Scoober, a Takeaway.com Company, Transforms into a Lean Organization with Symbol’s Assistance

Also implementing a Lean way of working?

We would be happy to visit you with no obligation to spar with you. For an appointment, call 053 – 203 02 40 or fill out the form below.

Create closer community, standardize business processes

“Together with Thom, I first drew up a Lean plan,” Man continues. “In it we described what we expect from our business, but of course also what we want to achieve with Lean. Our main challenge had to do with the many islands in our organization that were not communicating with each other sufficiently. This also prevented them from learning from each other in order to make improvements. To address this challenge, it was important to create a closer community, but also to standardize business processes. Only if every fortress works in the same way can you create a feedback loop, learn from what happens in other branches and thus continuously improve as an organization. Not only that: it also ensures that you are scalable as an organization, and that is essential for Scoober.”

Establish a clear plan

After the Lean plan, Man – with Luijben as a key sparring partner – developed a strategy plan, a process plan and a training plan. “This may seem like a lot, but in an organization where everyone is always busy-busy-busy, it is very important to first draw up a clear plan for new initiatives and only then to start running. Otherwise the initiative ends up on the shelf. Thom’s experience and feedback in writing these plans was very welcome. He gave feedback on my ideas in several sessions. The strategy plan now describes the steps we are going to take, but also how we want to introduce and embed Lean further and further into the organization. An important part of this is that we give people as much control as possible – giving them responsibility instead of imposing it on them. In order to make a cultural shift, people have to want to change themselves. The process plan then describes how we can get all our processes on paper in order to standardize them and implement them in the organization. And the training plan focuses on spreading knowledge throughout the organization. The more people know what Lean is and how to apply it, the bigger the oil slick becomes.”

Training to build support

Together with Luijben, Man also provided Lean Champion training for the management team. “We wanted to get our managers excited about Lean, because when they are excited they encourage and motivate others to get started with Lean as well. The first training day took place in December 2018. The second training day was scheduled in February 2019, but a major acquisition came in between and the day was unfortunately postponed. A sign that Lean had not yet taken root enough in our corporate culture – not even in top management. In the end, the second day only took place in June 2019, but after that I was quickly given the green light to continue and initiate more training sessions.”

Lean ambassadorship: the subject comes alive

The desired Lean ambassadorship in the organization is thus slowly but surely beginning to emerge, Man indicates. “That’s not only because of those trainings, by the way, but mainly because of the various projects that have been done in the meantime. This puts it on the agenda and people actually see results. I have noticed that theory alone is not enough for ambassadorship. It is only when Lean projects are done in practice and great results are achieved that the subject comes to life.”

Nice steps made

So the future with Lean is positive, Man says. “Great strides have already been made. Together with me, Thom has laid a solid foundation. The most important business processes have now been mapped out internally and are now being standardized and improved. The next step is to collect feedback on those processes and do regular audits so that we can continue to improve. And of course the training of colleagues continues as well. Fortunately, recently I no longer have to do that alone. I now have two more Lean colleagues and we are looking into recruiting people for this in other countries (in the future). Yes, Lean is alive and well in our organization.”