Phase 7 is characterised by getting more control over your workload

A business that has completed this phase would check off the following as true...

You’ll notice that work flows much smoother through the business, and your internal lead times of jobs through operations will decline.

• Spare capacity that was previously hidden becomes visible, that allows for training and cross-skilling of employees.
• As short-term deadlines approach, jobs which are actionable are automatically highlighted to ensure that these are handled at the right time (not too early and not too late), even whilst there is a long list of jobs in the queue.

The lower work-in-progress within operations will reduce the incidence of surging workloads, and any waves of work that do form will be broken up earlier. This means that the flow of work will be easier to control.

• Cherry-picking of jobs will decline, preserving the intended delivery sequence.
• On-time delivery fulfilment will improve.

Job costs will have reduced as late penalties decline, and the number of times an operator handles a job reduces.