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Hobbs House Bakery
Hobbs House Bakery
Results

A positive team review process: where could they have done better?  What would they do differently?

A company united in delivering what its customers want to buy.

Built to Last saw output from the factory increase by almost 50% per week, and profitability returned immediately.

Staff were re-motivated as the next innovation cycle team started work on the marketing programme.

This real example of the Innovation Cycle in action shows how a simple process can galvanise a team to think up new or better ways to work.

Working together really works! 

Built To Last
Never Forget One Thing

Robert Craven worked on this project himself, and he says "Built To Last were one of those traditional craft-focused British companies who fell into the trap so many such companies fall into.

"They believed that all they had to do was make high quality products, and people would appreciate the quality, and pay whatever they asked. They also thought that customers would rush to buy them, and that quality products were a substitute for effective marketing.

"The company bottom line proved they were wrong on both those counts. Simply making great products is a way to go out of business.

"Making great products at the right price sold through the right retail channels, and marketed effectively so people know your brand - and want to buy your brand - that is the way to create a great business with great profits.

"So" says Robert "never forget one thing: it's profits that enable a company to become a great company. Never forget the bottom line".

 

Built to Last, the furniture manufacturers, knew that using expensive craftsmen to build their furniture and traditional process meant that their factory was slower than their competitors.  As a result, their costs were higher and their profits were simply not enough.  An Innovation Cycle was implemented to solve the problem. 

A team comprising the managing director, the sales manager, the factory foreman and a craftsman met for three hours each week.  Here's the team's journal:

Scan
Week 1 – identify the problem and definition of a successful project.  Identify all competitors and how to find out how they make their goods.  Identify key processes in the factory.  Identify fastest and slowest craftsmen.  Organise customer focus groups to find what customers value.

Evaluate
Weeks 2 & 3 – data gathering and brainstorming.  Use of a special set of creativity cards to stimulate disconnected thoughts. 

Recommend
Week 4 – agreement that most processes could be outsourced without effecting quality of the product – costs for making furniture might even reduce if the quality of outsourced jobs is good enough.  Craftsmen would spend more time doing the specialist work that they enjoyed most; output of the factory would double.

Week 5 – sample of ten chairs put through system; everyone happy; possibility of a new special ‘craftsman’ line suggested and a trial 10 ‘craftsmen’ chairs to be made in freed up time.

Action
Weeks 6-10 – 100 chairs per week put through the new system – after minor modifications,the new system was deemed a success.  Second customer focus group confirms this opinion.  Unit production cost reduced 25% with no reduction in quality. Customer focus group love the special craftsman chairs - and talk about a premium price that significantly exceeded the standard profit mark-up.

Weeks 11–12: fine-tuning of the ‘standard’ and ‘craftsman’ ranges. Marketing department given the task of putting in place a marketing campaign for the two ‘new’ lines.