Establishing the right strategy is not enough; strategy execution is often what determines success in the marketplace.

What is needed is a process for strategy execution that is systematic, aligned with enterprise objectives, and repeatable throughout the enterprise. Providing a process to develop an effective strategic plan and then mobilizing the organization to execute the strategy is the purpose of policy deployment. And the policy deployment process often used by the most successful lean enterprises- including Agilent, Bank of America, Danaher, Hewlett-Packard, Komatsu, Nippon Denso, Texas Instruments, and Toyota- is Hoshin Kanri.

The Hoshin process is, first of all, a systematic planning process for defining long-range objectives. These are breakthrough objectives that typically extend two to five years with little change. Second, the Hoshin process does not lose sight of the day-to-day "business fundamental" measures required to run the business successfully. This two-pronged approach provides an extended period of time for the organization to focus its breakthrough effort while continuously improving key business processes day to day.

The Hoshin methodology provides:

Breakthrough objective focus.
Development of plans that adequately support the objective.
Review of progress of these plans.
Changes to plans as required.
Continuous improvement of key business processes.
A vehicle for organizational learning.

Hoshin then ensures deployment of strategy through an elegant proess that measures and tracks everyone’s progress that’s required for achieving the organization’s objectives. The plan is hierarchical, cascading down through the organization and to key business-process owners. Ownership of the supporting strategies is clearly identified with measures at the appropriate level or process owner within the organization.

We become an extension of your executive staff to create an aggressive yet attainable implementation plan that specifies the resources, knowledge, activities, and timeframe required to achieve your desired breakthrough results. We help your leadership team create a clear roadmap to success for your lean transformation. Our staff includes former senior executives who have conceived, organized, and executed enterprise-wide lean transformations for large and mid-sized companies. Having them as a part of your team will ensure that the roll-out of your lean initiative is well planned, achievable, and aligned with your business objectives.