Poor Inquiry-to-Quote Results
New process results in more than 50% reduction in process steps and cycle time.
Case Studies
Business Issue
A manufacturer of engineered valves to the oil and gas industry’s Inquiry-to-Quote process was utilizing a large amount of sales and engineering resources while at the same time yielding the following poor results:
Low win rate
Incorrect product and plant determination
Long quote response time and high design rework after project win.
Approach Used
Flow consultants ran a five day lean process design kaizen involving a cross-functional team of engineering, project management, sales and operations. More than 30 participants from all global markets participated. Significant data collection and analysis was completed by the core team prior to the kaizen. The team was introduced to behavioral change management tools to be used during roll out and implementation activities. Post-event weekly stewardship meetings were held to review both leading and lagging metrics.
Results
A new process was designed that included: a prioritization process, risk analysis, redesign of roles and a standing review team that would manage the overall process and review all high risk opportunities. The global rollout of the new process was completed within six months and yielded the following results:
More than 50% reduction in Inquiry-to-Quote process steps and cycle time
Improved on-time delivery performance
Created customer segmentation and product offering matrix
Reduced rework of engineering design effort