Core Process Flows and Inventive Solutions

Bizmanualz Solutions

Question of the month: How is the design flow in an organization different from the manufacturing flow?

This month, the focus of our articles was on core process flows, innovation and problem solving. A typical company has three core process flows – cash cycle, manufacturing (or fulfillment cycle) and design cycle. Your cash cycle reflects how cash is coming into your organization. Your manufacturing cycle includes your three inventory related processes—purchasing, production and sales. Design flow is iterative as it goes through multiple improvement cycles.

Cash and Manufacturing Flows

With cash flows, an unbalanced cash cycle produces negative cash flow and the need for increased financing. It is the same with the manufacturing flows. Unbalanced manufacturing flows require more inventory to compensate for all of the variation and unknowns, which increases your inventory, and in turn, your working capital needs.

Read more about cash flows and manufacturing flows…

Design Flows

In manufacturing and cash flows our goal is to work towards zero defects and doing it right the first time. Both are laudable goals for replication processes that are already designed but how do we do that for iterative processes like the design phase? In design we do not expect to have zero defects the first time.

Thinking Outside the Box

One way to solve problems is by using known solutions. Problems with known solutions are solved with basic research into standard solutions that have been used before to solve problems of this nature. Hence, the problem is solved with a known solution. The key effort needed to solve such a problem is research. But how do you find unknown solutions?

Read more about inventive problem solving …

In design it is possible to replicate using common design concepts like TRIZ to improve our ideas in a systematic way and not have to iterate through 10,000 different ideas to solve a problem. Design flows do differ from manufacturing or cash flows based on the principle of iteration but we can also find solutions faster by replicating known theoretical solutions to continuously innovate and keep the design cycle moving .

Reader Feedback

Several of you have asked us what you get when you purchase our manuals. All our hard-copy manuals come with the following:

Three-ring color binder
Printout of all content (three-hole punched)
A CD that includes all content in MS-Word files for easy editing and customization.

Bizmanualz procedure manuals help your in your policies and procedures project by providing you a solid starting point. The procedures templates can be used as guides to write your own company-specific policies and procedures.

As always, thank you very much for all the feedback you have given us. And, remember to keep your comments, questions and suggestions coming.

On That Note

Answer to this month’s question:

The basic difference is the process type. Manufacturing flows are replication processes. You want to do the same thing over and over again—make all products in a run the same—by following a established set of procedures and processes. Design flow, on the other hand, is an iterative process and goes through multiple refinement cycles. You can’t get design right the first time, you have to keep on improving the previous designs until you reach a point where it meets your manufacturing requirements.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments that you may have about our products, services or articles. Also, please let us know if you’d like any specific topic addressed in our future articles.

Regards,
Chris
Bizmanualz, Inc

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