The next step

The five-day operational assessment

A short Hoshin Kanri call with your leadership at Day 0 sets the priorities the week is measured against. Then five days on site: we map the value stream, read your own event log, and watch the work actually happen — then return a prioritised view of which steps warrant deterministic automation, which warrant AI judgment, and which should stay with a person. It also sets the baseline: when the work is live, the same analysis measures what changed.

By Uma KA Updated

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Who this is for

Built for operations leaders who need a real answer, not a workshop

The five-day assessment fits a specific situation. You run a manufacturing or supply chain operation. You suspect there is waste in the process, but nobody has proven where it is with data. You have heard the AI pitch from three vendors already, and none of them could tell you which of your steps actually deserve AI versus which just need a simpler fix. You want a plan you can act on this quarter, not a strategy deck that sits in a folder.

This is not a fit if you are looking for a long change-management programme, or if you want us to recommend AI regardless of what the data shows. We say no to AI as often as we say yes to it — the event log decides, not a sales target.

The agenda

Day 0, then five days on site

Day 0 — remote

A short Hoshin Kanri call with your leadership, before we arrive — this sets the priorities the whole five-day assessment is measured against.

Day 1

Gemba + log pull

Walk the floor with the people who run the process. Pull the raw event log from whatever system already tracks it — ERP, MES, ticketing.

Day 2

Map how it flows

Map how the work actually flows, step by step — the version that runs, not the one on the wall chart.

Day 3

Sort into lanes

Sort each step: handled by ordinary software, worth an AI judgment call, or a person should decide.

Day 4

Rank + build quick wins

Rank the opportunities by payback, and build 1–2 quick-win microbots against the highest-value steps.

Day 5

Go live + readout

Switch the quick wins live, present the findings, and agree the plan for what comes next.

What you get

Five deliverables, not a slide deck

Who needs to be in the room

The ops lead who runs the process day to day, one systems owner with access to pull the ERP/systems log, and one finance contact who can speak to cost.

Pricing

Fixed, scoped to complexity — credited if you move forward

Single process, single site
$6,000–$9,000

Plus travel and living.

Multiple processes or sites
$12,000–$18,000

Plus travel and living.

Fully credited against a follow-on engagement — Lean transformation, Digital Enablement, LDI Sprint or Training & Coaching — if you move forward within 90 days. The exact fee is confirmed before we start, based on process count and site count; it does not move once agreed.

What we don't do

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What happens after the five days

You leave with 1–2 microbots already running, not a promise to build them later. The value stream map and exception matrix are validated against your own event log, so the numbers hold up when you present them internally. If you decide to move forward on a larger engagement, the assessment fee is credited in full — you are not paying twice to get from diagnosis to action.

If you decide not to move forward, you still keep everything: the map, the Judgment Lane sort, the ranked candidate list, and the quick wins already live on your floor. Nothing here is designed to expire the moment the engagement ends.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from a typical Lean consulting audit?

Most audits are built on interviews and a whiteboard session. This assessment reads your own ERP or MES event log, so the value stream map reflects what actually happened on the floor, not what people remember happening.

Do we need any AI tools already in place?

No. Most clients arrive with no AI in production. The assessment tells you which steps, if any, are worth an AI judgment call — it does not assume AI is the answer before the data is in.

What if the quick-win microbots don't fit our IT policy?

We scope Day 4's build against whatever access and approval constraints your IT team sets on Day 1. If a quick win can't be deployed within your policy, it stays on the ranked list for your team to build later instead.

Can the assessment run across multiple sites at once?

Yes — that's the "multiple processes or sites" pricing tier. The Day 0 Hoshin Kanri call still sets one shared set of priorities, and the five days on site are allocated across locations based on where the biggest waste is expected.