Why the War Room?
In order to improve productivity or reduce costs, many companies try to reach excellence through traditional methods starting extensive and time consuming projects with tangible results in the long run only.
Thanks to War Rooms it is possible to involve teams in little time and to delivery more efficiency in the organisation while making the job more fulfilling for the staff.
The War Room innovative method may be used as:
Accelerator of improvement for team performance and process
Diagnostic tool in complex project to gather a quick view of the as-is, allowing PwC Lean Experts to perform a comparison with best practices
War Room Methodology
Our experience suggests that an investment on the direct participation of the operative teams during an improvement project leads to fast results on the entire process, tearing down functional silos.
It is a tested and proven approach, ensuring benefits through behavioural changes and processes improvement.
Challenging their typical working habits, our clients, from different industries (Consumer Goods, Fashion, Energy, Publishing, etc.) have achieved significant and long-lasting advantages.
War Room 10 steps
- Inter-functional teams
- Task board tailored following specific processes and objectives
- 20 min stand up meeting in front of the task board
- Brief and effective meetings
- Active participation and facilitator rotation
- Priorities and urgencies shared and agreed
- Identified best practices
- Specific insights addressed after the WR
- Improvement projects identified and assigned
- First activity of the day, everyday
War Room is based on principles from the Lean Six Sigma philosophy
Visualising the process & KPI
Limiting WIP
Continuous improvement
Improving workflow
The service we offer
War Room Method
The PwC WR Facilitator guides the team in daily morning meetings with the support of a physical task board, truly implementing Lean Six Sigma principles and fostering staff’s eagerness towards continuous improvement.
Timeline Example
WR Implementation duration: 3 weeks
- Setup - 2 days
- Deployment - 2 weeks
- Final Workshop - 1 day
- Finding and Key Take-outs - 3 days
Level of Client Effort
With a minimum client effort (in terms of both costs and time), maximum results. A truly lean approach.
War Room Success Stories
Industrial Manufacturing
Finance / Shared Service Center
Scope
Improving month-end closing processes to optimise time spent on activities and lead improved added value.
Results
- Improved the Account payable process
- Adopted and managed homogeneous Service Level Agreements across served countries
- Improved the risk and issue management through a robust escalation path
- Improved reputation of the function thanks to a better perception by internal customers
18 actions for improvement and 7 quick wins addressed
Fashion
Finance/Accounting
Scope
Improve Accounting organisation efficiency and effectiveness, tackling huge workloads, poor coordination and re-works.
Results
- Improved visibility on end to end processes and on activities done by the team
- Achieved a better coordination among the team
- Identified solutions to solve key issues emerged during the War Room deployment
- The War Room has been acquired as a standard tool for the day by day work of the company
30% of time saved by improving coordination and communication
Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Customer Service and Sales
Scope
Identify improvement opportunities to reduce lead time in the claim management process.
Results
- Identified organisational issues, bottlenecks and inter-functional problems.
- Developed a root cause analysis which led the team to identify the reasons that stood under each issue.
- Organised inter-functional solution meetings to identify priority issues and decide on the best solution to implement
12 initiatives and 8 quick wins rolled out
... and after the War Room?
A War Room project sets the stage for continuous improvement and the team will be able to carry out the method autonomously…
... but the war room is just a taste of the potential of Lean Six Sigma.
During the war room, many opportunities for process improvement are identified. PwC can help you achieve change goals through the DMAIC path (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control) and training your resources on the Lean Six Sigma methodology.
