Process Innovation and Performance Excellence

Dover Business Services is a shared service unit that caters to more than 18 Operating Companies (OpCo) under Dover Corporation. Its mission is to empower these companies by providing best-in-class Finance services through effective and efficient processes at lower operating costs. The organization has the vision to become a world-class global shared service unit, and it has identified that cultivating the culture of Continuous Improvement (CI) and excellence is one of its major strategies.

To execute this strategy, the team has developed an umbrella initiative called Process Innovation and Performance Excellence (PIPE). DBS believes that not only does it need to directly improve its system, but it must develop its major resource – its people – for the CI culture to be integrated across the organization. The PIPE initiative comprises the following components:

1. An idea database where employees can easily pitch in their improvement ideas known as the PIPE Website. This is also where an idea gets to be reviewed, grabbed, and implemented as it is being tracked by the CI team.
2. Lean Six Sigma Training and Certification Program – where employees get to be equipped with the necessary tools to solve problems and find opportunities for improvement
3. PIPE Rewards and Recognition Program – where employees get to be acknowledged and rewarded for the ideas and projects they have supported and initiated

All these activities and programs under PIPE are designed to support the direction towards developing and expanding the Continuous Improvement mindset and culture across Dover Corporation. With the goal to strengthen the culture and use such strategy to promote company growth, the team has conceptualized a 5-year roadmap for PIPE with the following phases:

2019-2020 Build Foundation

2020-2021 Develop Capability

2021-2022 Support and Stabilize DBS Growth

2022-2023 Explore Beyond DBS with PIPE

2023 and Beyond Replicate PIPE across Dover Corporation

With more than 2 years in this journey, DBS has gradually reaped the benefits – developing around 98 Lean Six Sigma Resources and having implemented 32 improvement projects. DBS does not stop there, as it continues to push through with around 86 ongoing improvement initiatives, and an increasing number of improvement ideas on the PIPE website. Process efficiency has improved around 15-32%, Process Lead Times have reduced by 60%, and the processing cost per unit has significantly reduced by 14%. These improvements do not just benefit DBS alone, but the Dover Operating Companies that it serves as well.

DBS may still have a long journey ahead but as it has realized, following the roadmap established in 2019 has proven to be the right path towards the company’s end-state vision in the CI culture development journey.

Developing the Continuous Improvement culture may be a big feat for the organization, but with careful planning and assessments, and with the collaborative spirit that the employees bring, DBS believes that striving for excellence is not impossible. Striving to become a world-class Shared Service Center is attainable.