Companies in current times are constantly changing due to the challenges presented by the continuous transformation of technology, politics, economics and markets. These elements influence with their demands for adaptation and innovation to the culture presented by the organization. Constant adaptation and innovation ensure not only the survival of the company but also in its continuous progress towards competitiveness.
Changes are the constant of the days in organizations, however the direction that can be taken is unpredictable and requires better strategic planning. The impacts caused by changes in companies reveal the deficiencies in strategic processes and company policies. This implies the reassignment of the mission and vision, the technology, procedures and methods that are used in the development of products and / or services, especially those that are key to ensure competitive advantage in companies.
To resolve the above, an examination of the company's processes must be carried out in order to simplify them, make them more efficient and effective in creating added value for the product and / or service in the face of customer satisfaction.
The tools that have been created to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of companies are varied and different. One of these tools is "Process Reengineering", which is used to reorganize the processes that are used within organizations.
Definitions.
For a better understanding of the subject, the following is defined:
- Process: set of planned activities that involves the participation of a number of people and material resources coordinated in order to achieve a previously established objective (University of Jaen, 2010) Reengineering: it is a concept that refers to the redesign of a process in a business or a drastic change in it (Euceda, 2009).
- Process reengineering: a management tool through which the organization's processes are radically or completely redesigned in order to achieve improvements in productivity, quality and cycle times (Piedra, 2011).
It can be said that process reengineering is a technique by means of which organizations restructure and redefine their processes, whether production, administrative, accounting, among others, in order to improve and increase productivity, competitiveness, quality; Likewise, process reengineering seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes.
Process reengineering.
In the face of constantly changing situations that organizations suffer, new tools have been created that help each one to improve their processes, either by increasing their efficiency, productivity or competitiveness.
Process reengineering is one of the tools that has been developed recently, which is focused on improving processes. The correct implementation followed by innovation and constant improvement will allow the company to remain competitive, however, process reengineering does not solve all the problems or ailments that the company presents.
In summary, process reengineering is a suitable methodology to redesign and review processes, as well as apply them. Process reengineering focuses on adding value to each of the processes and discarding those that are not helpful. This tool is suitable for developing horizontal and process organizations, in addition, it is ideal to reduce costs, process times, improve motivation and participation of staff and improve the product or service.
According to Hernández Rodríguez (2012), Michael Hammer and James Champy are recognized for creating the term reengineering and define it as the basic change to get to the bottom of the problem in the organization, in other words, reengineering is a radical change that must happen in order to achieve the fantastic results that reengineering preaches through the study of new processes that will make the company more productive.
History of process reengineering.
Process reengineering has its origin in the principles of administration, that is, in the early years of the nineteenth century, although at this time it was not called reengineering. In 1880, Frederick Taylor suggested that managers made use of the tools at their disposal to improve productivity; in that instance, Taylor referred to reengineering even though the concept as such did not exist in his time.
The reengineering of processes (Business Process Reeingineering or BPR, for its acronym in English), is based on the classic current that there is a better way to do things. In Taylor's time, technology was not what it is today, that is, it was very outdated; This did not allow organizations to design and develop their processes in a functional way by departments.
Another person who also made his contribution to the concept of reengineering was Henri Fayol who, through specialization, allowed to increase efficiency and established the beginning of the reengineering objectives, which is the use of all the resources available to the organization.
One of the main ideas that process reengineering establishes is that the collaborator must possess adequate power to make decisions. This is how, in 1993, the concept of process reengineering was presented by Hammer and Champy, who with their experience developed the concept that, once it was defined, was a success in the world of organizations.
Hammer and champy established at the time that reengineering is the fundamental revision and radical redesign of processes, in order to achieve great improvements in drastic measures of performance.
Principles of reengineering.
The basic principles of process reengineering are as follows:
- Support is required from management, top-level management or strategic level. Some of these levels must be in charge of leading the program. The company's strategy must direct and direct the reengineering programs. The main objective is to generate value for the client. Flexibility is required when carrying out the reengineering plan, Likewise, the action plans that are just as necessary should not be rigid, but rather should be flexible as the process reengineering plan develops, focusing on processes and not on functions, defining those that require change.
- It requires work teams that are responsible and trained; These must be motivated and rewarded with positions of responsibility in the new organization that will be generated after the application of reengineering. Observing customer requirements and their degree of satisfaction is a basic feedback system that allows detecting to what extent are achieving the objectives The reengineering plan must be molded to the situation the business is going through, so that the same plan cannot be created for different businesses It is necessary to establish measurement systems that are adequate to determine the degree of compliance of the objectives. Finally, human capital must be considered when avoiding or reducing resistance to change;this aspect can cause delays in the application of the reengineering process.
The previous points are some of the principles that according to Sáez Vacas, García, Palao, & Rojo (2008) the process reengineering must follow during the duration of the process.
Characteristics of process reengineering.
Taking as a basis the principles described above that process reengineering follows, the following characteristics can be defined
- Unified tasks: the reengineering of processes gives rise to the assignment of tasks in a team, obtaining as a result a reduction of times, when supervising is suppressed; Likewise, the quality is improved by reducing errors. Development of different versions of the same product: this is to put an end to standardization and achieve greater acceptance of the product by the customer.
- Participation of collaborators in decision-making: collaborators are the ones who make decisions and are awarded the responsibilities related to their work. This to some extent influences each worker to gradually become her own boss. Change of the sequential order for the natural one of the processes: once the reengineering of processes has been introduced in an industry, the activities will begin to be carried out in the order that is most beneficial for the processes, so the order must be forgotten that was commonly followed. Decrease in evaluations and control: refers to the establishment of an evaluation and control plan that includes only those controls that make economic sense; if this is done, the organizational structure becomes more flexible and more flexible.
Objectives of process reengineering.
The objectives to be achieved with the application of process reengineering are the following:
- Greater and better knowledge of the processes, as well as their control Greater flexibility in the face of customer needs Greater economic benefits through the reduction in associated costs that the previous process entailed, as well as lower costs due to Increase in cost performance Reduction in product or service process time Increase in employee satisfaction due to better knowledge about their tasks and processes Increase in customer satisfaction due to decreased term of service, as well as the improvement in the quality of the product and / or service (Piedra, 2011).
Frequent errors in the reengineering application.
Many of the times, when it comes to applying process reengineering, they fall into the error of just wanting to improve a process instead of changing it, likewise, they do not focus on the processes of the organization and they want to cover other areas that do not they are precisely processes. On the other hand, the other aspects that are present within the company are ignored, that is, the values and beliefs of the collaborators are not taken into account, the way they have been working, previous experiences, among other things.
Reengineering should only focus on how to perform activities, not what activities to perform (this concerns the organization's strategy). Other mistakes made when reengineering are as follows:
- Extend the effort too much Give up when an obstacle is presented Focusing solely on the design Skim the resources devoted to the reengineering process Try to make reengineering from the bottom up Giving the lead to a collaborator with zero knowledge of the Reengineering - Put aside the reengineering process - Settle for minimal results.
Steps in the reengineering process.
Although the authors describe different methods of the reengineering process, they agree on several aspects of it, following the methodology described by Navarro (2003), the following steps are taken (see figure 1):
Steps of Process Reengineering
Within process reengineering, the inclusion of new technologies allows processes to be redefined, achieving high degrees of efficiency and effectiveness that were previously lower. Organizations that can discover these capabilities and apply them successfully will gain the following benefits:
- Optimization of the organization's processes Access to reliable, timely and accurate information Eradication of unnecessary data and operations Reduction of time and costs in processes.
Useful tools and techniques in reengineering.
As is well known, reengineering seeks to make radical changes to processes in organizations in order to optimize them; To achieve this, it is essential to use techniques and tools that help and facilitate the reengineering process. Some of the techniques used are the following:
- Operations research: methodology that provides empirical bases for decision-making, in addition to improving service delivery. Benchamrking: outperform the competition based on the procedures of leading companies. Change management: human capital must be considered in order to manage change. The radical changes that reengineering encourages can cause panic for employees because they have to change the way they have been working. Process visualization: develop a correct vision of the process, designing in detail each and every one of the elements that the new process will have.
The 3 C's and 3 R's of reengineering.
Other factors that must be considered in order to apply reengineering are the so-called 3 c's and 3 r's, which are the following:
- 3 C's:
- Customers: determine what the organization must produce. Competition: competition increases, so companies must be more competitive, in order to survive changes. Change: seeks to make organizations more effective
- Redesign: redesign with a cross-functional vision. Retool (provide tools): work materials: computers, networks, procedures, among others Reorquest: reorient the factors that make up the organization, which have to change so that reengineering is possible (Tocora, Castiilo, López, & Rosas, 2014)
Conclusion.
Well-implemented process reengineering offers great benefits for organizations, because it creates more efficient processes which will help to develop good quality products or services, reduce the costs involved in their production, as well as reduce the production time.
In current times and at the speed at which changes occur both in the external and internal environment of the organization, it is convenient that the processes are kept up to date so that organizations can face the challenges that arise day by day. For process reengineering to be properly implemented, it is necessary to have highly trained people in the subject so that no mistakes are made during the reengineering process.
On the other hand, the processes that organizations usually have are not bad at all, but are specifically developed to meet the demands of previous years and not current ones, so they must be constantly updated.
Thesis proposal.
Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes of SMEs in the Orizaba region, through the implementation of process reengineering.
Goals.
- Reduce the time in the production processes of products or services Increase the competitiveness of the organization Reduce the cost of production of products or services Streamline processes in general
Gratitude.
I am deeply grateful to the Technological Institute of Orizaba for contributing to my professional training until today, to the National Science and Technology Council (CONACyT) for the financial support it gives me to continue with my Master's studies, to the Masters teachers in Administrative Engineering for giving me the opportunity to enter the program and finally to Dr. Fernando Aguirre y Hernandez for promoting the culture of writing and reading articles.
References
- Euceda, O. (2009). Reengineering. Monographs: Informes para Empresarios, 1-12, Hernández Rodríguez, C. (2012). Reengineering: a tool for administrative work. Administrative Science (UV), 1-9 Navarro, E. (2003). Management and reengineering of processes. UNAM, 2-4. Piedra, JL (2011). Definition of process reengineering. Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, 1-7.Sáez Vacas, F., García, O., Palao, J., & Rojo, P. (2008). Process reengineering: characteristics, principles and application tools. Tenological innovation in companies, 2-16.Tocora, V., Castiilo, J., López, L., & Rosas, A. (September 02, 2014). Prezi. Retrieved from
