''At the beginning of the assignment, it was important to get a good idea of the processes each department was involved in.''
For the past 9 months we have been part of the Lean team within the Finance department (GES, Global Enabling Services) of ASML. As the name implies, our goal was to roll out the Lean methodology within this part of the organization. GES' goals for 2023 focus on continuous improvement and being more transparent in all processes. The Lean methodology is ideally suited to get this done.
GES Metrics Initiative
The common thread in the assignment was the creation of the GES Metrics Initiative. The idea was to draw up appropriate metrics and KPIs together with the Finance departments and then make these transparent in dashboards. From these, the performance of all processes could then be monitored and managed. The latter is known within Lean as Daily Performance Management. Our role was to coordinate and advise from A-Z of the creation and proactive use of the dashboards, together with the global leaders, global process owners and developers within ASML Finance.
Within the assignment there were 6 teams we worked with, all focused on a different area within Finance. Think of parts like: supplier invoices, customer invoices, salaries, lease cars, hotels and housing for personnel from abroad or credit cards. Together with another colleague, we are each responsible for providing insight into the metrics and KPIs of about 2 teams. Between us we had regular contact to keep each other informed about the state of affairs and to help each other where necessary with the other teams. In doing so, we were also able to spar weekly with our client about the progress of and obstacles to rolling out Lean.
About ASML
ASML is a Dutch high-tech company and supplies machines for the semiconductor industry. ASML's customers are mainly chip producers.
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What does a day as an Interim Young Professional at ASML look like?
No day is the same! We sometimes started the day by reviewing the status of the teams. Is everything going according to plan and/or are there events that could cause delays? Based on this, we made a To-Do list to work on during that day. But other days we were programming ourselves to create dashboard mock-ups, or had meetings with stakeholders to discuss progress or get new ideas for use in the dashboards. Also, we didn't start with all 6 teams at once, but extended the project about every month with a new team added. So the days often varied quite a bit. Generally we were also busy adding or modifying functionalities in the dashboards, updating the progress reports, reporting to the teams and discussing the long-term strategy of the project with our manager.
We usually worked 1 to 2 days per week at the ASML office in Veldhoven. On these days we tried to sit together with colleagues from the different departments as much as possible. Good for work, but also for the atmosphere! The other days we worked at home or met up with the three of us at Kyden's office. A perfect combination :).
What did we learn as Interim Young Professional?
At the beginning of the assignment, it was important to get a good idea of the processes each department was involved in. This involved a lot of domain specific knowledge and this made us understand many new terms and processes in this area. Another learning point came from the link between the data and the business. With each team we asked what data was available and from here we made decisions on the best fitting KPIs.
The design and application of performance management is also something we didn't have much experience with, but which is a lot clearer now. For example, what is useful management information and how do you use storytelling to make this clear?
One of the sometimes frustrating things was that progression was definitely not linear, but had peaks and valleys. This had to do with the fact that we were actually working on an overarching culture change; working with Daily Performance Management from the Lean idea had to be ingrained in all teams and that takes time. Good lesson in patience, too!
Finally, we were able to gain a lot of experience with visualization tools such as PowerBI and Spotfire. We learned about the functionalities available in these and the ways they can add value to the teams' processes.
All in all, we look back on a fun period where we learned a lot and were able to contribute to the culture change within the department!
