Business Process Redesign or Reengineering
Business Process Redesign (BPR) or Reengineering is "the fundamental
rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost,
quality, service, and speed" (Hammer and Champy, Reengineering). Since the BPR
idea has surfaced it has been under constant ridicule by the popular press.
They say it takes far too long, creates management headaches, fails 70% of the
time, and it's only for big companies with big checkbooks (Hydrel...). However,
I feel that with the right plan, the right people, and total commitment from
those involved, BPR or Reengineering can work for any company.
The Hydrel Experience
A good example of this is Hydrel, a manufacturer of in-ground and
underwater lighting equipment. They were about to begin selling their products
in the international market, and were afraid their current systems could handle
the rapid increase in volume. So the company president, Craig Jennings, hired
the D. Appleton Company (DACOM) to help reengineer the company's plans to handle
its growth rate. After DACOM reviewed Hydrel's functional areas and the desires
of the top-level management, they concluded that the order management and
inventory control process had to be redesigned to meet the demands.
Then they comprised three teams: process, quality, and information. But
before the three teams could work separately, they had to go through a process
to determine if the team members were on the right team, and if they could work
together. So each of the three teams reviewed employee personalities using the
Pearson Personality Inv ...