Super7 Operations – Book preview

CoverLean has been around in financial services for over 10 years now. From the insurance companies and banking back-offices that I have seen, however, the way Lean is implemented in this context is usually focused on making the operation manageable and controllable, by introducing standard processing times, reports on productivity and availability, and making the performance visual on the shop floor.

What’s missing in my view is the fun factor of Lean: the experiments, the improvements, the supportive management style and the teamwork. Moreover, I wasn’t seeing the sense of invigoration and renewal that comes when employees on the shop floor experience the improvements brought on by a Lean implementation.

And, perhaps even more importantly, the ‘old’ Lean that I encountered in financial services doesn’t put the customer in the centre. Instead, these approaches focused mainly on cost containment and internal Service Level Agreements.

This approach to Lean sidesteps its most essential benefits and its central point. From what I saw, Lean within financial services needed a new go. In response, a new approach was developed — Super7 Operations.

Three central benefits come up again and again, each of which we will look at in detail in my book:

  • Customer-centric and empowered business culture
  • Reduced inventory and customer waiting times
  • More supportive management style

 

The theory of Super7 Operations is explained from several viewpoints: what it does for your customers, how it changes culture on the shop-floor, and what this way of working means to employees and managers.

Practical guides for implementation of Super7 Operations are given in the detailed case studies from Super7 Operations at ING. You’ll get valuable tips and tricks for implementing Super7 in your own organisation, from the people that have done it before you.