Operations Strategy Training Course

Participants can translate customer demand and market evidence into operational requirements.

• Segment customer demand by volume, variety, variability and visibility
• Voice-of-customer data converted into critical-to-quality service requirements
• Jobs-to-be-Done interviews identify functional, emotional and social demand
• Demand patterns mapped using seasonality, lead time and channel data
• Service promises tested against feasible capacity and response-time constraints
• Competitor operating models benchmarked for cost, service and resilience

Participants can establish an evidence-based baseline of current operational performance.

• SIPOC boundaries establish suppliers, inputs, process, outputs and customers
• Value-stream maps expose queues, handoffs, rework and information delays
• Process walks verify documented workflows against actual frontline work
• Swimlane maps assign ownership across functions, vendors and systems
• Baseline measures define throughput, cycle time, first-pass yield and cost
• Bottlenecks identified using constraint analysis and observed work content

Participants can design a target operating model with clear structural and governance choices.

• Target operating model aligns process, people, technology, governance and locations
• Make-buy-partner decisions assessed through strategic control and total cost
• Centralisation and decentralisation choices matched to demand and risk
• RACI matrices clarify decision rights, accountabilities and escalation paths
• Shared services designs tested for service quality and transaction volume
• Operating model principles converted into design criteria and guardrails

Participants can redesign process flow to improve throughput, control and customer value.

• Process architecture connects value streams, core processes and enabling services
• Standard work specifies sequence, takt time, controls and expected output
• Business process management notation documents events, gateways and handoffs
• Error-proofing uses poka-yoke controls at likely failure points
• Little’s Law relates work-in-progress, throughput and flow time
• Future-state maps remove non-value-adding steps and simplify approvals

Participants can develop capacity responses for changing demand and service requirements.

• Capacity calculations distinguish design, effective and actual output rates
• Utilisation and efficiency analysed without confusing their operational implications
• Queueing concepts explain waiting time under variable arrivals and service
• Aggregate planning balances demand, workforce, inventory and subcontract capacity
• Capacity cushions set against volatility, disruption exposure and service commitments
• Scenario models compare overtime, hiring, outsourcing and capital investment

Participants can connect forecasts, inventory rules and supply plans to operational priorities.

• S&OP aligns commercial forecasts, supply plans and financial commitments
• Demand forecasting combines historical patterns, judgment and causal indicators
• ABC analysis differentiates inventory control policies by value and movement
• Safety stock calculations reflect demand variability, lead time and target service
• Reorder points trigger replenishment using expected demand during lead time
• Master production schedules translate aggregate plans into executable priorities

Participants can make sourcing and network design choices using strategic, financial and risk criteria.

• Supply network mapping reveals tier dependencies, logistics nodes and single points
• Total cost of ownership compares suppliers beyond unit purchase price
• Supplier segmentation applies the Kraljic matrix to sourcing decisions
• Network design evaluates proximity, scale, tax, lead time and risk
• Service-level agreements define performance, remedies, reporting and review cadence
• Dual sourcing decisions balance resilience, volume commitments and qualification cost

Participants can use quality methods to control variation, prevent defects and reduce failure costs.

• Cost of quality separates prevention, appraisal, failure and warranty costs
• Control charts distinguish common-cause variation from assignable-cause signals
• Pareto analysis prioritises defect categories by frequency and impact
• Root cause analysis combines five whys, fishbone diagrams and evidence
• Failure mode and effects analysis ranks severity, occurrence and detection
• Quality management systems connect procedures, records, audits and corrective actions

Participants can build performance systems that connect frontline measures with strategic results.

• Balanced scorecards link operational measures to customer, financial and capability outcomes
• Strategy maps show cause-and-effect relationships among performance objectives
• Leading and lagging indicators prevent retrospective performance management
• Operational dashboards define metric formulas, sources, owners and refresh cycles
• Tiered daily management escalates abnormalities through visible performance boards
• Metric trees trace executive goals to controllable frontline measures

Participants can identify productivity opportunities and quantify their operational and financial effects.

• Activity-based costing assigns overhead through activities, drivers and consumption
• Unit cost models separate fixed, variable, direct and indirect elements
• Overall equipment effectiveness measures availability, performance and quality losses
• Labour productivity baselines account for mix, learning and utilisation
• Value analysis challenges specifications, features and process steps driving cost
• Benefits cases distinguish recurring savings, cost avoidance and cash impact

Participants can establish disciplined improvement routines based on flow, visual management and problem solving.

• Lean principles define value, flow, pull, perfection and customer perspective
• Seven wastes identified through motion, waiting, defects and excess processing
• Kanban systems control replenishment using visual signals and explicit limits
• 5S standards organise workplaces for safety, visibility and disciplined execution
• Kaizen events structure rapid improvement around facts, causes and countermeasures
• Daily huddles review plan, performance, problems and assigned actions

Participants can assess digital operations opportunities while maintaining process, data and control discipline.

• Automation candidates screened for volume, rules, exceptions and control requirements
• Process mining reconstructs actual process paths from event-log data
• Digital work instructions support standardisation, training and traceable revisions
• Data governance assigns ownership, quality rules, access and retention
• Cybersecurity controls assessed for connected assets, suppliers and operational technology
• Technology roadmaps sequence pilots, integration dependencies and adoption milestones

Participants can integrate operational risk, continuity and recovery requirements into strategy decisions.

• ISO 31000 risk criteria frame likelihood, consequence and treatment decisions
• Business impact analysis identifies critical services, dependencies and recovery priorities
• Risk registers assign owners, controls, triggers and review dates
• Bow-tie analysis links threats, preventive barriers, consequences and recovery controls
• Business continuity plans define response roles, workarounds and communications
• Stress tests quantify operational exposure under supplier, system and workforce disruption

Participants can incorporate environmental and ethical operating requirements into strategy and investment choices.

• Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions mapped across operational activities
• Life cycle assessment identifies environmental hotspots from materials through end-of-life
• Energy intensity measures connect consumption to output, occupancy or service units
• Circular economy options assess reuse, repair, remanufacture and recovery flows
• Supplier codes set environmental, labour and ethical sourcing expectations
• Environmental targets reconciled with cost, quality and service commitments

Participants can plan workforce capabilities and change actions needed for operational strategy delivery.

• Workforce planning matches skills, headcount, shifts and demand scenarios
• Skills matrices identify single points of failure and cross-training priorities
• Job design applies autonomy, feedback, task variety and safety requirements
• Labour standards establish expected work content and staffing assumptions
• Change impact assessments identify affected roles, behaviours and local barriers
• ADKAR plans sequence awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement actions

Participants can convert strategic priorities into owned initiatives, milestones and measurable benefits.

• Hoshin Kanri deploys breakthrough objectives through annual priorities and catchball
• OKRs translate strategic themes into measurable outcomes and key results
• A3 reports frame problems, analysis, countermeasures, owners and follow-up
• Implementation roadmaps sequence initiatives, dependencies, resources and decision gates
• RAID logs track risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies through delivery
• Benefits realisation plans define baselines, owners, timing and evidence

Participants can govern an operations improvement portfolio and make disciplined investment recommendations.

• Portfolio scoring ranks initiatives by strategic fit, value, risk and feasibility
• Stage-gate governance tests readiness before funding, piloting and scaling decisions
• Investment appraisals compare NPV, payback, sensitivity and non-financial criteria
• Executive operating reviews focus decisions, exceptions, actions and accountability
• Governance calendars coordinate planning, performance review, risk and resource decisions
• Audit trails preserve evidence for controls, approvals and benefits claims

Participants can reconcile operational choices into a coherent strategy for senior review.

• Strategic choices reconciled across service, cost, quality, flexibility and resilience
• Operating strategy canvases connect market priorities, capabilities and investment requirements
• Scenario planning tests strategic responses against demand and disruption assumptions
• Capability gaps prioritised using impact, urgency, feasibility and ownership criteria
• Initiative interdependencies mapped before confirming sequence, resources and governance
• Board-level narratives present choices, evidence, trade-offs and requested decisions

Participants can build, review and present a complete operations strategy pack for executive decision.

• Operating strategy charter states ambition, scope, customer promise and priorities
• Current-state evidence synthesised from process, capacity, cost and performance analysis
• Target operating model specifies capabilities, processes, governance and technology choices
• Strategic initiatives sequenced through roadmap, dependencies, investment and benefits
• Risk, resilience and sustainability commitments embedded within implementation controls
• Executive presentation defends recommendations, trade-offs, metrics and decision requests