Six Galway companies have made savings totalling over €820,000 so far this year after participating in a unique business programme being run by Local Enterprise Office Galway. Lean for Micro aims to help businesses across all sectors vastly improve their productivity and profitability – while cutting costs and freeing up time.
The programme consists of an initial workshop for owners, managers or senior staff of small and micro businesses who wish to gain an introduction to Lean concepts. Put simply, lean means creating more value for customers with fewer resources. As part of the LEO Galway Lean for Micro programme, companies can gain a practical understanding of Lean by undertaking a short, focused in-company assignment with tailored, one to one mentoring support.
On successful completion of the programme, participants will have the knowledge and skills to enable them to undertake small lean projects, resulting in continuous improvements on an ongoing basis in their businesses.
Treat Cafe
Peadar Dolan of popular Claregalway eatery Treat Cafe took part in the programme. He says ‘the lean programme made a difference in helping us develop different habits which allowed us to improve systems, create capacity and improve our efficiency. Making the changes allowed us the time to focus on the business strategically – we improved our systems which allowed us to reduce stock levels, optimise our staffing levels and create space for new sales.’
Peadar says he would definitely recommend – the Lean for Micro programme – we have been able to take a holiday for the first time in a number of years!’
The programme has produced significant results and savings for the companies who’ve taken part. In 2018, 7 companies made total savings of €587,000. So far in 2019, 6 companies have made total savings of over €820,000.
The upcoming programme will consist of a one-day workshop to be held in September which will provide an introduction to Lean concepts, followed by mentoring support in undertaking a short in-company lean assignment over 3 months.
Mentoring
The in-company assignment will be identified during the workshop. Participating companies will receive regular support in their assignment from a Lean consultant over a 3-month period. Goals will be set at the start of the assignment and resourceful mentoring will ensue to develop transferable skills in applying the training. Each participating business will receive up to 4 support visits of half a day each to their premises over the period to bring the assignment to a successful conclusion.
On completion of the assignments the group will come together for a follow-up session where they can present their successes and learn from each other, fostering a lean network going forward.
Armour Interactive
Armour Interactive is another Galway comany which is reaping the benefits of this course. Managing Director Andrew Dewdney says ‘we worked on the internal processes which in turn identified how long it took to do particular tasks. We were then better able to scope out and quantify projects and time frames. It improved our internal communications within the business.’
He says Lean for Micro also helped the company to focus on strategy and scaling: We had been thinking of taking on a new employee but during the Lean for Micro we identified the role and recruited – which allowed us more time to focus strategically on the business.’
The trainer and mentor for this programe will be Paula McNicholas from Lean Team Strategies. Lean Team Strategies is one of Ireland’s leading Lean consultancies and is based here in the West. Paula is well qualified in implementing Lean with a wealth of functional and sectoral experience,kin businesses of different sizes. She particularly specialises in helping SME’s and as well as having successfuly implemented a number of Enterprise Ireland funded projects.
If you want to invest in the future of your business through our Lean for Micro programme, get in touch today at [email protected] or call 091-509090.
ps://www.localenterprise.ie/Galway/Training-Events/Lean%20for%20Micro/
(Photo by Josette Farrell)
