Symbol helps MST with Lean improvement program: from structure to culture

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“The month end is now completed flawlessly”

Speaking is Matthijs Kruijsen, Manager of Financial Administration & Accountability. “Together with Symbol, we mapped out processes such as those around the month-end closing so that we could organize them into improvement projects. How? Going back to that month-end closing: of the twelve closings per year, not one was previously completed on time. Not desirable, of course. We have therefore worked towards a closing schedule, under the guidance of Symbol of course. The closure schedule now describes exactly who has which tasks, but also when which task must be completed. This closure procedure is now well followed, with the result that monthly closings are now flawless.”

Not separate projects, but an improvement program

But the month-long closure is just one example. In fact, Kruijsen established a structure for continuous improvement with Symbol. Main projects and subprojects were formulated and then project leaders were assigned, who were trained internally to become Green Belts. Kruijsen and Symbol’s role: to coach these project leaders on the job and guide them through their improvement projects and initiatives; some more intensively than others. As head of the MT, it was up to Joyce Berger-Roelvink, RVE Manager of Finance and Information Affairs, to convey the importance of this improvement program. “We made a conscious decision not to do separate projects, but to make it a real program. This ensures that we can carry out projects in a certain coherence and that they do not work against each other, but also that the lack of commitment is removed. This is important, because everyone likes to do one or two projects, but for continuous improvement it has to be embedded in the culture. With an improvement program – instead of hapsnap projects – we create focus, we can facilitate people and we can free up enough time and space.”

Fifty to sixty improvement projects started or even already completed

And this method has paid off. Fifty to sixty smaller and larger improvement projects have already been initiated. Berger-Roelvink: “Our improvement program has gotten off to a flying start, and Matthijs’ example of month-end closing already shows that we are achieving great results. This is mainly due to the time we have invested ourselves, but without Symbol’s help we would not have succeeded. They helped us to structure the approach and to create support by explaining the Lean philosophy to people. As a result, everyone had (and still has!) a clear understanding: this is what we do it for. An external professional like Symbol keeps focus, and that’s partly why we were able to make great strides.”

Culture change made, for sustainable success

Also, the “week start” phenomenon has now been implemented in all teams. Kruijsen explains, “What is going on, what is going well, and what do we need to pay more attention to? Every team discusses this with each other on a weekly basis. This is another benefit of working with Symbol: communication in the department has improved significantly. We didn’t have a culture where people talked to each other. We were working on little islands and often did not know what needed to be done and who needed to do what. Now there is a culture of ownership, and that makes for better collaboration. Symbol has not only helped us structure our processes and move people forward in the application of the Lean system, it has also helped us change our culture. And that is food for sustained success.”