Bidding processes

Bidding process on the next level

Challenge

The executive in charge of the bidding process sought to improve the efficiency of the regional process for all products and simultaneously redraw the team’s roles and responsibilities to rebalance productivity and time spent in each step of the process.

Solution

Consulting and leader decided to conduct a Kaizen event differently because it wouldn’t be viable to work with the whole team on consecutive days, given that bidding processes demand lots of documents in a short period. The process was mapped end-to-end and step-by-step to reach a systemic outlook, including interconnections with different inside areas actively involved in the process. We conducted numerous analyses making use of tools to improve the efficiency of these processes with the inside team and teams of different areas engaged in these processes. We have then outlined a sturdy plan of action, defining responsibilities for the bidding area and the interconnected areas. The team was outstandingly dedicated to these activities during the Kaizen, and this work laid the basis for the transformation that would bring the area’s results to a new standard.

Result

The extended Kaizen period (10 days) was essential to reach the involvement of representatives from the whole system and so we managed to co-create significant change with key stakeholders to find a sustainable and dispatchable change. With the enforcement of the Plan of Action, the team suggested the cut down of 25% of lead time and structured their process to increase participation in bidding after the opportunity searching. The executives of the company understood the complexity, and importance of the bidding process and approved the changes proposed by the team. 70% of the bidding team evaluated the experience as “very positive”, and the remaining ones as “positive”, and 100% would recommend the Kaizen method to other areas.