Lean Adoption in the Chemical Industry

As chemical companies continue to focus on attaining the next level of operational excellence, more and more are adopting or expanding their use of Lean or Lean Six Sigma across their organization. As this adoption matures, companies are looking for ways to standardize their improvement processes, accelerate their time-to-value in these programs and find better ways to measure and monitor the value they are getting for their investments. We’ve seen it happen in other industries adopting lean, and we are starting to see it in chemicals. A phrase that captures this scenario well is "process-rich and tools-poor". I certainly didn't coin the phrase, but it aptly describes the situation many chemical companies face.

One of the most effective ways to realize this value is by using software. Software can help standardize the improvement process providing teams with a consistent way to do work, and providing management with a consistent way to analyze results. Software can help accelerate the insight of practitioners by automating the analysis of the process and quickly focus teams in on the most impactful improvement opportunities. Software can also help companies manage the execution and performance of their program to quickly understand if they are getting the results desired. Finally, software can quickly bring teams together, even if they are separated by physically in order to better share work products, best practices, and results. Microsoft and our partners provide the software that helps companies realize these capabilities.

A partner of ours, the Orlando Software Group, provides some unique value in this space. I've worked with OSGI for a number of years, and I have seen them deliver a lot of value to their customers.

If you are a chemical company - or any company for that matter - looking to take your program to the next level, and are facing challenges with standardized work and analysis, quicker insight, and better deployment of the program across the organization, you should check out OSGI. If you want to view a 5 minute demo, go here.