MANCHESTER, England, February 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Over the last 18 months the estate agency sector has suffered more than most. House values and sales have slumped leaving many companies facing closure. North West based Frank Marshall & Co (http://www.frankmarshall.co.uk/) decided to take decisive action to stay ahead of the competition while increasing profitability and customer service. They are the first estate agency in the UK to adopt the manufacturing principles of Lean and Six Sigma to improve their business and respond to changes in the housing market.
Frank Marshall & Co has three branches in Buxton, Northwich and Knutsford and they asked Altremis Ltd (http://www.altremis.co.uk/) to help them analyse and improve company performance. Specifically, they wanted to understand why one of the branches performed better than the others and to replicate its success.
The senior management team decided to initiate a business improvement programme. The key objectives for the programme were:
- To analyse existing performance data and explore the root causes of different performance levels. This included comparing and contrasting data and trends. - To extract and share best practice between Buxton, Northwich and Knutsford to help ensure all branches performed consistently and at the highest level possible.
With a few short months Frank Marshall & Co have made significant strides forward. The business is now outperforming many of their competitors and they are in a strong position to deal with a turbulent housing market:
- Consistent processes and best practice is now across all branches - enabling them all to respond to the market quicker and capitalise on that speed. - New best practice has been formalised in the sales process by process mapping techniques. - Significant cost savings have been made by reducing identified wastes.
Notes for Editor
Altremis Ltd (http://www.altremis.co.uk/) is an innovative business improvement consultancy based in the North West. Specialising in Lean and Six Sigma methodologies they successfully work with clients to make their businesses more effective, efficient and help them achieve exceptional levels of customer satisfaction.
George Forrest | Managing Director Altremis Ltd 82 King Street | Manchester | M2 4WQ Telephone +44(0)161-935-8021 | Fax +44(0)161-935-8001 Email george@altremis.co.uk | Website http://www.altremis.co.uk
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