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In order to easily promote cost reduction, it is necessary to establish the foundation of the current organization, authority, rules, etc., and the following three can be said to be effective maintenance requirements.

1. Installation of the nucleus and the name Ru organization

In addition to the existing personnel and general affairs, we will establish a new organization for "cost management".
By giving it a company-wide planning, planning, and management function related to "cost" and managing "cost", which was previously vertically divided management, in a cross-cutting and centralized manner, securing "profit" can be secured in terms of "cost". I will do it from.
Even if there are departments in charge of costs in various places, the new organization has the authority to give opinions and instructions to any department as a company-wide management department of costs and execute it.

In the case of me, the work I was in charge of as an executive officer was to manage the "shared service company" that entrusts the work of company-wide logistics, systems, paperwork, product testing, etc., but until then I was in charge of sales planning. Since the president instructed me to inherit the "cost reduction" that was being done in the times, I was also in charge of it, so I set up a "shared service charge" and a "cost planning charge" within the organization to create a new organization. "Shared Service Management Department" has started. (In particular, the managers in charge of "logistics" and "systems", which are major among shared service companies, are under the umbrella.)

In the first year of the new organization, the only "cost" work was "cost planning", so the focus was on planning "cost reduction measures" and contacting and coordinating with "cost-related departments" throughout the company, but in the second year. All the managers and below of the "facility" and "purchasing" departments will join the new organization and will be in charge of everything from "planning / planning" to "business operations" at the site, and the organization name will be "Cost Structural Reform Promotion Department". (Hereafter, abbreviated as "cost structure").

After that, the scope of responsibility was expanded to "administrative management" and "real estate", and the number of subordinates became 4 to 500, so it was difficult to manage, but "cost management" because the instruction and command system could be unified. Thorough implementation and "improvement of business operation efficiency" proceeded smoothly.

When I was in charge of the new organization, I thought that planning and drafting reduction measures would be sufficient for costs, but by having an execution unit such as "facility" under the umbrella, even the person in charge at each site can "line up". Being able to do this was a very important point for the organization to promote cost reduction.

2. Review of budget management department and instruction to change budget

If budget management departments are scattered all over the place and there are differences in management, it is necessary to narrow down the managers, and ideally it is desirable for the "new organization" to manage SG & A expenses for the entire company. I am thinking.

Even if that is not possible, the management department will narrow down to a small number, and the "new organization" will manage most of SG & A expenses, and if necessary for SG & A expenses managed by other departments, review the budget and give instructions and guidance on cost reduction. You must have permission to do so.

In the case of Daimaru as well, budget management departments are scattered, and there are also differences in management, so we gathered the heads of related departments to discuss and broadly "personnel costs" are "personnel departments" and "advertising costs". Will be in charge of the "Sales Promotion Department", and "Facility costs" and "Operating costs" will be handled by the new organization "Cost structure".

It seems that there is not much difference from the current situation, but even if the person in charge has been decided so far, even if the manager is reconfirmed that there are items that are hardly managed in various places, the result is good. was.

Originally, both "personnel costs" and "advertising costs" should be handled by the "cost structure", which is a company-wide cost management organization, from the viewpoint of cost management, but "personnel costs" are "salaries", "bonuses", etc. There is a relationship between the personnel evaluation, "advertising expenses" also that of the relationship with sales, because there was a deep-rooted of the department resistance, such a form I think that there is no even way to the coercion here have become.

We left the budget execution of "personnel costs" and "advertising costs" to each person in charge, but if there is a risk of securing profits during the period, cost reduction measures will be activated from the "cost structure" as an emergency measure, and the entire company To be able to manage company-wide costs by giving "budget reduction instructions" during the period even if there is no "budget execution right" by instructing the execution (this is also inherited from what I did during the sales planning era) Did.
* Of the "labor costs", "overtime management" is carried out by the "new organization" from the beginning.

3. Holding a meeting of persons in charge

After the new organization is established, it is necessary to establish an "information exchange meeting" that brings together cost-related personnel from the entire company in order to exert influence over the entire company.

Even if you say the person in charge of cost for the whole company, the work is different, and the scope and level of responsibility are different, so it is necessary to group and convene with common work or job title level such as department manager or common theme. The point is to involve the person who is actually responsible for the cost rather than the position and name, which makes the problem clear and speeds up the solution.

If the event is held after the monthly business results are confirmed, the memory of "cost" will be new, and it will be possible to speedily discover and solve problems.

As for the meeting materials, it is enough to reflect the outlook for the month, the actual results by expense item and the budget increase / decrease so that the contents of the cost can be understood, and there is no complaint if there is an increase / decrease in the previous year as an excuse.

The point of the discussion is to discuss at the meeting "why other places can be created and my own place can not be done" and "by what time will it be resolved" by comparing the persons in charge of the same work or position side by side. It is important.

Then, after the meeting is over, if you create a "minutes" and distribute it to the attendees' superiors, officers and president in addition to the attendees and disclose the information, the attention will increase and the understanding of cost reduction will deepen.

In this way, even if you cannot give instructions as a subordinate, you will be able to control the cost of the entire company through a "meeting" that gathers related parties.

In the case of me, I thought that it would be difficult to produce results just by planning and drafting "cost reduction measures", so I established an "information exchange meeting" by gathering company-wide cost-related personnel, but mainly in the department store business. Because it was a company of, "store manager meeting" that gathers store managers of large-scale stores, "business promotion department manager meeting" for business promotion department managers who supervise each store business, "related store meeting" for business management department managers of local stores , And the "Affiliated Company Meeting" for the general manager of the business management department of the affiliated companies in the group and the "Shared Service Company Meeting" for the general manager of the business management department of the shared service company in charge are launched, and are issued around the 25th of every month. A meeting was held in response to the "Business Outlook".

By comparing monthly performance side-by-side, no excuses were made and I couldn't escape until I promised to implement the solution, so my remarks at the meeting became a commitment.

What I was careful about when creating the "minutes" of the meeting was that the clerk was difficult because I tried to express the remarks and exchanges of opinions of each speaker as accurately as possible to convey a sense of reality, but from the people who distributed it under the president. There was a reaction, and sometimes the president made statements and instructions based on the minutes.

There may have been such "minutes" in the past, but it was the first time to "disclose" it, and I think it was more "pressure" than "encouragement" to the attendees. , The aim of the "minutes" was to say, "I can't finish it without saying it" and "I'm responsible for what I say."