Otto Bock - OTP Installation again

I have one more picture of Viola and thought I can write one more entry about OTP.

Her main fields, apart from the overall OTP process, were logistics and one of the subsidiaries (the location in Thuringia in which they produced wheel chairs).

In logistics, which was mainly warehousing, Viola managed to cut down throughput time and work with an extremely difficult manager who was not easy to deal with. It was an effective combination of charm and professionalism.

In the production subsidiary she implemented the management control system we also installed in the headquarters.

I need to say, Viola was one of my best consultants on the job. She lives in London now, and I should get back in touch at some stage.

Otto Bock - OTP Installation

OTP is an interesting workstream as it comprises all other areas of the project, apart from R&D which we also looked at.

Viola's interfaces were mainly with the workstreams sales, order entry, production, logistics, payment control, whereas the latter 2 were her own areas.

OTP basically works like this: All major processes should be mapped and critiqued. Times of sub-proceses should be taken to understand how long "the average" process takes.

And then, after those critique sessions, improvement plans have to be developed and implemented. Best would be to do this with the 6 Sigma methodology, but in those days we decided not to.

After the improvements have been implemented, new standard times have to be taken and financial savings calculated.

On the pictures is Viola and her task force, who luckily was also responsible for ISO.

Otto Bock - OTP

The other big workstream was OTP (Order to Payment) which covered the whole value chain throughout the company, starting with the incoming customer order, ending with the customer payment.

Poor Viola was responsible for that one. Her task was to do a hell of a lot of process mapping. Brown Papers must have grown out of her ears.

But she has done an extremely good job. With all those processes in mind, she probably knew the company the best.