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Expertise: Operational Excellence

Find Where Operations Are Actually Breaking Down, and Fix It for Good

We redesign the processes, workflows, and supply chains behind your work so you deliver faster, cost less, and keep the gains long after we leave.

Book an Operations ConversationWhat This Includes
Our Approach

Whether it's patient flow in a clinic, service delivery in an agency, transportation in a school district, or throughput on a plant floor, operational problems show up the same way: delays, waste, rising costs, and frustrated people. We assess where your operation falls short, redesign the processes behind it, and build the metrics and routines that make improvements stick. We target real, measurable savings, not just process documentation, and where it's the right fit, our consultants step directly into operational leadership roles.

The Challenge

Where Operations Break Down

It often starts with work that doesn't flow. Access delays, bottlenecks, and inefficient workflows frustrate the people you serve and the staff who serve them. Throughput, cycle time, or unit cost keeps falling short, and the improvements you make don't stick.

Then costs start to creep. Support operations like transportation, facilities, food service, and purchasing consume budget that should go to your core mission. Lead times, inventory costs, and missed deliveries point to gaps between suppliers, plans, and the front line, while slow procurement delays results.

The result is an operation that's hard to see and harder to manage. Performance metrics don't show whether you're delivering what matters, high-volume administrative work still runs by hand, and leadership lacks the data to know where to act first.

Procurement · Requisition-to-pay

From waste to flow in procurement

Mapping, optimizing and controlling the purchase cycle, from need identification and purchase requisition to post-purchase supplier evaluation. The same flow applies in hospitals, agencies, school districts and plants.

  • Value-added step
  • Non-value-added step (waste)
  • Rework loop
The problem

Current state

8 steps · 4 add no value · 1 rework loop · 16-day cycle from need to evaluation

From need to evaluation

  1. Value-addedIdentify need, submit requisitionProcess 20 minWait 1 day
  2. Over-processingRe-key paper form into ERPProcess 15 minWait 1 day
  3. Value-addedBudget check and approvalProcess 10 minWait 2 days
  4. Over-processingExtra sign-off layersProcess 10 minWait 3 days
  5. WaitingSit in buyer queueProcess noneWait 4 days
  6. Value-addedSource supplier, issue POProcess 60 minWait 1 day
  7. DefectsChase invoice mismatchesProcess 30 minWait 3 days
  8. Value-addedReceive, pay, evaluate supplierProcess 45 minWait 1 day
Where 16 days go2.5% hands-on work · 97.5% waiting
The fix

Optimized state

Guided buying, rules-based approval and touchless matching.

From need to evaluation

  1. Step 1Guided e-requisitionCatalog items, codes prefilledProcess 10 min · Wait noneRemoves re-keying and rework
  2. Step 2Rules-based approvalAuto budget check, tiered by dollar valueAutomated · Wait 0.5 dayRemoves extra sign-off layers
  3. Step 3Source and auto-issue POContracted suppliers firstProcess 30 min · Wait 0.5 dayRemoves buyer queue
  4. Step 4Receive and auto-match3-way match: PO, receipt, invoiceProcess 15 min · Wait 0.5 dayRemoves invoice chasing
  5. Step 5Pay and evaluate supplierScorecard: delivery, quality, priceProcess 30 min · Wait 0.5 dayPost-purchase review kept
Cycle time, 16 → 2 days
8
Process steps
28
Requisitions returned
2.5
Hands-on share of cycle
Where 2 days go9% hands-on work · same scale as above
Holding the gains

Control and stability

Measures that hold the gains. React to signals, not to normal variation.

  • Target≤ 2 daysRequisition-to-pay cycleNeed identified to supplier paidIndividuals chart · Daily
  • Target≥ 95%First-pass match rateInvoices matching PO and receipt with no exceptionp-chart · Weekly
  • Target≥ 90%Spend under contractShare of spend with approved suppliersRun chart · Monthly
  • Target≥ 90 / 100Supplier performancePost-purchase scorecard: on-time, quality, priceTrend chart · Quarterly
Requisition-to-pay cycle after improvementIndividuals chart · days, 30 orders
01234UCL 3.2Mean 2.0LCL 0.8Signal: above upper limit → investigateOrder 1Order 15Order 30

Response rule: a point beyond either limit, or 7 points in a row on one side of the mean, triggers a root-cause review by the procurement process owner within 1 business day. Points inside the limits are normal variation; leave the process alone.

Illustrative values; cycle times exclude supplier shipping time. Waste types follow lean categories: waiting, over-processing and defects (rework). UCL / LCL = upper and lower control limits; PO = purchase order; ERP = enterprise resource planning system.

What This Includes

Operational Excellence, end to end

01

Process Redesign and Workflow Optimization

We assess gaps in your service delivery and business operations, then re-engineer the workflows behind them to remove bottlenecks, handoffs, and waste.

02

Access, Flow, and Service Delivery

We redesign processes and service channels around the people you serve, improving access, flow, and transitions so patients, citizens, students, and customers get what they need faster.

03

Throughput, Capacity, and Cost

We find where throughput, cycle time, and unit cost fall short, then redesign processes and capacity so the operation delivers more at the lowest sustainable cost.

04

Supply Chain and Logistics

We strengthen the full chain from supplier to customer, including sourcing, demand planning, inventory, and material flow, to reduce lead times, carrying costs, and missed deliveries.

05

Support Services Performance

We improve the operations that keep the mission running, including transportation, facilities maintenance, and food and nutrition services, so more of the budget reaches the work that matters.

06

Procurement and Spend Management

We modernize purchasing, from vendor contracts to cooperative buying and spend analysis, so you buy faster and capture real, immediate savings.

07

Performance Measurement and Analytics

We build performance measures and dashboards around the KPIs that connect to your objectives, and turn operational data into insights that sharpen daily decisions.

08

Automation and Continuous Improvement

We automate high-volume administrative work and build a culture of continuous improvement that raises performance, cuts waste, and protects results over time.

Industries We Serve

Built around each sector

Operational excellence looks different in every sector. Our work is built around the realities of each one.

Healthcare

Healthcare

Access delays, patient flow bottlenecks, and inefficient workflows frustrate patients, providers, and staff alike. We assess gaps in care delivery and business operations and redesign the workflows behind them, using process re-engineering, quality management, and data analytics to improve access, patient flow, care transitions, and provider alignment across the continuum of care. We also streamline the revenue cycle from scheduling and eligibility through coding, charge capture, and collections, and automate high-volume administrative work.
Explore Healthcare
Government

Government

Citizens expect government services to be as easy as the best private-sector experiences. We redesign processes and digital service channels around the people you serve, build performance measures and dashboards around the KPIs that connect to strategic objectives, and modernize procurement so agencies buy faster and get more value from every contract.
Explore Government
Education

Education

Transportation, facilities, food service, and purchasing costs can consume budget that should be going to instruction. We help school districts and charter networks improve transportation, facilities maintenance, and food and nutrition services, and modernize procurement through vendor contracts, cooperative buying, and spend analysis, targeting real, immediate bottom-line savings rather than just process documentation.
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Manufacturing and Logistics

Manufacturing and Logistics

When throughput, cycle time, or unit cost keeps falling short, margin goes with it. For mid-sized manufacturers and logistics companies, we find where operations are breaking down, then redesign processes, capacity, and performance metrics so the gains hold. We strengthen the supply chain from supplier to customer to reduce lead times, carrying costs, and missed deliveries, and build a culture of continuous improvement that protects margin over time.
Explore Manufacturing
What Changes

The difference you'll see

Work that flows.

Fewer bottlenecks, delays, and handoffs for the people you serve and the staff who serve them.

Lower operating costs.

Real savings in support services, procurement, inventory, and unit cost, not just documented processes.

More capacity from what you have.

Higher throughput and faster cycle times without adding headcount or space.

Clear line of sight.

Metrics and dashboards that show whether operations are delivering what matters.

Gains that hold.

Continuous improvement routines that keep performance rising after the project ends.