Office & Knowledge Work Consulting

Our Office & Knowledge Work consulting practice serves clients by teaching how Lean principles apply and how kaizen can eliminate waste and improve performance in service work and information processing.  Our approach is to:
  • Extend the application of Lean principle to "front office" processes of manufacturing companies
  • Improve the performance of non-manufacturing "knowledge work" organizations, such as
    • Healthcare administration
    • Financial institutions
    • Engineering organizations
    • Public service
    • Educational institutions
The following is a sampling of office & knowledge work clients we have served:
  • BAE Systems
  • Blue Sea Systems
  • Bombardier Aerospace
  • Cornerstone Prosthetics & Orthotics
  • Hexcel Corporation
  • Kaas Tailored
  • Liberty Orchards
  • Metropolitan Hospital
  • Parker Hannifin
  • School Specialty
  • The Toro Company
  • Yazaki North America

We combine our proven and time-tested instructional and practical Lean workshops combined with instruction in team work and building core problem solving and team work skills of knowledge workers. 

The typical program begins with a site visit, education for the leadership, in-depth assessment, and a tailored "learning by doing" instructional program to change processes while developing peoples' skills:

  1. Site tour & meeting with leadership
  2. Current Condition Assessment
  3. Instructional program design
  4. Alignment & ownership of plan
  5. Execution: Plan, Do, Check, Act

Gemba Research has taught kaizen and implemented Lean manufacturing in the following industries:

Administrative

  • Hospital Admissions

Customer Service & Sales

  • Inside Sales
  • Order Entry
  • Customer Support
  • Shipping Office

Engineering

  • Configuration Management
  • Engineering Project Planning
  • New Product Development
  • Prototype Engineering
  • Research & Development

Finance

  • Accounts Payable
  • Accounts Receivable
  • Contracts
  • Month End Closing (financial)
  • Payroll
Human Resources
  • New Hire Induction
Information Systems
  • IT Support Process
Purchasing
  • Purchasing Order Issuing
Quality
  • Internal Quality Audit

Here is a sample of improvement results our clients have realized by applying kaizen to office and knowledge work areas.