Barton's Blog » Tillamook

Experience using Excel, Powerpoint…Lombardi Blueprint… a plus!

Barton George — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:48:16 +0000

Last night when I was checking my Google Alerts, I came across a job description for a Process Modler/Analyst position. In the Requirements Section it stated: “Experience with Lombardi Blueprint a plus.” It looks like Blueprint has arrived

Blueprint recognized Across the Pond

In other Blueprint related news, at the end of last year there was an article in ComputerWeekly.com in the UK about how Blueprint was used by a “US dairy giant” to overhaul its processing. The article focused on the Web 2.0 nature of the solution:

A huge dairy cooperative in the US, which supplies the likes of Wal-Mart, Safeway and Costco, has taken hold of Web 2.0 technology in order to reengineer its whole business.

Change came with the arrival of a new chief executive officer, who identified that IT could bring massive efficiencies to Tillamook in the form of business process management (BPM).

He gave Burge and his IT team his backing to investigate Web 2.0 technology, to see how it could be used to identify, capture and optimise the firm’s “tribal knowledge”, and drive down inaccurate information.

Tillamook examined several applications, including diagramming tool Microsoft Visio – which the firm found too complicated for its needs – but eventually chose Lombardi Blueprint.

Blueprint is at an inflection point right now. With the economy in the shape its in right now, we are seeing quite a bit of interest in a solution that can be paid for on a monthly basis and help drive costs down and efficiencies up.

Here’s to saving money!

Pau for now…

Turning 100 years of “tribal knowledge” into documented processes

Barton George — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:28:10 +0000

A while back I posted a podcast with Steve Burge of Tillamook where he talked about how Tillamook, a cooperative, made up of over 150 dairies, took on a process mapping effort to turn 100 years of “tribal knowledge” into documented processes.

Since the story was a great example of tackling a process documentation effort that involved the whole org, rather than just IT, we decided to turn it into a webinar. We worked with ModernAnalyst.com and created a 35 minute webinar which you can check out here (you can also check out the slides below).

What the webinar’s about

Steve talks through the slides for about 25 minutes and then fields questions for about 10. Here are some of the topics he discusses:

How he built a core team where IT was in the minority and the majority of the members came from the business side.
How the team decided where to begin
How they involved over 150 people, from all over the company, to help detail the processes and how by doing so it helped eliminate silos and highlight “white spaces.”
How this effort led to a “new” view of BPM.

Pau for now…

The Tillamook Podcast — 99 yr old Dairy Cooperative embraces Process Mapping

Barton George — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:51:15 +0000

If you’re not familiar with the name, Tillamook is a 99 year-old cooperative made up of over 150 dairies that produces high-end dairy products. The award-winning cooperative, officially named the Tillamook County Creamery Association, is located up in the north west corner of Oregon.

Until recently, processes were passed down from artisan to artisan in the form of what Steve Burge, who runs TIllamooks’ Business Process Management Office, jokingly refers to as “tribal knowledge.”

There’s a new Sheriff in town and he’s a fan of BPM

When Tillamook’s new CEO came on board he realized that he needed to get a handle on the company’s processes in order to move forward and compete in today’s market. It was Steve’s job to put together a Process Management Model to lead the collection and documentation of the company’s processes.

>> My Interview with Steve (7:06) : Listen (mp3) Listen (ogg)

Some of the topics we tackle:

How Steve built a core team where IT was in the minority and the majority of the members came from the business side.
How the team decided where to begin.
Why they decided to abandon Visio and cocktail napkins for Blueprint and the value they saw in a hosted application.
How they involved over 150 people, from all over the company, to help detail the processes
How they got process owners from the business to own execution after the initial documentation effort.

Pau for now…