Why Initiate Action

Why Work With Phillip Slater and Initiate Action?

This page provides answers to a number of frequently asked questions about Initiate Action and Phillip Slater.

What do you do?

My company, Initiate Action, helps other companies achieve significant improvements in materials and spares inventory management performance. I am the Principal Consultant at Initiate Action and the developer of the process and tools that are applied.

How do you do help companies improve their results?

We work to improve the skills and understanding of key personnel and develop the management processes that influence the materials management and inventory performance.

Everyone understands that for lasting success the work must be done by your team members as this is the best way to get them to ‘buy into’ the results and change their mindset about what is possible. We achieve this by not bringing in a team of consultants and by working with the client team to identify and then make the changes. I know that everyone says this but with me I must do this as there is no one else! (You may know that previously I was a Principle for a global consulting firm, 5,000 consultants and 65 offices, so I know all about bringing in a team of consultants and the failings of that approach.)

So, you do things like JIT?

JIT is just one of 7 actions that that can be applied to materials and spares inventory management. What we do is help companies determine which approaches are best suited to their situation.

So what do you do?

For inventory review we apply an approach I call Inventory Process Optimization™, this involves a combination of management review and individual parts review. The parts review is completed using the 7 Actions for Inventory Reduction.

My approach helps teams establish their independence and lets them think of the solutions as their own ideas, not mine. Really I am providing the process for them to discover the real potential in their inventory.

So you do training?

We do some training but mostly our success comes from working with the client to identify and implement changes to their own systems. Improving awareness and understanding through training is just a part of that.

So you work with all types or inventory?

No we specialize in MRO, materials management, and spare parts inventory.

How are you different to other providers?

It comes from a combination of things:

Our focus is on implementing improvements, not just identifying them. (That’s why the company is called Initiate Action.) Our competitors, for the most part, are looking to sell software.
We understand that the key to our clients’ success is in skills and process development. Software solutions don’t provide this they really just recalculate the result; they don’t aim to change the system of management.
We are specialists in this area this is not an ‘add on’ service, this is what we do! Our principal, Phillip Slater, has written several books on inventory management, is a regular speaker at conferences, and even does training for the Production and Inventory Control Society (apics).
We provide a range of services from consulting to training to implementation. This includes Implementing new inventory management processes, modifying existing processes, developing stock policies, optimizing inventory and safely reducing inventory levels.
Our approach is about preventing problems rather than just correcting the effect of past problems. If you don’t take preventive actions then the old problems just return again.

If you rely principally on one person how can you service a company of our size?

They key is the way I work. By involving your team, rather than bringing in a team, I ensure a skills transfer and this helps deliver lasting results. The thing to remember is that your team needs a combination of skill and process improvement not necessarily more people.

Also, when appropriate, we can pilot a program and then train your people to roll it out across your organization.

Finally, because we have developed a Global Partner Network we have access to other companies that we have trained in the application of our processes.

But my team are all busy.

Sure they are but aren't they always busy? The issue is priority and getting the best from your time and money. If you go for a quick and dirty solution that doesn’t change the team’s behaviors and skills then you will keep getting the same result. They key question is - how important is this to you?

I am not sure about working with a small company.

The advantages of this are:

You deal directly with the principal and decision maker, this makes us more responsive and more flexible in delivery. Consulting firms lack this because they are all focused on employee utilization.
You aren’t paying for people to learn the consulting business.
Our approach is tailored we are not providing ‘off the shelf’ packages. Many people don't realize that big firms need to use standard approaches as a way of maximizing the efficiency of their own team, not your team!
Our expenses will be less because you are not paying for a team of people.

And at the end of the day you are paying for value and results, not quantity and size.

Also with respect to size, all large companies are really made up of smaller operating units and the best way to work through that is to establish ‘clusters’ that work on a program together. Each cluster knows that the others are going through the program and we are able to then take the learning from one cluster and apply that to another.

What about working with a guy from Australia?

I have been providing consulting services all over the world since 1994. During that time I have worked in more than a dozen countries from Europe, throughout Asia and in North America. This really is no impediment to a successful project.

When I was with a global consulting firm I ran programs across Asia and North America, including Australia, China, Japan, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Canada, Mexico and the USA. For those programs I had teams working across locations while I provided the operational insight and leadership. In short, I have experience in successfully running programs simultaneously across a number of different countries.

Need more information? Contact Initiate Action today !

Materials Management X-Ray