Lean Process Improvement – Home Repair Services Company

Results Case Studies

Case Study Snapshot

Results At A Glance

Materials Staff

−20%

Red Tag Steps Eliminated

31

Action Items Identified

101

Retail Purchasing

Eliminated

Key Takeaways

  • SIPOC analysis exposed large information flow gaps forcing Technicians into extra non-value-added work.
  • Current state process mapping identified 31 steps for elimination and 16 for reassignment.
  • Eliminated Technician retail purchasing at Home Depot/Lowe's, capturing negotiated wholesale pricing.
  • Standardized supply chain process created a scalable template for new territories and acquisitions.

Where This Approach Fits

Best for fast-growing home services or field service companies whose supply chain processes haven't kept pace with revenue growth.

Lean Process Improvement Business Process Improvement

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Problem / Challenge

This HVAC, Plumbing, Appliance Repair and Electrical home services company had grown rapidly from $8 million to over $100 million in a few years. Their Supply Chain functions did not keep up with the overwhelming success of their membership program where residential customers pay an annual fee for priority service.

Concurrently they implemented a new ERP system, ServiceTitan, that had significant limitations when coupled with how they handled purchasing supplies, parts and equipment for their Service Technicians to install new equipment and conduct repairs.

This resulted in service backlogs and Technicians going to Home Depot or Lowe’s for materials, paying much higher prices than the company negotiated with wholesale distributors.

Lean Assessment

  • Lack of trust from Technicians that items would get to where they’re needed when they are needed.
  • Multiple decisions by the field regarding where to purchase repair parts.
  • ServiceTitan design causes >100 POs, >100 Receipts, >100 Invoices, each day.
  • POs not physically received in warehouse require a piece of paper from the field to receive.
  • Warehouse personnel don’t have the time to do value-added work for internal customers – cycle counting trucks, verifying VMI fulfillment quantity, following up on sent POs.
  • Working outside of warehouse process generally works better even though it takes more field professional time and is not scalable – this causes more work for the warehouse.

SIPOC Analysis – Warehouse Operations

A SIPOC (Supplier-Input-Process-Output-Customer) analysis of warehouse operations revealed large information flow gaps and extra work required in the current state by Field Technicians. This slowed the field work and delayed customer repairs.

Current State Process Flow Map

The Lean team mapped the current state purchasing-to-installation process using post-it notes to document every step, decision point, and handoff across departments.

Process Flow – Customer Requirement Through Installation

The detailed process flow map from customer requirement through purchasing and installation identified 31 steps marked as “Red Tag” that were eliminated from the future state. An additional 16 steps were marked “Yellow” – done by the wrong department or needing to be moved earlier or later in the process.

Future State Map

The team created a future state process map with all non-value-added steps removed, streamlining the flow from customer requirement through installation.

Ongoing Brainstorm

During the current state mapping, numerous improvements were brainstormed. We captured these on a “Parking Lot” to keep momentum while respecting the input from the Lean Team. Quick-wins were assigned to team members to implement.

101 Action Item Improvements

The team created 101 action item improvements broken into priority status. Each item was documented with the process description, issue, responsible role, waste type, frequency and impact, and brainstormed solutions.

Results

  • Eliminated the need for Technicians to buy material at Home Depot and Lowe’s, reducing material expense
  • Reduced materials management staff by 20% and “hotshot” material deliveries
  • Removed barrier to growth and created a standard for new territories and acquisitions
  • 31 Red Tag process steps eliminated from the future state workflow
  • 101 action item improvements identified and prioritized for implementation

Learn more about our Lean Process Improvement and Business Process Improvement services.

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