The Organisation:
SARAS Technology is a specialist supplier of RF and microwave capability to a wide range of industries in the UK including: Defence, Aerospace, Telecom, Surveillance and Broadcast markets. They design, manufacture and supply solutions to meet customer’s needs in this domain at their facility in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
The Challenge:
The business was created in 1998 and has grown steadily since. Recognising their niche in the marketplace, the SARAS team has focused their efforts on specific sectors, and as a result have seen a significant increase in demand from customers. The Senior Management Team recognised that to meet such increased demands they would need to improve the way they manage projects significantly. Knowing this, they contacted The Excellence Partnership for support in improving their major processes.
The Approach:
The Excellence Partnership applied its Value Stream Mapping (VSM) Improvement Framework at SARAS. This tried and tested approach engaged a team of people to:
- Understand the basic concepts of value added and non-value-added activity.
- Map out the current process gathering numerical data on the process.
- Identify opportunities to improve the process.
- Develop a future state map for how the process will operate.
- Develop a plan - with the team - to transform the current process into the future state process.
- Implement the plan.
- Standardised process improvements using simple visual management techniques.
The Outcome:
The new process has significantly changed the way SARAS manages projects and repeat orders has reduced the lead-time from receipt of order to production-ready by 50%. Using the VSM method the whole team at SARAS could clearly see the potential for improvement within the organisation, and were engaged fully with changing the way the business works. SARAS are really happy with the work The Partnership has carried out and said “It’s been great working with The Excellence Partnership. They’ve provided us with a structure for improvement and made a significant change in the way we work. We know this will improve our ability to meet increased demand and customer needs more effectively and efficiently.