The B&N Europe Rapid Lean approach stands out in its ability to deliver very rapid savings early on while implementing longer term tools and techniques necessary to achieve sustained improvement.
Programs deliver significant net benefit even from year 1, and can be cash positive in 3-6 months. Over 3 years, cash paybacks of up to >10:1 are normal – and results are guaranteed.
The key to rapid performance improvement is a dual ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ approach towards implementing change:
- Real results for existing processes, quickly and on a wide front, achieved by process-level personnel themselves, not management.
- Management processes, systems, and coaching behaviors to ensure the rate of improvement is sustained
The secret is to change the way people think, and behave. Our knowledge transfer process is specifically designed to explain “why”, not just “what” — and with that understanding, people think differently, and perform daily tasks differently. Most Team memebers learn better “by doing”, rather than just ‘being told”, and so all learning is backed up by hands on practical application, that delivers improvements for the business at the same time.
B&N Europe also trains improvement champions for each site who can embed the knowledge tranfers process in day-to day operations. These new tools will provide the foundation for the organization to sustain and continuously improve in the future.
Find out about the Process to implement Rapid Lean.
