2. BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING
Definition:
The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of core business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in critical performance measures such as quality, cost, and cycle time.
Organization
Job skills
Structures
Reward
Values
Technology
Enabling technologies
IS architectures
Methods and tools
IS organizations
Process
Core business processes
Value-added
Customer-focus
Innovation
A BPR Framework:
3. REASONS BEHIND DEERE’S REENGINEERING PROJECT:
Suffering during mid-1980s due to Economic
Distress
Midwest becoming Rust belt
High pressure on Manufacturing
Hard time for Farm sector in beginning of 1990s
due to Kansas wheat field destroyed by early
summer Hailstorm
Sales and Profits beaten down due to both events
To sustain, Company started doing Radical changes
in on shop floor by reducing Inventory, Levelling
activities on Shop floor, forming Manufacturing
Cells, rearranging shopfloor layout, etc.
Reengineering was not invented till then; Company
heard about “R” term in fall of 1989 and started its
first Reengineering project in 1990
4. FIRST REENGINEERING AT INSURANCE BUSINESS:
Deere was structured into 8 division at that time, all managed separately
Reengineering team try to work on Reengineering at Centre of business in Agricultural Division
Agricultural Division had too many years of History, Culture was too Entrenched and people were afraid
of magnitude of change in such big division
So, instead of forcing division from outside, Reengineering team asked all Division to invite them
Insurance Division was not a Primary operation in Deere
Best to start Small, at edge of the business
Success at small attracts more interest of centre
5. ROLE OF LEADERSHIP IN REENGINEERING
Leadership was not involved in initial phase of reengineering
But started getting involved after seeing success at Insurance
Division
Main challenge for Leadership in every Reengineering project at
Deere was People’s Fear
Dealer’s Fear about new Process – Removed by designing & playing
Monopoly-like game
Employees resistance for New process – Made part of their Individual
Goal
Employees fear about downsizing – Reengineering is for improving
business, not for downsizing
6. RESOURCES AND RESULTS
Reengineering at Deere had Phase wise
result
• For Insurance division – 40% of elapsed
time eliminated for Claims, another 40%
after Computarization
• Order Fulfilment – Process Changed from
“Estimate-to-Shipment” to “Estimate-to-
Cash”
Time for result was also different for
different project
• Order Fulfilment
• Largest project of Reengineering among
20-25 project undertaken by team
• Took 19 months from Diagnosis through
National implementation;
• breakneck speed for change in Deere
• Never defined Order Fulfilment so
broadly before
Dedicated Team of 6-7 people
• Act as Enablers of Reengineering
• Went for Michael Hammer’s Classes;
conducted 2-3 inhouse session per year
• Go out and work with Business team at
facility
7. LEARNINGS
At start of reengineering, always start at Edge of the business, not
Centre
Dedicated Team required to develop breakthrough
Part time team cannot give breakthrough
Needed for Improved Performance
Involvement of Leadership is Key for success
Leadership should initiate Reengineering
Help people to overcome the fear of Change
Success in small process will attract people at core of business
Align the Objective of BPR with people to remove fear
Focus of reengineering should always be to improve the Business
Change is continuous process; necessary for success and sustaining
growth of Company
