In the run-up to Christmas, we are shareing some of the learnings from the over 30 Productivity Club events and national conference that took place in 2022.
During the year we have highlighted the importance of streamlining processes on many occasions. Finding waste within organisational processes leads to higher productivity. Process mapping and lean techniques can help businesses to succeed.
At the same time having a clear strategy informed by lean processes is paramount for business growth.
Below are some of the learnings from our Business Processes and Strategy themed Clubs in January.
Stay agile with your business model with Mad Potato
Ramona Obafemi, Mad-founder of Mad Potato, a modern greengrocer, talked us through their vision and strategy. The business was born in out of Covid19 to meet the demand of healthier food.
Mad Potato started as one-stop online shop for all type of groceries, and it evolved over time to accommodate customers’ requests by offering more online options and by opening a physical store. The increased offering led to more food waste, loss on stock and a decrease in online sales. Mad Potato then redefined their strategy focusing on their best seller, analysing losses and turning their waste in revenue stream.
Staying agile in their business model brought positive results:
- Waste reduced by 80%
- New potential revenue from circular products
- Lost 30% in old customers but increase of 80% in new customers (in a period of 3 months)
- Opened a nation-wide market
- Identified 2 new revenue streams
Lean principles and strategy go hands in hands with Armadilla
Ross Hunter, Head of Design at Armadilla a family-run Edinburgh based that designs, builds and delivers luxury experiential accommodation shared with us their strategy planning journey and the adoption of lean techniques. Defining a strategy and a vision gave them the opportunity to work more structurally and efficiently. They started using lean principles to inform their strategic planning and at the same time using strategy to implement more line aspects to the business (i.e. linking KPIs to strategy development).
Although, Armadilla is a manufacturing business, Ross stressed that lean techniques can be applied to any business and within any department. In fact, making the business more efficient increase the bottom line and therefore productivity.
Ross’ learnings on introducing lean management to the business are:
- Start small (only one small department a time)
- Stay flexible
- Communication with employees is essential (especially with those resistant to change)
For more information about Productivity Club Scotland’s upcoming events, please visit https://www.scdi.org.uk/events/
