From Correcting Mistakes Afterwards to Getting It Right First Time

Getting a new customer off to a good start requires more than simply ensuring that a location is operationally ready. Behind the scenes, several departments work together to ensure that all the necessary information is available at the right time and that the customer receives the right service from day one. These handover moments are precisely where there is room to make processes smarter and more efficient.

Following the merger of Albron and Hutten, various business processes and departments were brought together within Hai. This created a natural opportunity to review and further optimise the Order to Cash process, from order to payment, across the organisation.

The objective was clear from the outset: Hai wanted to redesign its Order to Cash process to work more efficiently, become more customer-focused and build a more future-proof organisation. In addition, the company aimed to strengthen collaboration between departments and foster greater ownership of continuous improvement.

Wicher Huisman, Manager Business Control at Hai, is involved in the Order to Cash process as part of his role. Together with consultant David van Elk from Masters In Lean, Hai set out to explore how the process could be further improved. The focus was not only on creating a more efficient process, but also on improving collaboration between the different departments involved in the end-to-end process.

Hai’s Order to Cash process involves many different parts of the organisation, including sales, operations, invoicing and IT. Collaboration between these departments is good, but with so many stakeholders involved in the same value stream, clear coordination is essential.

One key area for improvement was customer onboarding. When a new customer comes on board, a significant amount of information is required, and several departments need to contribute at the right time. By clarifying and streamlining this process, Hai aimed to ensure that information is complete and available on time, allowing the first invoice to be processed as smoothly as possible.

Two other areas for improvement were also identified: recording the cost centres provided by customers and recharging the costs of supplies and purchases. Both required a clearer, more future-proof process.

The ambition went beyond simply resolving individual issues. Hai wanted to take an integrated view of the entire process and gain insight into the points where departments interact. This would help establish a way of working in which responsibilities are clear and the process is increasingly approached as one connected whole.

It was important not to start by focusing on a solution or a desired way of working. First, the team needed to understand the actual problem and how the process worked in practice.

David and the team began by mapping the current value stream in detail. Rather than looking only at individual process steps, they focused on how these steps connected. The aim was not to immediately determine what needed to change, but first to understand how the process actually worked and identify the underlying causes of problems within the value stream.

By asking targeted questions about the why, when and how of different activities, opportunities for improvement became visible. As Wicher explains: “You look at the entire process, rather than just your own part of it.”

Since the Order to Cash process involves several departments, it was important to bring their different perspectives together. By conducting the analysis with the team, a shared understanding emerged of the current way of working and where further improvements could be made.

The analysis also revealed that problems do not always originate within a single process step. Disruptions can arise precisely at the points where work or information is transferred from one department to another. By examining these handover moments together, the team gained a clearer understanding of where the process could genuinely be improved.

The analysis resulted in three concrete improvement initiatives:

1. Customer onboarding
This initiative is now the most advanced. A digital, standardised approach has been introduced for customer onboarding, documenting the tasks of the different departments involved. This makes it clearer who needs to be involved at each stage of bringing a new customer on board. The invoicing department is also involved earlier in the preparation process.

2. Cost centres
A separate improvement initiative has been launched to ensure that cost centres are recorded accurately and completely. The team is working on how information provided by customers can be processed as effectively as possible.

3. Recharging the costs of supplies and purchases
An improvement initiative has also been launched in this area. The current way of working has been mapped, and agreements are being further developed together with the teams involved.

In addition to value stream mapping, the team used a fishbone analysis, a method for systematically identifying the potential causes of a problem. This provided insight into the various causes, stakeholders and processes associated with the improvement areas. Potential solutions were then translated into concrete measures that can be implemented in practice.

The project has not only provided greater insight into the process, but also into how departments and people are connected. By examining the entire value stream together, the focus shifts from identifying where things go wrong to understanding why problems arise within the process. This helps prevent the discussion from becoming about pointing fingers or assigning blame, keeping the focus instead on the underlying causes within the process itself.

The improvement project is still ongoing, but the first changes are already visible. Significant progress has been made, particularly in customer onboarding. The process has been further automated and documented, and responsibilities have been organised more clearly.

One of the most important changes is that Finance is now involved earlier in the onboarding of new customers. This ensures that invoicing is considered from the very beginning of the process. Wicher sees this as a significant shift:

“The Finance department is now more involved in the initial onboarding process and is increasingly recognised as an integral part of bringing a new customer on board.”

Awareness of how departments work together has also increased. While employees each contribute to the process from their own roles, it is becoming increasingly clear how important the handover moments are when work and information pass from one department to another.

This means the improvement goes beyond simply changing an individual process step. An important objective is to help employees recognise when a process deviates from the agreed way of working and then work together to investigate the underlying causes.

Looking ahead, Hai is working to embed these improvements for the long term. A dashboard is already in place, tracking various performance indicators, including the number of invoicing complaints and the accounts receivable balance. The next step is to introduce more measurement points within the process itself. This will make it possible to monitor not only the results, but also whether improvements are sustained in day-to-day operations.

The improvements to customer onboarding have now been implemented. The initiatives relating to cost centres and recharging costs have been launched and will be developed further in the coming period.

For David, the true value of an improvement project ultimately lies in more than just creating a better process. It is also about teaching people to keep identifying where and when a process deviates from the agreed way of working and to work together to understand the underlying causes. In this way, continuous improvement becomes part of everyday work.

Together with Masters In Lean, Hai continues to develop its Order to Cash process step by step. Moving from correcting mistakes afterwards to getting things right first time, and from focusing on individual process steps to taking a shared view of the entire value stream.

As David puts it:

“For me, an improvement project is successful when not only does the process improve, but people also learn to keep recognising where and when the process deviates from the agreed way of working. They then work together to identify the root causes rather than looking for someone to blame.”

This is how Masters In Lean helps Hai drive continuous improvement by becoming the eyes and ears of the organisation!