Sustainability - It's Not Only The Environment!
Sustainability, in the environmental sense challenges the fundamentals of how a business operates, to achieve improved and responsible use of natural resources.
Sustainability, in a business sense (survival and growth), applies the same rules. Unless we tackle the fundamentals, the end result will not improve.
When we talk to businesses, even those who 'somehow' achieve good delivery performance, they often explain that their staff work all hours, that they cannot respond to enquiries quickly enough and how they 'fire-fight' constantly to get the job done against shorter and shorter lead times.
'IS THIS SUSTAINABLE?', we ask.
'NO...WE CAN'T KEEP DOING THINGS THIS WAY!' is the reply. 'Somehow we are achieving this, but it is getting harder and harder to sustain'.
When we ask what the main causes are, the answers are usually the same:
- a lack of good systems (everything on spreadsheets and very manual)
- very poor awareness of likely problems before they become serious
- poor communication - 'Nobody told me that had changed'
- constant fire fighting due to 'catch up' when things run late
- an absolute lack of management level visibility
In this environment many companies suffer a frustrating inability to reduce costs and lead times further, despite knowing they have to find a way.
So What Is The Answer?
