you would like to discuss an “in-house” Data Analytics remote training programme tailored to your specific needs then please contact us.

Should you have any questions or require more information about any of the content in this newsletter please do get in touch with either myself, Andy or Michaela and we can discuss the simple next steps. Alternatively give us a call on + 44 (0) 7785 927144.

Andrew Ruddick

If you haven’t done so already why not sign up to our Linkedin Group, Process Improvement Club.

Or follow our company page on Linkedin.

Summer 2020 newsletter

August 27, 2020August 27, 2020 by Anthony Kelly

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Wow!!….since our last newsletter in the Spring what a remarkable time it has been for all of us. Massive disruption to everything we thought was pretty stable and secure and all of us going through a lightning fast learning curve in how best to respond to uncertain and rapidly changing circumstances.

For us at Process Insight it’s been all about how we can best continue to support our clients “Remotely”. We have benefitted enormously from the fantastic delegates who agreed to participate so enthusiastically in our remote training pilots. We are very proud of these delegates and what they achieved. Their energy & support has given us the confidence to fully commit to this training approach – even if a vaccine was available tomorrow we would continue to provide remote training because of the advantages we have found it gives our clients.

However, in this newsletter we thought it might be interesting to focus on the experiences of a few of our key clients and explore how they have been navigating their way through lockdown and beyond. What has it meant for them? What have they Learnt? What does their future now look like? I’m very grateful to Alison Hartley (CI Leader, Teledyne e2V), David Payne (Global Director of Strategic Operating Systems, JM Healthcare), Matt Bradshaw (Head of Learning & Development & Lean Sigma, FujiFilm Diosynth Biotechnologies), and Luisa Lovato (Group Opex Leader, Beltrame) for taking the time to share their stories and their Covid Experiences with us. Perhaps yours have been similar?

We started our discussions by exploring the overall impact of Covid on the overall businesses.

Alison – For us production has continued throughout with about 60% of employees remaining on site. The demand for some of our medical imaging products has ramped up significantly. Other products used primarily in radiotherapy have fallen back significantly but we anticipate this will come back as soon as cancer treatments start to ramp up again.

David – Our plants have been running flat out with increasing demand for pain relief. We’ve had some supply chain issues with raw materials from China & Italy. Also for us about 60% of employees on site with remainder working from home.

Matt – About 50% of our staff have remained on site with the other 50% working remotely. We are heavily involved globally in development and manufacture of Covid related vaccines & therapeutics, so from a business perspective we are very busy.

Luisa – For us this has been a tough year in the market. Demand for steel has decreased. But this has been a great opportunity from an Opex perspective to create a “burning platform” to drive much needed change. It has allowed us see and address some really important inefficiencies in how we do things.

So how do you think your organisation has responded to the challenges of Covid?

Matt – the organisation has responded very well and very quickly. Many of my colleagues have relished the challenge. It’s amplified our inherent organisational strengths in flexibility and adaptiveness.

Alison – We’ve seen very impressive levels of teamwork. There has obviously been a lot of anxiety around, but as an organisation we have been able to make decisions quickly with the interests of our employees always at the heart of what we have chosen to do.

Luisa – Italy was first into the crisis so we had lots of uncertainty to deal with. However people have really found ways to be effective working remotely in teams. We have been able to use this crisis in a positive way to challenge some long held beliefs about how we should work together.

David – I’ve been very impressed with the way our people have responded. I felt our response was very professional and the organisation as a whole demonstrated flexibility and a high tolerance for dealing with uncertainty. It was also evident that many of the Lean Performance Management processes we had in place (e.g. cell structures and tier meetings) were very robust, well embedded, and well able to keep the business running effectively despite the challenges of lockdown. That has been great to see!

What specifically has Covid meant for OpEx/CI activities across the organisation?

Luisa – For us it’s been a great opportunity to demonstrate the value of Opex across different parts of the Organisation. The crisis and the need for remote working has highlighted many inefficiencies in what we do. The Country-Managers have been asking for lots of help and support to improve different aspects of their operations. In fact we have been overwhelmed with requests for help and it has been difficult to prioritise. It has also highlighted that delivering improvement is all about relationships – so we’ve had to put much more effort and planning into managing and engaging with stakeholders remotely. We are still learning how to do this better.

Matt – For some, the opportunity for remote working has helped the progress of improvement activities with more focus and less distractions. Of course, starting new improvement projects has been more difficult. A real positive impact, however, has been to get people to recognise that “the impossible is possible”. We are still recruiting very heavily to support our rapid growth, and following lockdown we had to rapidly move all our “onboarding” process for new recruits to a virtual process. This has been a real success story for us and has been a lever to get the organisation thinking more generally about other possibilities for radical new ways of doing things.

David – We have used the crisis in a positive way as an opportunity to strengthen our Global Deployment. We already had key elements in place, but the challenges of Covid and lockdown have reinforced the need for our Healthcare Operating System and this is clearly shared amongst our leaders. We have also had a bit of space and time to do the analysis and make sure we continue to focus on the right things. Covid hasn’t changed the priorities but it has helped accelerate the need to do things differently.

Alison – The requirements of social distancing in the plan has led to lots of good lean thinking (e.g. visual management) happening in the plant quite naturally. Several colleagues have fedback that they find virtual meetings more efficient with better planning, preparation and facilitation – so we achieve more in less time. In some cases, where we are experiencing a downturn, this has allowed some headroom for implementing flow and layout improvements that we have been wanting to do for some time. I think, overall, the biggest benefit has been to prove that when people are focussed on a clear goal, massive change is possible in a remarkably short period of time. This is a powerful piece of organisational learning.

What have been your “Key lessons Learnt”?

David – As the crisis developed we learnt a lot about how to communicate quickly and effectively, and we have had great feedback from our staff on how we dealt with this. We have also developed a new “Operations Playbook” giving our teams a much clearer roadmap for managing our facilities and teams in a pandemic type emergency. I’ve also been very pleasantly surprised at how the organisation has been able to quickly adapt to new ways of working. Our challenge will be to harness and re-inforce all this positive experience as we continue to move forward.

Alison – For me, it’s about seeing how quickly change can take place when the need is clear and present. We moved to a 2-shift system almost overnight when historically that had been very difficult. We have also had QA processes that we had to quickly simplify and make “virtual”. We had been trying unsuccessfully to do that for several years previously but meeting enormous resistance. I’m proud of how my colleagues have dealt with the challenges, grasped the opportunities and the level of teamworking that I’ve seen throughout the organisation. It shows what is possible.

Luisa – In Italy “Smart Working” (or working from home) has not previously been widely accepted. This crisis has stimulated a totally new way of working in Beltrame (and other Italian companies) and it’s great. We are all learning how to work together effectively remotely. We are starting to learn how to use the technology and how to engage with each other when we are not face to face. This has also been a great opportunity to shift the perception of Opex in Beltrame – we are no longer seen as “policemen” for the process and are now looked to as facilitators of new ways of doing things.

Matt – One important thing I realised is that the Change Equation (Dissatisfaction * Vision *Next Steps > Resistance) is missing a “B” (“Belief”). If people don’t have “belief “ they cannot rise to the challenge. One of our roles as “Change Leaders” is to create that belief and then people can, and will, do extraordinary things. We saw that with the development of our Virtual Onboarding process – once we got people to believe it could be done the “impossible” quickly became possible. I’ve seen several examples of this over the last few months. The other thing this experience has re-inforced for me is the value and importance of good coaching. In this new world we need to constantly encourage people to take more responsibility for making their own decisions and coaching is the best way to do this.

So, final question, do you think your organisations have found a new normal as a result of this crisis or will they slowly revert back to more traditional ways of doing things?

Alison – A second outbreak remains the biggest risk to our business. We don’t anticipate bringing our homeworkers back this year, things are working well as they are, and bringing more people back on site will have to be done very slowly and carefully to minimise risk. People have generally found many positives about working from home and I anticipate we will explore some sort of “blended” model in the future.

Luisa – I think our business has become very comfortable with these new ways of working. We will have to train people better to make them comfortable with the new remote working tools but I don’t think we will revert back.

Matt – We have transformed the way we work during the pandemic. We have used our core strength of adaptability, built upon our resilience and shown that we can even increase our output. It’s hard to say how things might change further in the future but we have shown that we can continue to adapt and grow in these challenging times. Whatever the future holds in terms of ways of working, I’m confident that we are ready for it and we will adapt quickly.

David – We will have a numbers restriction on site for a long time to come. We need to constantly work at how to better engage with others remotely and find ways to have “ad -hoc” conversations. Also how to do things like training remotely. But we have been very encouraged about how some of our core Lean management processes have continued to operate (e.g. SQCDP), so I don’t see things ever going back to the way they were before.

Finally, many thanks once again to each of you for taking the time to share your recent experiences. What’s clear is that each of you feels very proud of the way your organisations have responded to the challenge. Also, what has been very obvious from the discussion are the different ways that OpEx and CI skills and capabilities have played their part. New and better ways of doing things are becoming the norm, building on foundations already in place but also opening up new opportunities. When we look back in a few years time it will be remarkable to see what changes have been stimulated by addressing the needs of this crisis.

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

At Process Insight we help organisations solve their business problems in a way that supports the personal development of the people involved. Consequently we are particularly delighted to offer our congratulations to those we have recently coached & certified. Certification represents a very important milestone and is a great demonstration of sustained leadership & business impact. If you would like to find out more about becoming accredited then give us a call on 07785 927144.

Should you have any questions or require more information about any of the content in this newsletter please do get in touch with either myself or Andy and we can discuss the simple next steps. Alternatively give us a call on + 44 (0) 7785 927144.

If you haven’t done so already why not sign up to our Linkedin Group, Process Improvement Club.

Or follow our company page on Linkedin.

Are you an aspiring Change Leader?

August 21, 2020August 21, 2020 by Anthony Kelly

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Join our Growing Family of Green Belts

We have trained and certified over 750 Lean Six Sigma Belts – you could join them by participating in our GB Remote Training programme starting in September.

3 early bird places are available for those who sign up quickly – these give you free access to our “silver” coaching package.

If you are looking for Green Belt Training our recently developed Remote Training Programme could be your solution. All the advantages of instructor-led highly interactive Lean Six Sigma training delivered to your home office… wherever you are!

The next wave of the 12-week modular Open programme starts in September.

In truth when we launched our Pilot programme in May we weren’t sure what to expect. However, thanks to fantastic delegates from several of our clients (including Johnson Matthey, Teledyne e2V, FujiDiosynth, Beltrame) it’s been a great learning experience over the past few months and has given us the confidence that this is the way to go. Even if a vaccine became available tomorrow the advantages of remote training mean it will always remain a key part of the support we can offer.

Some advantages of the Remote GB we have found include:

The training delivered in “bite size” digestible modules
A variety of teaching methods and media – something for all learning styles
Highly interactive instructor facilitated “peer to peer” coaching clinics – you don’t just learn from doing your own project!
Live practice using virtual collaboration tools (jam board, miro boards, app diagrams)… so you also learn how to facilitate and run projects effectively in the “virtual world”
Quick turn-around in application of new tools even outside projects e.g. on the pilot, one delegate used jam board for a meeting because we had practiced it the week prior, another delegate combined negative brainstorming with waste walks very successfully immediately following the module

Well done everyone, and thank you Michaela for getting this virtual training up and running so quickly and effectively and for all the support you have given the team.

(Alison Hartley, Head of Continuous Improvement at Teledyne e2V)

The Remote GB Open training is fully aligned with BQF Certification. Like all Process Insight training it remains very practical and project delivery focused. You will learn in a positive, friendly and supportive environment with lots of peer to peer interaction with other delegates via the wonders of “Zoom”.

Alternatively if you would like to discuss an “in-house” remote training programme tailored to your specific needs then please contact us.

Andrew Ruddick

If you haven’t done so already why not sign up to our Linkedin Group, Process Improvement Club.

Or follow our company page on Linkedin.

Become a Continuous Improvement Leader

August 14, 2020August 13, 2020 by Anthony Kelly

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Join us on the Journey to BQF Certification

We have trained and certified over 750 Lean Six Sigma Belts – you could join them by participating in our newly developed GB & BB Data Analytics Remote Training programme starting in September.

3 early bird places are available for those who sign up quickly – these give you free access to our “silver” coaching package.

In our move from traditional classroom training over 40 delegates have participated so far in our pilot. We are very proud of the progress they have all made. Their energy, commitment and enthusiasm has shown us that Remote Training can work just as well (and perhaps even better) than the traditional classroom approach. Their positive feedback and support has given us the confidence to continue down this path… so thank you!

Why has it worked so well? The feedback suggests a number of things

the training delivered in “bite size” digestible modules
training delivery better paced with practical use of tools and techniques back in workplace
regular coaching clinics with lots of “peer to peer” support
live practice with using virtual collaboration tools (jam board, miro boards, app diagrams)
important topics covered which are not part of the standard “belt” curriculum e.g. virtual team working and virtual leadership skills

Being part of the Process Insight Green Belt ‘virtual’ programme has been a fantastic experience. Process Insight have helped me to quickly adapt to this new learning environment with the use of different tools (Jamboard, OneDrive etc.), which have enabled me to easily learn, practice and collaborate on my Green Belt project.

(Jack Moran, FujiFilm Diosynth Biotechnologies)

Fully aligned with BQF certification requirements, you can now get instructor led and highly interactive “belt” training from the safety, convenience, and comfort of your home office… from anywhere in the world. Our next wave of both Green Belt & Black Belt Open programmes starts in September. Alternatively contact us if you would like to discuss an “in-house” remote training programme tailored to your specific needs.

Get more GB information

Get more BB information

Andrew Ruddick

If you haven’t done so already why not sign up to our Linkedin Group, Process Improvement Club.

Or follow our company page on Linkedin.

Spring 2020 newsletter

April 13, 2020April 13, 2020 by Anthony Kelly

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Come Along And Enjoy Our Networking Events

We would like to wish all our friends and clients a Happy Easter – please keep safe and take care of your loved ones, friends and any neighbours who may currently need your help & support.

At times like this human connection (even if on the end of a FaceTime or Zoom call) can be so important.

These are unusual times calling for each of us to respond to new circumstances in creative, proactive and resilient ways. When we are out the other side of this, we will reflect and realise how much we have learnt and how much has changed – I am sure we will find lots of positives and also be able to look back with pride when considering the challenges we’ve all overcome and the support we have been able to provide our family, friends and colleagues.

Make Good Use of the "Gift of Time"

Some of us now have been given the gift of some time to focus on important things that can get “lost” in the hurly burly of the day to day during more normal periods.

Particularly for those of us involved in Opex/CI activities, this opens up some valuable opportunities:

Skills Development – Do I (or my team) need to develop or brush up our Lean Sigma skills and tools? Perhaps I need to learn some new skills (e.g. facilitating virtual meetings), or read that book on the shelf, or learn more about business accounting (particularly useful for CI leaders looking to better identify high value projects!)
Certification – Perhaps I can use this time to get that project written up and over the certification line. Maybe now is the time I pull my dossier together for MBB certification.
Data – How about I spend some time looking at that tricky data set I have been meaning to explore for a while and to brush up my JMP Skills.
Re- prioritising – Should I review the project portfolio and re-align, future proof project portfolio for life after the crisis. Perhaps write up the portfolio for internal PR/marketing (much of the time we don’t do enough to communicate our successes and this could be a valuable opportunity!)
Relationships and Stakeholders – How am I going to maintain my relationships with key stakeholders now I am no longer seeing them every day in the corridor. What new communication routines do I need to put in place? How can I use these strange times as an excuse to have different types of conversations which will increase trust and strengthen bonds.
Communicating with impact – How can I use preferences to improve written communication (emails) and spoken also since all we have on the phone/Zoom is our voice and the words we speak.

“What did you learn today,” is a fine question to ask. Particularly right this minute, when we have more time and less peace of mind than is usually the norm. (with acknowledgements to Seth Godin)

We would be really interested to hear how you are using your time differently and productively – there may be some great learning for others that we could share in a future newsletter.

More generally, how at PICL are we adapting to this new situation, and how are we working differently with our network of clients to help them in new ways and also to help them help each other?

We will Soon Be Delivering Our Training "Remotely"

This is a great time to continue to develop your skills, and the skills of your teams. In response to this need we have re-designed our Green Belt Open Programme and will be delivering it remotely using Zoom. Our first course starts in May. It will be a 12-week modular programme supported by coaching sessions and “drop in” clinics.

Instead of 5 days intense classroom training you will get 7 days support spread over the duration of your GB project. It will continue to be project based, it will be fully aligned with BQF certification requirements and, in addition, to the standard green belt curriculum it will be training you in tools and methods that will allow you to facilitate workshops and progress your projects effectively using remote working methods. These will be vital skills for the future world of work! More details of the training can be found here .

We are also developing our Data Analytics, DOE and JMP modules so that they can be delivered remotely and more details of this will be announced very shortly.

Did you Know We Do a lot of Remote Coaching?

Short, sharp 1-hour Webex coaching sessions are a great way to keep projects moving along at pace in these tricky times. With one client in Italy, just before “lockdown” we trained a large group of Green Belts. Obviously there was a significant risk that the value of the training would be lost with delegates now finding it difficult to progress their projects. We have helped them with that by setting up regular ad-hoc 1:1 coaching sessions to keep things moving along.

We find these coaching sessions are serving a wider purpose than just simple Green Belt coaching, with people finding some comfort and re-assurance in the routine and the “normality” of a project discussion. Also these coaching sessions are definitely helping people think differently and creatively about how to progress their improvement work when traditional approaches may no longer be appropriate.

Contact Us if you would like some coaching to accelerate your projects.

Knock Your Storyboards into Shape For BQF Certification!

Many of you will have a bit more time away from the daily work pressures – so there really is no excuse to delay knocking your project storyboards into shape for certification!
Make the most of this valuable opportunity. There are lots of you out there we have trained and not yet certified (several hundred at the last count) so what are you waiting for?
If you are not quite sure exactly what to do then get in touch – it would be great to catch up and we would be delighted to give you some help & guidance.
The certifications can be done remotely as well… so if you play your cards right, when the lockdown is over you might have a new valuable certification under your belt. Click here if you would like some help.

In a similar vein, if you are thinking about going for MBB accreditation, this would be a great time to pull your submission dossier together. We can help you do a “gap analysis” and guide you through the process of submission if you are ready. Alternatively we can help you develop a personal action plan to close any gaps. MBB accreditation is the “Gold Standard” for Continuous Improvement/Opex Professionals and ideal for anyone building a career in that area.

My Master Black Belt accreditation means more to me to me than my MBA.

Mark Vaughan, Global Programme Manager, HSBC

Click here if you would like to discuss MBB Accreditation

It’s a Good Time For Data Analytics!

Data preparation (joining/merging data sets etc.) and “clean up” can sometimes be the biggest challenge when looking at your data. Even with JMP people typically estimate 80% of the time and effort is spent getting your data into the right form to do the analysis you want.

If you have precious time available now to look at your data, but you can’t quite sort it out then don’t struggle on – just give us a shout and we would be happy to point you in the right direction. We love helping clients with their data…so don’t be shy!

Click here if you would like help with Data Analytics

Frustrated With The Available Covid19 Data Analytics?

All of us will have been closely following the Covid19 story and many will be somewhat “dissatisfied” with the quality of the data analysis offered by the news networks.

One notable exception is the work done by John Hopkins University, but even this has some limitations. Exploring & comparing the data analysis done by different countries raises all sorts of interesting questions e.g. operational definitions, measurement systems, sampling strategies.
Andy is using some of his “newly available” time to explore this. He has done a lot of data cleaning, merging of different data sets etc and now has a “ready to analyse” set of data in a JMP data table which is ready to be investigated.
As a bit of light relief in these difficult times we are now inviting you to join the PICL challenge – We will send you the data set for you to explore and see what you interesting things you can find. We will publish the most interesting analyses in a future newsletters. Prizes (yet to be defined) will be on offer!

Click here if you would like to receive the cleaned data set and join in the challenge!

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

If you haven’t done so already why not sign up to our Linkedin Group, Process Improvement Club.

Or follow our company page on Linkedin.

How we can support you through the crisis

March 23, 2020March 23, 2020 by Anthony Kelly

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Just like everyone else, at PICL we are having to adapt to these strange new circumstances! There is no doubt that things are going to be very different over the coming months and perhaps beyond. There will be significant change and that’s what Process Insight are good at. So, we thought we would let you know how we will navigate and work with you through these turbulent times.

We already provide much of our coaching and mentoring remotely by webex and zoom conferencing. We find this works very well and for the next few months we will be switching more of our clients over to this approach. We will organise this with you on a case by case basis.

Regarding our training, we are now working to develop webex based modules for our Green Belt, Black Belt and JMP training. These will be fully aligned with BQF certification requirements and will be supported by additional one to one webex coaching to supplement and support the learning and effective project delivery – we believe we can make this just as effective, interactive and enjoyable as our classroom training. We will be announcing more details about this in the next few weeks.

We are of course always here to help you in a consulting and leadership coaching capacity. We may not be able to visit you on site but there is much we can do together remotely.

Perhaps you have some data you are trying to make sense of and would like a sounding board or an external perspective.
Maybe, for the first time, you will have to facilitate group discussions and manage project teams remotely and would like guidance on methods and tools that can help you.
Also, with more of us working from home over the next few months this could be the ideal opportunity for spending time away from the daily hustle and bustle and thinking about your business and operational challenges and how you might improve as well as developing new skills.

If you want to chat about anything at all please get in touch with one of us.

Above all we send each of you our best wishes and encourage you to take care, stay safe, and help others around you who may be in less fortunate circumstances.

Contact Andrew Ruddick (+44) 7785927144 ar@nullprocess-insight.co.uk or Andy Liddle (+44) 7860 622166‬ al@nullprocess-insight.co.uk

Very Sad News

February 26, 2020January 9, 2020 by Anthony Kelly

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We are extremely sad to tell you that Orietta, one of our closest friends and colleagues, passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly on Boxing Day. Our thoughts and prayers are with her children Andrea and Olivia, her partner Mike, and with the rest of her family and friends.

Orietta has been a close member of our team for the last 3 years. She brought great zest for life, passion, energy, and immense experience to everything she did. She was inspiring us in new and different ways.

Prior to joining us Orietta had a long and successful career in industry and consulting. Throughout this she built a really strong track record, helping and inspiring others through her supportive leadership & coaching. Everyone who worked with her remembers her very fondly. We felt extremely fortunate when she decided she would like to work with us.

Orietta had a diverse range of interests and talents. She enjoyed skiing, sailing, and diving. She loved good food and wine. She was very creative – a keen woodcarver, and also a poet and a writer with a love for the power of words. A few years ago she published some of her work which beautifully reflects her joy for life and the world around her, her love for family and friends, but, true to her, doesn’t shy away from the pain in some of her memories. One of her short poems is below, and you can read more of her work here ….I’m sure she would like it if you did.

Have you heard the song of a brook in early spring
The whisper of a flowering meadow in the heat of summer
The sigh of a falling leaf as it meets its bed of pine needles
The perfect silence of a snowflake floating down from a moonlit sky

Nature’s symphony
It silences the cacophony of my mind
And makes my heart sing

We will miss her enormously – for her encouragement & support, for her sense of fun and delightful laugh, for the contributions she made to help us all as a team & individually, and for the massively positive impact she had in the short time we have been privileged to know her.

With love and best wishes from us all at Process Insight.

Autumn 2019 newsletter

October 27, 2019October 27, 2019 by Anthony Kelly

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Come Along And Enjoy Our Networking Events

At Process Insight we love providing a forum for our clients and friends to share their best practice and learn from each other. To help this we run regular networking events. Our most recent one was held at Judges (on Teesside) in the August sunshine.

The theme was “Visual Management in Maintenance”, and included presentations from Ardagh Glass, BP, and Rosen. We got a record attendance!

If you are interested in participating in future networking opportunities let me know and I’ll make sure you are on the circulation. The next event will be a site visit on Wednesday 11th December to Ardagh Glass in Knottingley – An opportunity to see some great examples of 5S, Lean and Six sigma application in glass bottle manufacturing – a fascinating world!

Delivering People Centric Project Management

What do Green Belt / Black Belt projects, New Product Introduction projects, Global Transformation projects and CAPEX projects have in common?
You got it…. The word projects! There are a plethora of Project Management approaches out there, all similar in content although rebranded to resonate with a particular audience.
With them you will learn how to run projects from a technical viewpoint – GANTT charts, resource management, Work Breakdown Structure, paperwork etc. But what about the most important ingredient in a successful project? I am not talking about the product – be it a new process, new equipment or new commercialised product. I am talking of the people, the individuals whom you need for the project to be a success, not just in terms designing and delivering the outcome, but more importantly to ensure the outcome fulfils the strategic need it was borne out of, the project progresses smoothly and timely, and its results are leveraged to the full so an organisation enjoys the Rate of Return on Investment it was promised at the onset.
We are currently putting the finishing touches to a ‘People Centric Project Management’ offering. If any of you are interested in having a Voice of the Customer conversation please get in touch with of@nullprocess-insight.co.uk

Our Open Training Continues to go from Strength to Strength

We have just kicked off our Autumn Open Training programme. 10 delegates attended or very popular 5-day Green Belt course (which as you can see from the photo included a very enjoyable course dinner at a local gastro-pub!).

These delegates are now enthusiastically delivering their GB projects supported by ongoing coaching and mentoring to help them achieve their BQF certification.

Further Open Training this year includes modules on Data Analytics & Problem Solving (using JMP®) , DOE, Change Leadership, Design For Lean Six Sigma, and OpEx Deployment.

If you would like to know more about our Open Training and our GB, BB, and MBB programmes then please get in touch.

In Memory of Professor Hans Rosling – Story Telling With Data

Professor Hans Rosling sadly died recently, and will be much missed. If you haven’t come across him, he was a fantastic communicator who had a unique knack of telling stories with data. You can find out more about how Professor Rosling debunks myths by dramatic data visualisation and presentation using these links to a couple of examples:

We can’t guarantee to turn you into the next Hans Rosling, but we can certainly help you to tell better stories and get more engagement with your data – get in touch to find out more.

Delivering More Value From Your OpEx Activities

At Process Insight we have a mission to help OpEx leaders have more impact and deliver more value from their programmes and activities. We like to do this in a simple and pragmatic way. This includes developing simple tools people can use to evaluate the strengths and relative weaknesses of their current situation (i.e. to help them apply continuous improvement to the programme itself!) If you are leading an OpEx or CI programme or you are involved in any way as a “belt” or a change agent then you might want to have a go with this simple diagnostic to help you “shine a light” on your activitiesl

We would love to hear about what you find !

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

If you haven’t done so already why not sign up to our Linkedin Group, Process Improvement Club.

Summer 2019 newsletter

July 15, 2019July 14, 2019 by Anthony Kelly

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You May Learn More Than You Expect On Our Change Leadership Master-class!

Delegates on our Master-classes always have an interesting, entertaining and sometimes unexpected experience. At our recent Change Leadership workshop participants from Ardagh Glass, Beltrame and NLMK took the opportunity to practice their team building and Change Leadership whilst learning the traditional English skill of scone baking from one of North Yorkshire’s leading bakers, Babs Flintoff.

It was a hard fought contest. Congratulations to Luisa and her team for becoming the Process Insight 2019 Scone Masterclass Champions – a new skill to impress your Italian friends and colleagues!

Closing The Gap

Many of our clients have well established OpEx improvement programmes. However, even with very mature deployments, we can often help you extract even more value by working with you to “close the gap” to best practices across a range of areas.

We can quickly diagnose the strengths and further opportunities from your deployments using a number of proprietary assessment tools combined with our many years of hard won experience! We can guide you to export your OpEx skills to other areas such as PMO, New Product Introduction, Capex projects, Performance Management, and Sales & Marketing process improvements to drive top line growth.

For example, recently Orietta has been working with the OpEx team at Ardagh Glass to strengthen their core project management skills and accelerate their project delivery. Feedback has been very positive.

Project Management is the most important tool for running a good project. Orietta is a fantastic trainer, using real examples and open discussion for us to learn. Great method!

Very in -depth content for project management and OpEx governance. Orietta is a fantastic trainer, she explains and teaches in a very clear way, gives real examples and shares personal experiences

Good mixture of presentation and engaging activities to cement concepts and ideas

If you would like to discuss how we might help you “close your gaps” and extract even more value from your improvement activities then please get in touch. Whatever the level of experience of you and your team we may well have something to offer.

Our Clients Continue To Exploit The Power of JMP

Many of you will know that at Process Insight we are very committed to helping our clients make best use of the opportunities JMP offers in data visualisation and analytics. For example, new dashboarding capability is being used by Johnson Matthey Edinburgh to help manufacturing cells visualise key KPIs.

Also, you can hear us co-present at the JMP User Group in July where we will be discussing how the DOE capability in JMP is supporting the delivery of strategic product and manufacturing initiatives. The JMP User Groups are good networking events which are free of charge. They give you lots of ideas about how people are using the software to solve real problems in their businesses.

If you would like to explore how JMP can help you get more value and insight from your data then please give us a call.

Sign Up For Our Autumn Open Training Programme

In today’s world of automation, robotics, and “big data” the skills of process improvement and data analytics are increasingly in demand. Green Belt, Black Belt, and Master Black Belt training & accreditation continue to deliver fantastic career development opportunities.

Recent delegate feedback shows why over 85% of our delegates would highly recommend our training to others.

Approachable, Engaging, Expert, Fast paced

Graham, FujiDiosynth Supply Chain Manager

Excellent. Good working examples. Invaluable content

Lee, IT Manager

Substantial content delivered in engaging way. Great exercises made relevant to each delegate and their business/projects

Jon, self employed Lean consultant

If you are interested in learning powerful new techniques which will equip you for a wide variety of opportunities then our Lean Sigma Open Training & Belt Certification Programme could be for you.

We deliver a full range of courses that covers Green Belt, Black Belt, Master Black Belt and Data Analytics. We are now recruiting the cohort for our Autumn training programme.

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

If you haven’t done so already why not sign up to our Linkedin Group, Process Improvement Club.

Spring 2019 newsletter

April 1, 2019March 30, 2019 by Anthony Kelly

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Accelerate Your Improvements – Learn How To Bring “Agile“ into DMAIC

We have all heard of Agile as the “next great thing”.… so what exactly is Agile and how does it complement the more traditional approach to OpEx activities?

There are three things Agile will bring to your improvement ‘tool box’

The ability to work on complex problems allowing you to evolve OpEx from the traditional ‘one Y, one project’ approach – And still keep your sanity whilst you are doing so!
An iterative understand-build-test-improve approach to planning, guiding, and accelerating improvement projects.
An elevated level of customer / stakeholder involvement, ensuring that solutions are recognised to deliver quality in the eye of the customer. Insights gained from the critique of an iteration are used to determine what the next step should be in the project.

Together this results in more tangible progress during the programme, giving a real sense of value and speed! This is particularly important when you are trying to tackle complex issues with broad multi-functional scope.

Orietta is our Agile Scrum Master, and she can help you develop Agile enabled projects that build on your existing capabilities (rather than attempt to teach you a stand-alone new toolbox). Orietta will help you leverage Agile to the full, and make sure you feel the benefit!

Look out for our Webinar on AgileDMAIC© on 1st May and register below if you are interested in joining the discussion.

Don't Forget The Soft Stuff!

Traditional Lean Six Sigma training equips delegates with a fantastic “toolbox”, but real success comes when the hard “tools” training is combined with additional “soft skills” development to help with the practical implications of driving improvement projects in busy organisations.

Michaela & Orietta have been working with several clients recently to supplement their Green Belt Training with additional 1 day modules on Leading Change, Effective Facilitation, and Project Management. Often taken for granted, developing these skills can make a really significant difference.

Tangible benefits our clients are seeing include

Faster project delivery
Much better management of project barriers and blockers
Much greater sponsor and stakeholder engagement resulting in better solutions
Less frustrated GBs and BB

Delegate feedback suggests they also appreciate the additional soft skills training input:

“inspiring” “really helpful” “will make all the difference” “I can see now how I can make my project successful” “Opened my eyes to things I’d never thought about”

Find out more about ‘Soft Skills’ Development by contacting Michaela or Orietta

Do What Private Equity Firms Do

Learn how to uncover hidden value with an OpEx Assessment.
Benchmarking your Opex Activities against best practice is a great way to assess strengths, weaknesses, and pinpoint focus areas for improvement. At Process Insight we have developed several self-assessment tools which we often use with our clients to help shape their programmes.
Over the last few years we have also worked with Private Equity company, Pamploma, to use these tools in helping them extract value from the companies in which they invest.

We have found the Process Insight Opex Assessments very useful in the due diligence process when both buying and selling companies.It gives us a great view on the comparative performance of an organisation that does not come through in the financials alone.

Derek Whitworth
Operating Partner, Pamploma Capital Management

Follow the lead of highly successful PE investors – Find out more about our Opex Assessments by requesting more information or giving us a call (Andrew on 07785 927144; Andy on 07860 622166)

Don't Be Frightened By DOE!

DOE (Design of experiments) is definitely towards the more “specialist” end of the spectrum of the Lean Sigma toolbox. However, capabilities in JMP are making it easier and easier all the time. It’s a great tool for supporting product design, robust process design & scale up – we believe everyone involved in new product/process development and process transfers should have DOE as an essential part of their kitbag.
Recent DOE training with Clients includes Smartkem (flexible electronics), Johnson Matthey (Pharmaceuticals), Aesica (Pharmaceuticals)

Some example feedback from recent Smartkem Training:

“Really useful’ (Ria)
‘Perfect level for both those new to stats and to those with more experience” (Katy)
“Brilliant Training” (Jesse)
“Great mix of theory and practice” (John)

Don’t be frightened – get trained!

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

If you haven’t done so already why not sign up to our Linkedin Group, Process Improvement Club.

Christmas 2018 newsletter

December 23, 2018December 14, 2018 by Anthony Kelly

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Season’s Greetings From Us All at Process Insight

Once again, another exciting year has flown by!
Seasonal Greetings to you all from Andy, Andrew, Michaela & Orietta. As ever we have enjoyed working with you in 2018. We hope you have a great festive season and enjoy well-earned time with your family & friends.

With everyone being very busy in the run up to the holidays we will make this newsletter pretty brief and mention just a few quick highlights from recent weeks.

Our Annual Master-classes Continue To Be A Great Success

Over the last few weeks we have been delighted to host both our Change Leadership & Opex Leadership Master-classes. The aim of these workshops is to bring our clients together to learn and share best practices around Change Leadership and the deployment of Lean Sigma. We get tremendous delegate feedback:

“Excellent, relevant, highly recommended.”

“Great examples, anecdotes, great learning atmosphere.”

“Brilliant”

Frustrated that your projects take too long? Looking for the benefits of rigorous problem solving combined with more intensity and pace in delivery?
If so then you are not alone!

You may be interested in talking to us about how we have combined the benefits of Agile with DMAIC to launch our proprietary Agile dMAIc^© method.

We see this as an important evolution of the Lean Sigma approach to help tackle the many challenges that organisations face right now in our fast moving world.

Process Insight Networking Events

In November we held one of our regular networking events in London.
The topic for this discussion was “How to create a continuous improvement culture”. It generated some thought very provoking conversation on how to move beyond “projects” towards an environment where CI is more ingrained in “business as usual” activities.

We love these opportunities to help our clients share best practices and experiences. There are always some “golden nuggets” that people take away. Make sure you keep your eyes open for invitations to our networking days in 2019.

Keeping in Touch With What is Going On

Do you know there are other ways to keep in touch with us?

If you haven’t done so already why not sign up to our Linkedin Group, Process Improvement Club.

Or follow our company page on Linkedin.

Alternatively, perhaps you might want to follow us on Twitter.

If you do that then you will always be up to date with our latest news, events, and activities.

2019 Open Programme

The schedule for our 2019 Open Training Programme is now available.

If you are looking for the highest quality Green Belt, Black Belt, and Master Black Belt training look no further.

Our courses get rave reviews and over 85% of delegates would highly recommend to others.

For further details of our Open Programme click here, or give me (Andrew Ruddick) a call on 07785 927144.

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

Green Belt certification

Katie Thewlis FujiFilm
Weili Qui Victrex
Phil Cook Victrex
Liam Boyle Victrex
Arnaud Marcheux Beltrame
David Sculier Beltrame
Kevin Holaind Beltrame
Aurelien Dessort Beltrame
Alain Cattiaux Beltrame
Darren Hewitt Victrex
Domenico Micciche Beltrame
Bill Burns e2v Teledyne
Ryan Campbell e2v Teledyne
Nicholas Faulks e2v Teledyne
Arek Miaskowski Victrex
Kieran Moss Victrex
Ryan England Victrex
Chris Tyler Victrex

Save the date – upcoming Process Insight Networking Event

September 14, 2018September 14, 2018 by Anthony Kelly

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“I’m too busy…”
“We don’t have time…”
“I know it’s important, but…”
“But that’s what you do…”

Delivering change alongside managing the pressures of “business as usual” remains a constant challenge for us all. So how do you make Continuous Improvement part of people’s day to day role and not just a ‘project’?

This will be our theme for the next of our popular networking events to be held in London on the afternoon of 20th November 2018.

As ever, our aim will be to stimulate interesting discussion and ensure that you take away some practical ‘tips and tricks’ to help drive your change activities back in your organisations.

Put this date in your diaries – and we would love you to bring a colleague who experiences this challenge from ‘the other side’.

If you would like to attend please register your interest below and we will get back to you with more details about the venue closer to the time.

Please note – this is a change of date from previous announcements about this event.

To find out more contact Andrew Ruddick on 07785 927144.

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We started our discussions by exploring the overall impact of Covid on the overall businesses.

So how do you think your organisation has responded to the challenges of Covid?

What specifically has Covid meant for OpEx/CI activities across the organisation?

What have been your “Key lessons Learnt”?

So, final question, do you think your organisations have found a new normal as a result of this crisis or will they slowly revert back to more traditional ways of doing things?

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

Black Belt certification

Green Belt certification

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Join our Growing Family of Green Belts

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Join us on the Journey to BQF Certification

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Come Along And Enjoy Our Networking Events

Make Good Use of the "Gift of Time"

We will Soon Be Delivering Our Training "Remotely"

Did you Know We Do a lot of Remote Coaching?

Knock Your Storyboards into Shape For BQF Certification!

It’s a Good Time For Data Analytics!

Frustrated With The Available Covid19 Data Analytics?

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

Master Black Belt certification

Black Belt certification

Green Belt certification

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Recent Posts

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Latest company updates and industry news

Come Along And Enjoy Our Networking Events

Delivering People Centric Project Management

Our Open Training Continues to go from Strength to Strength

In Memory of Professor Hans Rosling – Story Telling With Data

Delivering More Value From Your OpEx Activities

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

Black Belt certification

Green Belt certification

Recent Posts

News

Latest company updates and industry news

You May Learn More Than You Expect On Our Change Leadership Master-class!

Closing The Gap

Our Clients Continue To Exploit The Power of JMP

Sign Up For Our Autumn Open Training Programme

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

Master Black Belt certification

Black Belt certification

Green Belt certification

Recent Posts

News

Latest company updates and industry news

Accelerate Your Improvements – Learn How To Bring “Agile“ into DMAIC

Don't Forget The Soft Stuff!

Do What Private Equity Firms Do

Don't Be Frightened By DOE!

Congratulations To All Our Recently Accredited 'Belts'

Master Black Belt certification

Black Belt certification

Green Belt certification

Recent Posts

News

Latest company updates and industry news

Season’s Greetings From Us All at Process Insight

Our Annual Master-classes Continue To Be A Great Success

Process Insight Launches Agile dMAIc^©