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In this fourth post on the evolution of strategic management, we will be looking at Objectives and Key Results (OKR). Like Management by Objectives (MBO), Objectives and Key Results is still frequently used, and often cited in connection with Hoshin Kanri. Hence, let’s have a deeper look at what Objectives and Key Results is.
Strategic management is the art of planning, monitoring, analyzing, and assessing all that is necessary for an organization to meet its goals and objectives. This is the third post in my series on the evolution of strategic management, and we will be looking in more detail at management by objectives (MBO).
In this series of posts I will talk about how strategic management developed (i.e., how to have a big-picture view of where your company is and where it should be, and especially how to get there). In my last post, I looked at the situation before there was any strategic management. This posts looks at the time between roughly 1900 and World War II. It will be mostly about managing money and operational efficiency, but there are already a few big-picture view companies popping up.
Running a company is not easy. A lot of lean tools help you with the small details and fuel the continuous improvement process. However, you should not neglect the big picture. How do you make not only small or large operational changes (i.e., the tactics), but also actually use a strategy to win the war (i.e., to lead a company to success)? That is strategic management. This series of posts will look at how strategic management evolved over time, with particular focus on its use in manufacturing. And yes, Hoshin Kanri will (eventually) be part of this short post series.
This is the third post in this small series on mismatches between customer takt and the line takt (i.e., mismatches between the customer demand and the ability to meet this demand). The first post looked at small fluctuations, which mostly handle themselves through inventory (for make-to-stock) and through lead time and utilization (for make-to-order). The second post looked at customer demand exceeding your capacity. And, finally, in this last post will look at customer demand being lower than your capacity.
The customer takt represents the demand of your customers for your your products. The line takt represents the ability of your production system to produce. Hence, the customer takt should meet the line takt. This series of blog posts looks into what to do if they do NOT match. In my previous post I talked about small fluctuations… which are pretty much no problem in the short term, as inventory (for make-to-stock) or lead time and utilization (for make-to-order) will handle these. However, if the fluctuations trend in one or another direction, eventually you have to act. In this post I will talk more about what to do if the customer takt is faster than your line takt (i.e., the customer demand exceeds your current capacity).
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