FPO First Principles OperationsNew Zealand

On the floor first

I work your process before I change it.

For New Zealand Business Owners. We find the one thing capping output and fix that first. You keep the method.

The Floor Walk Start the Finder
A gold chain held in the middle by a red paperclip, the weak link

A business is a chain. Output is set by the weakest link, not by how hard everyone else works. Most shops try to speed up every station. The piles move. The due dates do not.

I follow one real job from enquiry to cash. I stand at the pile. I watch the process fail the way I would watch a machine fail. Only then do we change anything, and we change the constraint first.

The order

Walk the job

One order, enquiry to cash. Mark every wait.

Name the weak link

Machine, person, rule, or market. In your words.

Read the money

Throughput, investment, operating expense.

Delete before you spend

Squeeze it. Then spend only if you still must.

The four moves in full