Profile

Professional summary

James Reames is Co-Founder and Master Black Belt of ProcessGPS, LLC, a partnership firm specializing in Lean Six Sigma implementation. He has over 26 years of experience in the field of Quality, supporting all types of organizations in achieving breakthrough performance through problem-solving, process improvement, and process design/re-design. He has served on the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Program for 11 years (1995-2002, 2010-2011, 2013) and has assisted organizations in applying the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.

James works with large (Fortune 50) and medium-size organizations struggling with outdated processes that are not meeting competitive challenges or that are failing to satisfy customers.

Engagement overview

Duration and cost of an engagement depends on the scope of work, identified during the initial consultation.

Clients

• IBM
• LG Services
• Dow Chemical
• Arrow Electronics
• Merck Pharmaceuticals
• Verizon
• Canon Financial Services
• Public Service Electric & Gas.

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Areas of expertise
Key clients
  • Verizon Communications
  • IBM
  • Dow Chemical
Case Studies

Process Improvement to Maintain Profitability and Keep Customers Satisfied

The insurer staffs a call center to answer client questions on policy adjustments that had a potential for creating confusion and dissatisfaction. With hundreds of thousands of policies being re-rated on a rolling schedule of notifications, the status quo required a temporary but extended ramp-up of call center staffing that would have increased expenses by millions of dollars. The client asked Ja... Read more

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Insights

Question: Improving customer service for sophisticated product portfolio

You are to be congratulated on your disciplined efforts to understand the sources of client dissatisfaction and resulting client loss. You rightly recognize that the next challenge is to arrive at permanent solutions rather than temporary fixes.

In the same way as you have arrived at a root cause of customer service provided by your service teams, use your actual data -- perhaps customer compl... Read more

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Question: Changing a "crisis centered" company culture

I've been associated with many companies with a similar corporate culture: one that celebrates and promotes the individuals who handle crises very well. It's a great skill set - we call it the "fire-fighter" - while at the same time we bemoan the fact that preventing the same situation is extremely unlikely to be celebrated, since we never see the hypothetical "fire" when it never happened.

Pr... Read more

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Question: Implementing the organizational matrix

You mention dual-reporting to a functional head - if by "functional" you mean "process owner," then I applaud you for your intuitive foresight. In the field of process management, this is a common matrix management structure, and one that tends to work well, without diminishing a General Manager's autonomy.

GMs, as hierarchical managers, are interested in managing many aspects of an individual... Read more

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Question: Resolving conflict between key metrics

I agree entirely with Rick. Your employees will always be driven to do what the performance system rewards them for doing, so if you emphasize quick call handling, you'll find (as I did with another client) that call center reps will game the system by answering a customer and then immediately hanging up - thus driving lower average call handling time. Lots of other examples, but perhaps sufficien... Read more

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Question: Can Lean or Six Sigma help reduce complexity in service organization?

Re-organizing your team structure only makes sense as part of a larger effort at process improvement. Most organizations build functional silos - nothing wrong with that, and lots of very good reasons to do so. Then there are the processes that focus on your customers, and these generally move through your functions.

Now here's the thing: re-organizing your functions only moves the employees w... Read more

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Question: How can the board help CEO develop new leadership talent as a process?

As an advocate of using the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, I'm acutely aware of the importance of effective leadership development and succession planning. The recently retired director of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Harry Hertz, just posted the following blog regarding the Baldrige Fellows Program, which recently visited a recipient of the National Quality ... Read more

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