Vehicle management and maintenance problem

Challenge

The problem I am trying to solve is the inefficient vehicle management process of Ghanaian  company. The companies are not able to monitor and organized the documents involved in the  maintenance of their vehicle. The unorganized structure leads to a lot of money lost to duplicate of  vehicle part purchase and misinformation. The company used for this study was a waste  management company in the heart of Accra, Ghana.

Selection

The tools I used were Journey mapping, Co - creation and Visualization. I used to tools to achieve a  deep understanding if the problem space which the vehicle management and maintenance. Journey  mapping was used to trace to journey of the inspector as they inspect the vehicles, the processes  they go through and the parties involved.  I used the Co-creation technique to divided the  stakeholders into four groups and these groups were Inspection, Purchasing, Management and  Maintenance. Each group were asked different sets of question to get more insight into their core  contribution to the whole process. I finally used the visualization technique to produce simple visual  representation of the current state of the vehicle management process in the company.

Application

I began the whole process by generating a possible process cycle for vehicle management  through the use of visualization. I used same shape and color to represent the various parts  of the process involved in vehicle management, then I went to the company and I presented  the visual process I generated to them and the correction were made to the cycle to get the  exact state of the cycle.

After which I started performing informal interviews with the inspector to get the process  they go through and how they want to solve it and I later did some informal interviews with  the supervisor. I analyzed the interviews and process cycle generated to form question to sk  the manager during a formal interview. After formal interview with the managers, I was  grant formal interviews with some of the key stakeholders involved in the process.

I divide the stakeholders into a group of 4 participants each representing a different part of  the process.  I gave each of the groups a poster of the process generated earlier and I asked  them to show how they want to process to be improved and the key part of their part in the  process. After some time, I collected the posters and we discuss the proposition suggested  by the groups. We together generated a final process cycle which solved most of the  problems identified in the process cycle.

Insight

I learnt a lot from the experience of conducting this exercise with the stakeholders in the  company. I realized that some problems caused by solved just getting the stakeholders in a

room and they will generate a great solution to their problem.  I realized that the key aspect  of the whole process was the record taking and keeping so I have started with the design of  a desktop application to provide the platform for the managers and the inspectors. The  visualization technique played a critical role in finding the solution.

Approach

Alternative approach is the use of mind- mapping and ethnography to map out the lifes of  the company whole process in dependent of vehicle management. Understanding all the  processes in the company and how they affect vehicle management, then find ways to  improve the linking of the process to create a streamlined process.

