Why Integration is So Important?

Where is the waste?

Lean improvement is often described in terms of eliminating waste. Waste comes in many forms:

• Inefficient use of materials
• Unnecessary processing steps
• Low processing throughput
• Mistakes and Rework

But one of the most common and costly forms of waste is often left off the list.

Think about the many systems your company uses to manage information. Starting with the first opportunity for a sale, through every step of the process through collecting on invoices, how many systems does your company use? And don’t forget to count all the spreadsheets, whiteboards, calendars, etc. that you use.

How many times along that route do your workers need to enter data that has already been entered somewhere else, in some other system?

From simple things like a prospect’s address, that must be re-entered from one place to the next, to much more wasteful re-entry of material data from engineering.

Just having to look up information is wasteful, let along re-enter it time and time again.

This kind of waste is a clear symptom of disconnected information systems. Call them:

• Islands,
• Data Silos,
• Whatever you like…

This represents one of the most undervalued business problems, generating waste and impeding growth.

Our #1 objective is elimination of this type of waste.