Resource Optimization
Planning human resources to the level of costumer activity is common sense in the retail industry. An unbalanced consumption of resources is a waste of wages and increases the risk of lost revenue. The waste can also be a number of hidden costs as unnecessary benefits and inappropriate habits, and they are often larger and more expensive than you imagine.
What challenges and symptoms are typical?
Symptoms may be a specific case with suspicion of too much resource consumption or inefficient utilization of accessible resources. There may also exist facts that support the issue, for example a big difference in the performance of homogeneous units or fluctuating activity in the shops such as varying customer flow over days, weeks, months, etc. Another symptom can be time consuming and complex administrative activities which can cause employees to lose time with the customers.
What causes it?
There can be many reasons for planning problems. Lack of planning skills and oversight, inefficient centralized management, measurement and monitoring can cause the shops creating a "we do as we have always done" culture, where focus is turned away from company goals. Also complicated contractual relations, lack of skilled staff and high staff turnover creates challenges in resource planning.
How can we improve it?
We start by analyzing the organization, contractual relations, physical environment, flexibility, capabilities etc., and we analyze the historical performance of planned vs. realized resource in relation to actual activity requirements. We utilize internal resources that have the best insight, and we use facts from existing ERP- and planning systems. We analyze specific activities and processes using Lean tools eg. waste analysis, time studies, GTT and frequency studies, employee involvement etc. We prepare a series of improvement proposals for the processes that will give the highest impact with respect to the required effort. We design a model for future planning tool and planning process. We benchmark the plans in relation to the best performance within the firm or in the industry. The plans will be adapted to local conditions, since it ensures effective implementation in the organization. The planning process will be monitored and continuously improved through KPIs and done in a fixed planning cycle.
Result: Higher revenues and lower costs
When resources are planned dynamically to meet fluctuations in the activity, it improves the possibility of increased turnover and will even result in lower resource consumption. Efficient processes reduce the need for administrative tasks and allow employees more time for customer facing activities. Altogether, there are significant opportunities for revenue growth and reduction in costs.