The internal processes which drive business outputs may not be the most exciting element of a product launch, but they are critical to its delivery. At The Kraft Heinz Company, as we look to realise #AgileAtScale, we are closely reviewing each one to ensure they perform to expectation.
One such process is how we generate Product Reference codes. These join together key information so it can be recalled quickly by different functions – e.g. Specification, or Label designs. They also include the Barcodes our customers use. Because these contain so much data, our prior approach had been to ensure all this was correct, sequentially, before issuing. Although this made sense internally, it meant we sometimes delayed issuing them to customers – and causing inefficiencies in how we work.
Recently, after consulting business stakeholders, we went live with a change to this process where we now provide these product codes at the start of the process – as opposed to the end – with a target time of one week by completing some basic details. This means we can start customer conversations earlier – and focus on what matters, i.e. great product launches and activations. And when we are ready to fully commercialise the product, thanks to a new parallel workflow for the rest of the data, it means we now give our functional leads more time to get these critical inputs right.
This change reinforces how our Values permeate through at every level of our company. #HereAtKraftHeinz we put #CustomerFirst and secondly, #WeOwnIt – because no task is too small to be improved – especially if it enables our products to get into market faster, while providing more flexibility to enable continuous improvement.
With special thanks to Mohammed Alaoui Ismaili Elaine Magill Ryan Petit Irania Perez Pramod Govindan Jean James Kimberley Loyza and many others.
I know those people!!!!!