The Continuum Management Group, LLC
Achieving cause and effect results through education, communication, collaboration, and alignment.
Continuum Management

Why Continuum Management Works!

      Whether high volume - low mix, low volume - high mix, make to order, engineer to order, or make to stock, the continuum management process succeeds by having all departments evolve their processes and behaviors along performance continuums. Having all functions evolve their capabilities while simultaneously maintaining process predictability yields the ability to produce smaller lot sizes - resulting in shorter cycle times, lower inventories, and increased profits.

      The continuum management goal is the same as other management strategies - improved competitiveness and profitability. One distinguishing difference exists on how the continuum management process achieves the goal. Early on, employees receive descriptions and training on function and process continuums. Describing activities along performance continuums shortens the project selection cycle time; employees have the ability to self-assess discrete processes and identify the next logical activities to be made predictable.

      The continuum management process flourishes when employees see their efforts produce predictable results. Seeing results further energizes employees to work on projects that evolve functions and processes along continuums.


Benefits of Continuum Management

      Although the financial benefits of implementing continuum managment are significant, they are an after-the-fact measure, a report card, of doing many things right. The greatest and longest lasting benefit of continuum management is its impact on the culture aspect of running a business - employee collaboration and cooperation to improve the system-wide performance of the company.

      Below are benefits resulting from the implementation of the continuum management process. Many of these are the same benefits realized by skillfully implementing Lean, Theory of Constraints, Six Sigma, or other management strategies.
  • Improved efficiencies, productivity, and profitability
  • Improved cash flow
  • Improved customer and employee satisfaction
  • Additional plant capacity
  • Augmented scheduling flexibility
  • Reduction of inventory, scrap and rework, stock outs, and cycle times
  • Increased employee involvement
  • Forecastable improvements by individual functions
  • Appreciation for interdependencies among functions
  • Reduction of employee turnover
  • Near seamless transitions when functional management positions change personnel
  • Improved customer and supplier alignment


Implementation Timeline

      The continuum management process segments a company's performance into four stages: Start up, Systems Development, Functional Integration, and Company-Wide Optimization "Lean".

      The following five drivers are critical; they affect the rate for a company to evolve toward a Stage 4 operation. Absence of any ONE driver will stagnate or derail the entire effort (i.e. "Show Stopper").
  • Senior management knowledge, support, and involvement are pivotal.
    Without support and involvement all improvement efforts are futile. Management's effectiveness at establishing meaningful and realistic expectations, providing real-time feedback, capital, human resources, and removing inhibiting policies and obstacles all act as catalysts to achieving and sustaining a Stage 4 operation.
  • A broad set of accurate, reliable, and accessible operational and financial information have a multifaceted impact on the timeline of achieving a Stage 4 operation. Reliable information provides decision makers with a more complete understanding of the tradeoffs associated with every business decision which allows for the best choice among many alternatives. Through analysis, processes with significant variability are readily identified and targeted for improvement. A broad set of operational and financial information sustains improvement projects by providing evidence that operational changes are occurring. Finally, undisputable information has a major impact on the rate of implementation by short circuiting the debate process and aligning employees toward the activities that require the highest priority.
  • Employees' knowledge, skills, abilities, and availability affect the rate of evolution - the greater the breadth, depth, and availability, the greater the velocity of implementation. Employees with these attributes in conjunction with the continuum management process codify a solid understanding of the strategic benefits and technical expertise to integrate existing and new technologies in a logical and timely manner.
  • Interdepartmental communication and collaboration are critical as a company attempts to evolve from Stage 2, Systems Development, to Stage 3, Functional Integration - attempting to reduce inventories and gain flexibility through reduced cycle times. To achieve and sustain Stage 3 and continue on to Stage 4, functions must share information and work collaboratively to overcome information and process mistakes and misinterpretations that occur when information passes among departments. The absence of cooperation and collaboration will hamper and possibly ruin the ability of a company to predictably operate at Stage 3.
  • Matching process improvement tools and activities to the specific performance stage assures the shortest path to achieving a Stage 4 operation. Too often companies and/or their consultants get ahead of themselves; consciously or unconsciously attempting short cuts which result in unpredictable day-to-day performance. Gaining all the benefits of being a Stage 4 operation means a company has built and sustains the infrastructure required to predictably operate at Stages 2 and 3.
      Some consultants and scholars may argue that technology should be included as a critical driver. The Continuum Management Group, LLC, disagrees. The competent selection, integration, and utilization of technology allow a company to evolve performance. These activities are completed by people - hence, the criticality of employees' knowledge, skills, abilities, and availability. Technology does not make tactical or strategic decisions; people do.

      What is the calendar timeline to achieve a Stage 4 operation? Considering all the critical drivers listed above, most companies can achieve a sustainable company-wide (all departments and processes) Stage 2 operation within 12 to 24 months. With Stage 2 in place, anticipate 12 to 24 months to achieve a sustainable company-wide Stage 3 performance.

      Achieving a sustainable Stage 4 operation is a magnificent accomplishment few companies ever realize. With a sustained effort, companies should plan on devoting 12 to 24 months beyond achieving a sustainable Stage 3 operation. The overall time frame to evolve from an unpredictable Stage 2 operation to a predictable Stage 4 operation is affected by many factors, but can be successfully compressed if management is committed.While a company evolves toward a Stage 4 operation, wastes (nonvalue-adding costs) are continually being eliminated, simultaneously production flexibility is migrating to match market demand. On a part number/finish good basis, order to ship cycle time, batch size, and production cost should all depict a downward trend.


  
copyright © 2003 The Continuum Management Group, LLC