Cc certainty jan2015 by NG

January 2015

Certainty

Monthly Newsletter

PRESENTED BY: CONSULTING CONNOISSEURS, OFFICE - 4, SAI BABA PLAZA, SECTOR - 15, AIROLI, NAVI MUMBAI, INDIA 400 708, WWW.CONSULTINGCONNOISSEURS.COM, INFO@CONSULTINGCONNOISSEURS.COM

IN THIS EDITION Next Generation Consulting 1 HR Solutions for Projectized Environments 3

Next Generation Consulting Problems of Conventional Consulting

to be highly successful next generation concepts. They are modeling and simulation (M&S) when based on systems thinking. However, to understand these conToday’s world is a complex one! Hence, cepts one needs to explicitly understand although a KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) the differences. approach helps understand better, it falls nose-down when it comes to deriving the right answer. Therefore, the current scenario requires a robust method to help us around the complexity to get to where we want to be in business. The trick is, therefore, in defining a new niveau of comfort that rests on the solid foundations of a seemingly complex base! In other words, one needs a Over-engineered solutions in Conventional tool today to leverage complexity!. In this Consulting aka The Tyre Bonanza! light, two of the most important techniques in modern consulting are proven The approach of conventional consult-

ing is fundamentally different from that of systems thinking forms of analysis. Traditional analysis focuses on separating the individual pieces of what is being studied; in fact, the word ‘analysis’ actually comes from the root meaning ‘to break into constituent parts.’ Thus, like the figure indicates, conventional consulting leads to: Over-engineered solutions Sub-optimal performance Poor returns and Higher costs for clients. In other words, conventional consulting

benefits the consultant more than the just each individual factor, but also the client due to: ‘inter-play’ between the various factors. A typical business situation is similar to this one. Until and unless one models The ease with which a potential and simulates the business, it is unlikely client understands the methodolthat one actually hits the right mark; simogy ply due to the fact that the dimensions The relative ease with which it of the decision outcomes are many, like: sells and

be welded to make singular blocks. This would reduce the bolt sequences as well as the crane sequences as shown in the figure. However, the fixture sets would shoot up to 44 sets from 6! Explore: M&S Way WEDGE ASSEMBLY ADAPTER PLATE MAIN BLOCK

The possibility to change the scope and siphon more money from the clients. What M&S does?

Systems Approach

Engineering

Expected impact Pivot points and control Therefore, the stakeholder needs to be clear on these aspects when one derives the solution. A Simple Case-Study

BASE PLATE

Proposal 1 (In-House):: Block Assembly:  Block Assembly  Set-Up Time: 2 hours 57 min  Fixtures: Equivalent to 44 sets Copyrights Reserved

Consulting Connoisseurs

Block Assembly: 2 Hours 57 Minutes

The second alternative that was being considered was to semi-automate the process with a pneumatic torque wrench. The advantage with this alternative was that the number of fixtures were maintained at the original 6 and the number of bolts, though not reduced, were minimizing their ‘burden’ on the setup time. Explore: M&S Way

To demonstrate the point, lets look at a simple case study from the manufacturing sector. A motor manufacturer had a problem at the vertical boring CNC Proposal 2 (In-House)::Pneumatic machine that was a bottle-neck for its Torque Wrench:  Reduce Bolt Handling strategic growth and operational prof Set-Up Time: 2 hours 34 min itability. The current situation had an  Fixtures: Equivalent to 6 sets equivalent of 6 fixture sets with over 200 bolt sequences and 24 jib crane sequences taking over 1 shift to change the Pneumatic Torque Wrench: 2 Hours 34 Minfixtures. With 250 setups in the year, utes this meant a huge production loss in adThe third alternative was a bolt-based dition to the high depreciation costs. assembly. This minimized the bolting operations and eliminated the need of Explore: M&S Way jib crane sequences. The result was pretty dramatic as can be seen in the picture shown below. This was drastically lower than the previous cases. WEDGE ASSEMBLY ADAPTER PLATE MAIN BLOCK BASE PLATE

Copyrights Reserved

Consulting Connoisseurs

Management Sciences

Industrial Engineering

Level of exercising each option in the combination Time and sequence of exercising options

M&S, in contrast, focuses on how the thing being studied interacts with the other constituents of the system: ‘a set of elements that interact to produce behavior of which it is a part.’ This means that instead of isolating smaller and smaller parts of the system being studied, systems thinking works by expanding its view to take into account larger and larger numbers of interactions as an issue is being studied. This results in sometimes strikingly different conclusions than those generated by traditional forms of analysis, especially when what is being studied is dynamically complex or has a great deal of feedback from other sources: internal or external.

Advanced Conceptual Tools

A single option or a combination of options

Social Sciences

Genesis of Systems Thinking

WEDGE ASSEMBLY ADAPTER PLATE MAIN BLOCK

For instance, if one has to reduce the travel time from a location A to another location B, the analytical approach would possibly indicate the need for a better car (that could travel at a greater speed). However, this is far from the ‘true’ solution. Traffic considerations, route choices, road conditions, car conditions and the operating conditions - all need to be considered in arriving at the optimal decision. In doing so, the stakeholder needs to understand not

BASE PLATE

Current Fixture:  Over 200 Bolts + 24 jib crane sequences  Set-Up Time: 8 hours 40 min  Fixtures: Equivalent to 6 sets

Explore: M&S Way

B B B O O O LCLAMP ASSEMBLY L L T T T 1

Consulting Connoisseurs

Copyrights Reserved

Current Situation: 8 Hours 40 Minutes

With in-house brainstorming, the solution that the management was pursuing was a ‘block’ assembly, whereby the individual elements of the fixture would

BASE PLATE

Proposal 3::Bolt Based Assembly:  Reduce Bolt Handling  Set-Up Time: 15 min  Fixtures: Equivalent to 1 set Consulting Connoisseurs

Bolt Assembly: 15 Minutes

Copyrights Reserved

CERTAINTY

As one enlarged the frame of reference, the fourth alternative considers the root cause of the problem. As shown in the figure, the reason for having multiple fixture sets was the different values of the lengths A and B. Hence, fixtures needed to ensure that the model would remain horizontal by adjusting the heights of the individual elements. With a minor modification in the design, A - B could be kept constant eliminating both bolt handling as well as jib crane sequences. This novel method saves an entire shift and makes it independent of the product mixes, the batch sizes and eliminates the fixture set requirements in total! This is a simple methodology that involves a combination of systems thinking and innovation techniques in the modeling and simulation space.

nized by the International Journal of Industrial Engineering at San Diego in 1997

Explore: M&S Way

WEDGE ASSEMBLY ADAPTER PLATE

MAIN BLOCK BASE PLATE

MAIN BLOCK

BASE PLATE

Proposal 4::Product Design Approach:  Eliminate Bolt Handling  Set-Up Time: < 5 min  Fixtures: Equivalent to 1 set Consulting Connoisseurs

Copyrights Reserved

Get a free demonstration of what M&S could help your Business Today! Call Rupali @+91 - 22 - 2779 8950 to Book your Appointment Today

Redesign: <5 Minutes

Consulting Connoisseurs is the only Indian company that has the capability of delivering next generation consulting solutions A task of 8 hours and 40 minutes is to clients across a diverse spectransformed into one of less than 5 trum Hence, new generation consulting looks way beyond the ordinary and gives breakthrough results.

minutes!

These results were recog-

HR in Projects: A Case in Point! The role of Human Resource Depart- vide support to their internal customers. ments in projectized environments is However, this posture affects the opmore often operation-oriented to pro- timality in the decision making, the

Conventional HR

strategizing of the organization and the resultant efficacy and the profitability of the business.

Modern HR

Exit Interviews Recruitment Methods

Motivation Interventions

Employee Benefits Profitability

Customer Expectations

The Changing Balance of Attrition Management

Productivity

Key Business Issues Today

Systems and Process Implementation: How an organization develops its ecosystem to leverage its strengths

Challenges in HR management for project environments include:

Management Skills for better Performance: How an organization should improve the productivity of the workforce

Effective matching of customer expectations (and not just requirements) Profitability from the Human Factor of Production.

Although these issues have direct implications on the revenues of the firm, Agility in the strategy focus to en- most HR professionals remain ‘busy’ in sure appropriate response of the using conventional exercises like Exit Interviews, Employee Benefit Re-design, human assets Motivation Interventions and Recruitment Budgets. In other words, most The cascade effect of these strategic is- HR departments have serious inadequasues manifest as serious challenges in the cies in dealing with the true challenges areas of: before them. Attrition Management: How an organization should deal with situations involving employee attrition Productivity Management: How an organization should ensure its productivity at the customer end isn’t affected

Attrition Management If one were to ask a good HR professional about the most popular HR Tools used in the context of Attrition Management, one would find the following Exit interviews Revising monetary and non monetary benefits Interventions for Employee motivation

The HR Dilemma revisited! In most organizations, HR department is aligned to focus on the human perspective of the organization, thereby missing the business perspective. In other words, the professionals are trained to orient with the employees due to the bottom-up methodology in HR, but are

Procedural Issues (Temporal)

expected to protect the management viz. the top-down expectation creating a serious dilemma for the professional. The end-result is most times, a strict ‘budgetary orientation’ for possible ‘HR Activities’. To illustrate this further, let us consider the simple case of Attrition Management.

Better recruitment methods, etc. These need closer introspection to establish their suitability in today’s market conditions. In order to do that, one could have a quick diagnostic to establish the fundamentals.

Differential Productivity Availability

Attrition Management Reverse Loading

On-Site / Off-Shore Differential

Client Flexibility

Determinants of Attrition Management Strategies

CERTAINTY

The Quick Business Test!

client expectations (and not just client requirements)?

Precise,

The First Symptom From a management perspective, a poor attrition management strategy gets implicitly indicative by the following symptoms at the executive level:

Is the culture leveraging teamwork by showing an increasing trend in the marginal profit-peremployee figures in recent years?

Numerical and

Spending too much time in the recruitment of existing positions Extreme time-pressures, quality issues and manpower adjustments when the organization is approaching contractual deadlines Aberrations in manpower costs vis-a-vis projections across project lifecycles

If your answer for any of the above is ’no’, then you definitely need to revamp your Attrition Management Strategy. Fortunately, Consulting Connoisseurs has the solution for you. The Interactive Model

Customizable to changing business conditions

while ensuring that they maximize the organization goals and benefits. This is a game-changing concept because it provides a sound logic while integrating diverse elements and analyzes the factual representations of potential attrition management strategies.

At Consulting Connosseurs, we have developed a robust framework for optimizing the elements of Attrition Management using Modeling and Simulation If you see any one of the symptoms ac- techniques. The interactive model factive, it would be due to a poor attrition tors in various determinants of Attrition Management like: management strategy. The Test on HR At the HR level, therefore, one needs to revisit the HR activities: Do you see a reduction in attrition related issues through your current exit interview processes? Have measures used for boosting employee motivation truly increased the profitability? What is the RoI of these measures? Have revising monetary benefits for employees improved the performance in terms of fulfilling

As our team member Rupali Tyagi puts it: ‘The days of Attrition Management through Gutfeelings, Political-motives, Peerpressures and Mediocrity in HR are being phased out through this innovative breakthrough that Differential Productivities in the promotes decisions on the basis Work Force, of Facts, Logic, Rigorous AnalTemporal Issues in Procedural ysis and most importantly, a strong Business Orientation!. Matters, Whats best is that it is extremely Availability, radical, easy to understand and practically quick to apply and Client Flexibility, reap the fortunes of good deciOn- Site vs. Off- Shore Differen- sion making. tials and

Reverse Loading Our interactive simulation model enables the HR strategy to be:

To learn more about this solution, please contact Rupali Tyagi at info@consultingconnoisseurs.com