Case studies

What changed, and the evidence that it held

Operational excellence case studies from award entries, assessed sites and members who write up their own work, published with the organization’s consent and the numbers behind the result.

Format

Operational excellence case studies in five parts

Five parts, in the same order every time, so readers can compare across industries.

Context

01
The site, the scale, the starting position and why the work mattered to the business.

Approach

02
What was done, in what order, by whom, and what was tried and abandoned.

Results

03
The measures, the baseline, the period and the change, in the organization’s own units.

Evidence

04
Where the numbers came from and who checked them: the entry, the site visit or the assessor’s report.

What held

05
The same measures twelve months on, when the organization agrees to a re-check.
Publishing rules

How a case study is written and cleared

Consent first

Nothing is published without the organization’s written consent. Entrants choose at entry whether their work may be shared; they can withdraw before publication.

Verified numbers

Results are the ones the jury or the assessor saw. Marketing figures without a baseline are not used.

No rankings

A case study describes one organization’s work. It does not compare it with other entrants or claim it was the best.

Right of review

The organization reads the final text before it goes up and can ask for confidential details to be removed.
First case studies

After the 2026 results on November 27, 2026

Rated entrants who gave consent are invited first, followed by sites that completed a plant diagnostic or the Assessed Excellence track.

Published

Case studies

Published case studies appear here, newest first.

None yet. The first case studies follow the 2026 results and the consent of the organizations involved.

Submit yours

From entry to published case study

Enter or assess

1
Enter the awards, or complete a plant diagnostic or the Assessed Excellence track. Both produce the evidence a case study needs.

Give consent

2
Tick the publication consent at entry, or tell us afterwards. You choose what stays confidential.

Review and publish

3
We draft from the entry and the assessor’s notes, you review, and the case study goes up under your organization’s name.

Members can also write a case study of their own work in the writing studio, reviewed by our team before it is published under their name. Case studies written by companies about their clients appear separately as partner content, labeled as sponsored.

FAQ

Questions about our operational excellence case studies

The evidence. Each one states the baseline, the period, the measure and the change, says who checked the numbers, and, where the organization agrees, what still held twelve months later.

So readers can compare work across industries. The order follows the logic of the plan-do-check-act cycle: what was the problem, what was done, what changed, how it was checked, and what stuck.

Yes, as partner content: written by the company, reviewed by our team, labeled as sponsored and linked from the company’s directory profile. Editorial case studies are never paid for.

Yes. Members can write a case study in the writing studio. Use numbers you are allowed to share and get your organization’s consent before you submit.

A baseline over a representative period before the change, the same measure afterwards, the units, and how the result was checked. A percentage on its own is not enough: say what it is a percentage of. If a result has not held for long yet, say so and give the date of the last reading.

Six hundred to fifteen hundred words; about twelve hundred is ideal. That is long enough to cover the five parts properly and short enough to be read in one sitting.

Yes. Each image can be up to 1 MB and a piece can carry up to 2 MB of images in total. A simple before-and-after chart of the main measure usually helps readers more than photographs.

Yes. Banks, hospitals, shared services and business process centers, logistics and public services are all welcome. The five-part structure works the same way whether the process makes products or handles claims.

Yes. You can describe it by industry, size and region instead of naming it. If you name an organization, or show its people or premises, you need its consent before you submit.

Our editorial team reads every piece before it goes live. We check that the numbers are consistent, that the links work and that claims are supported, and we come back to you with questions where the evidence is thin. Changes to a published piece are reviewed again before they appear.

An article explains a method or an idea and can draw on many examples. A case study reports one piece of work in one organization, with the baseline, what was done and the measured result, so another team can judge whether it would work for them.

Yes, where the organization agrees. Entrants have already set out the baseline and the results for the jury, so most of the evidence is in place.

Your work could be the first

Write up your own case study, enter the 2027 season when it opens after the 2026 results, or start with the free assessment and see where you stand.