Change management is a critical part of design and manufacturing. It helps you to understand the lifecycle of a product or service to gain a better understanding of how change affects your organization and customers. Without managing this process, you leave your organization open to confusion, interruptions, and limit forward momentum.
So, you may be wondering what elements make up a change process. It almost always starts with the ability for anyone in your organization or using your products to flag a problem or developmental idea. This is called a change request. The change request is typically analyzed for feasibility and impact. When the green light is given to move forward, a change order is developed. A change order has change actions that must occur to implement the change. Finally, along the way is a change notification which is used to communicate what changes have occurred. A complete change management process has all of these elements. Here are 5 reasons why you should look at developing a complete change process.
Typical Change Management Process
- Someone identifies an problem or idea
- The Change Request is scrutinized
- Executing the Change Order
- Notification of the change
Reduction Of Errors, Delays, Scrap, And Rework
By allowing anyone in the organization an easy way to flag an issue, it will ensure that things are caught quickly. Many times, without this mechanism, employees will just “make it work” without understanding downstream impacts. Organizations that have open communication and change requests will see a reduction of errors, scrap, and rework because of open communication and a closed process to fix what is wrong.
Improved Product Quality
Change is not always flagged from within. A change process will also garner feedback on product quality from external customers as well. Using this information to develop the product to increase quality is a very important aspect of a change process.
Improved Customer Service
Customers like the ability to provide feedback on the products. Your customer service teams will be able to trigger a change based upon the information they get from customers. Good customer service comes from showing them you’re listening and a change process proves you are.
Faster Response To Customer Requirements
As customers provide product feedback, you will likely get new and exciting ideas on how to make your product better. If you have a developed change process, you will be able to get these requirements analyzed quicker and more efficiently.
Speed Up Time Required To Change
Because the process is repeatable with the specific assigned role, it will increase the speed at which you can change your products and processes. This will make your company more competitive and keep your products up to date with current market trends.
These are just 5 of many reasons why the time is now to ensure your change process is complete and encompasses all parts of your organization as well as your customers. Maybe you have some of these components in place or none at all. CADimensions can help you with this process development and finding solutions that will fit in nicely with your current process. Reach out to your sales rep to discuss this fully.
Make A Better Process
