A Lean process review for Greenpower Education Trust
Based in the UK, Greenpower Education Trust (Greenpower) is a charity that aims to fill a recognised skills gap in STEM subjects by getting young people enthusiastic about science and engineering. The charity supply age-appropriate electric ‘Kit Cars’, primarily to schools and colleges, that young people then design, build, and race at Greenpower organised events. Greenpower work with over 700 teams across the UK, hosting over 30 regional event and an international final annually. Ranging from primary school age through to university, more than 10,000 students take part in events every year.
To ensure the charity’s work continues to benefit the students involved and wider society, Greenpower wanted to optimise efficiency in their processes, focusing on the point of ordering & purchasing Kit Cars, through to fulfilling orders from customers. Ad Esse delivered the process review as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
"The work that Ad Esse undertook was extremely valuable and helped us to realise where we could become far more effective, particularly as we have very limited resources. It initiated changes within the organisation, both short-term, and longer term. Since we had the support from Ad Esse, we implemented a new finance system, online webshop, and stock management system. It has not only created efficiencies with our processes but raised our aspirations and motivation as a team. Thanks so much to Ad Esse and Yeukai for your support. I would highly recommend getting in touch with them.”
(Barnabas Shelbourne, CEO at Greenpower Education Trust)
Nicollette Baldwin was the Director of Operations at Greenpower at the time of this project. Keep reading to see Nicollette’s experience of the process review with the team at Ad Esse.
The Challenge
Like many organisations across the world, Greenpower felt the effects of the COVID pandemic, as well as the continuing social and financial pressure in the UK. As a charity, Greenpower needed to maximise outputs while keeping operations as efficient as possible. Working with multiple suppliers, varying customer requirements, and different Kit Car packages, processes had become inflated. When combined with a small team and time pressures to meet event deadlines and customer expectations, I saw an opportunity for improvement.
I came across G’s profile on LinkedIn and saw he was now a Director at Ad Esse, a performance improvement consultancy for social purpose organisations. We’d worked together at Saxon Weald many years ago when they were introducing Lean principles to the organisation. I was so impressed with what G had achieved since then with Lean and continuous improvement and thought Ad Esse could help Greenpower. As a charity, I’m grateful for Ad Esse’s generosity in offering Yeukai’s time pro bono.
The process review
Ad Esse facilitated a process review, working with the team at Greenpower to process orders more efficiently while maintaining a high standard of quality. It was amazing. I hadn’t focused on applying Lean principles for a long time, even though I had been part of it previously at Saxon Weald. The team at Greenpower is small and had never come across Lean before, so it was a challenge to introduce new ideas at the same time as improving processes.
It was a bit of a shocker when we realised that we had 56 steps from the point of someone placing an order to them receiving their Kit Car. We got the number of steps down to 15.
Yeukai (Our Ad Esse Consultant) was brilliant. She’s patient and explained it well to everybody. With such a small team at Greenpower, it can be a challenge to persuade everyone to give up some time out of their busy work schedule because resources are limited. Thankfully, the process review was interactive and Yeukai managed to get people engaged, so it was met positively. It was a relief that someone was coming in and guiding us through the process improvement work. All the unnecessary steps that we had, and all the waste identified energised the team to work more effectively. We all enjoyed the whole process.
The impact of a Lean Process Review at Greenpower
Lean must be led from the top, otherwise you won’t get the engagement from the team. The CEO and Chair of Greenpower are grateful to have the introduction to Lean, and Yeukai is now on the board and can steer the way towards greater efficiency & effectiveness, ultimately making a greater impact on the charity’s mission. Growth and possible funding opportunities are in sight for the future and it’s important to have the knowledge from Ad Esse on board.
I was so pleased with the work that Yeukai did at Greenpower that I recommended that she could be a great addition to the Greenpower Board of Trustees, and subsequently, after due process, she was invited to be a trustee. Once the project was over and there wasn’t a conflict of interest, we were pleased that she accepted, which is amazing! I’m very glad that now I’ve left Greenpower, Yeukai continues to make an impact as a board member with her expertise in Lean & continuous improvement. She’s a superstar.
“Being part of Greenpower's journey is both a privilege and a motivation; it fuels my passion for meaningful change and reminds me that when expertise meets purpose, we can create transformative outcomes that resonate far beyond the immediate project benefits.”
(Yeukai Chikowore, Ad Esse Consultant & Greenpower trustee)
Nicollette Baldwin was the Director of Operations at Greenpower at the time of this project. Read her thoughts in this case study.