GlobalManufacturingSuite ​​​​​​​COE ​​​​​​​

In the first post of these series (HERE) I wrote that overall mission of CoE is:

• standardization
• capitalization
• continuous improvement

In this post, we will focus on second bullet point – capitalization, and how does it differ from overall continuous improvement of mature solution that we will focus later on.

“Capitalization” a.k.a. “Lessons Learnt” vel. “Feedback Loop” are these just buzzwords and marketing noise that everyone talk about or some real deal?

It is real, and it starts right after pilot plant rollout of CORE Model, it can easily start even before the second rollout is in firm planning, First lessons learnt will come to CORE Model after stabilization in first site. Already what did business owners theoretically foresee as global best practices, and put into appropriate flavor of Business Processes in CORE Model, will be verified by shopfloor reality. And yes… it will happen in some extent always. Moreover, it is not bad – important is to be able to handle it well.

Based on first site deployment of core model we are building so called Rollout Toolkit, which is not only a solution packages itself but also procedures for deployment, go-live preparations and go-live. These are first items to be affected with lessons learnt, not only solution capabilities or tweaking the business processes, but whole change management around deployment gets refined immediately after first site, and further with second site. Then, of course, will come more massive rollouts to subsequent sites, and it is clear after first wave, there is already possibility for first set of enhancement to core model, modifications of some business processes, feedback form early adopting users etc.

This is the first moment Center Of Excellence organization has to fall into the never-ending cycle of:

It is not yet a full-fledged continuous improvement mode like for mature solution, but already there will be input from users that will have to be addressed or it has to be decided how it will be addressed and when.

This is where COE start to mature as organization and has to start developing its future ways of working, analyzing demand, prioritizing enhancements, deploying them etc. I will briefly talk about those topics in subsequent posts.

Therefore, key in handling the first improvements and changes in the rollouts (either methods, timelines or functionalities) is primarily being aware they will happen. Not rejecting that possibility and expecting there will not be changes. They always are. And being at least mentally prepared that they will have to handle is a first step.

Second is working with trusted advisor that has been in this situation many times. And here comes to play our expertise as Dassault Systemes. For most manufacturers such a program is “once in a lifetime”, for your IT departments similar maybe once, maybe twice (ERP change, some other key systems replacement). However, for our consultants and us it is daily job to deliver solution and rollouts of 10, 15, 20 plants. Therefore, working with experienced consultants and project and program managers, and utilizing their knowledge from past engagements is definitely a significant factor of success.

Please share your lessons learnt, have you been already pass the first rollouts? What went good what went bad? How did you manage to achieve multiple sites, running homogenous solution worldwide? If you feel like it, I hope we can trigger some discussion in comments below this post.