Purchase Orders Eliminated by Kaizen Tools
I once worked for a company with a seven-part purchase-order form,
and every single purchase order had to be approved by the vice president of
finance. People were so disheartened by the abysmal speed of the system that
maverick ways of purchasing were rampant.
A small purchasing Kaizen team completed seven As Is process maps
for each method. It was a very disheartening process fraught with delays and
contradictions.
Instead of trying to make the existing processes better, we
decided to start from scratch on the To Be process. Fortunately we had plenty
of best practices and their process maps available for purchase orders.
We initially went to a
two-part short-order form for everything under $500, and eventually to purchase
cards. We eliminated ten file cabinets of forms. People soon had the confidence in the systems, and they
were much more truthful in expressing their needs. The vice president of
finance had more time to get IPO funding and improve our financial viability
rather than spending his time deciding who should be purchasing pens and
pencils.
Some tools of the Kaizen process
eliminated very bureaucratic methods.
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