Sectors / Media & Publishing / Irish Examiner – Purchase Order System Case Study
The Irish Examiner: Redesigning the purchase order process
An employee at one of Ireland’s national daily newspapers used the 8-Step methodology to redesign the purchase order system — improving spend visibility, reducing lead times, and standardising procurement across the organisation.
Media / National Newspaper
Lean Practitioner
Cork, Ireland
Redesigned
Purchase order workflow end to end
Standardised
Procurement process across departments
Visibility
Spend now tracked and reportable
A purchase order process that lacked visibility and consistency
The Irish Examiner — one of Ireland’s leading national daily newspapers, published since 1841 — engaged LeanTeams to train employees in Lean methodology. An employee in the operations team identified that the purchase order (PO) process was creating unnecessary friction and waste.
The key issues were:
- No standardised PO process — different departments handled purchasing differently
- Poor spend visibility — management couldn’t easily see what was being spent, by whom, or whether it was within budget
- Lead time delays — the time from request to approved PO was longer than necessary due to unclear routing and approval steps
- Inconsistent documentation — purchase requests arrived with varying levels of detail, requiring follow-up and clarification
- Manual tracking — no centralised system for monitoring PO status or completion
In a media organisation operating on tight margins with daily publication deadlines, every process inefficiency has a direct impact on the operation. The employee saw an opportunity to redesign the PO system using Lean tools — improving both speed and control.
INSERT PHOTO — client workspace, team meeting, or relevant image
From inconsistent purchasing to a standardised, visible process
Key Challenges
The operations team needed to:
- Create a single, standardised purchase order process for all departments
- Improve spend visibility for management
- Reduce the lead time from purchase request to approved PO
- Ensure all purchase requests contained the required information first time
- Establish tracking and reporting capability for PO status
The Lean Solution
Using the 8-Step Problem-Solving Process with a Kaizen brainstorming event:
- Mapped the current PO process across departments to identify variations and waste
- Held a brainstorming session with representatives from different departments to surface issues
- Prioritised improvements using an Impact/Ease chart
- Redesigned the PO workflow with clear routing, approval levels and required fields
- Introduced standardised PO documentation with mandatory information fields
- Established spend tracking and reporting to give management real-time visibility
- Created Standard Work documentation for the new process
“Lean tools designed for manufacturing apply directly to the operational processes behind a daily newspaper.”
— LeanTeams
8-Step Problem-Solving Process
The 8-Step methodology provided structure to what could have been a complex cross-departmental change. By mapping the current state first, the team could see exactly where the variations and delays were occurring.
Problem
No standardised PO process. Poor spend visibility. Lead time delays. Inconsistent documentation across departments.
Current State
Mapped the PO process across all departments. Found multiple variations, unclear routing, and no centralised tracking.
Target
Single standardised process. Full spend visibility. Reduced lead time. Mandatory information fields on all POs.
Root Cause
Brainstorming event: no standard process existed, no required fields, no centralised tracking, no spend reporting.
Countermeasures
Redesigned PO workflow. Standardised documentation with mandatory fields. Spend tracking established. Standard Work created.
Implementation
New PO process rolled out across departments. Staff trained. Spend reporting activated. Standard Work issued.
Evaluation
PO process standardised across the organisation. Spend now visible and reportable. Lead time reduced. Information quality improved.
Standardisation
Standard Work documented for the PO process. Reporting established as a regular management tool. Process embedded in operations.
INSERT PHOTO — process artifact, team, or results visual
A media organisation with manufacturing-grade procurement discipline
The redesigned PO system brought structure and visibility to a previously inconsistent process:
- Standardised PO process. Every department now follows the same workflow — clear routing, defined approval levels, and consistent documentation.
- Spend visibility. Management can now track what’s being spent, by whom, and whether it’s within budget — replacing guesswork with data.
- Reduced lead time. Clear routing and required information fields mean POs move through the approval chain faster, with fewer queries and less back-and-forth.
- Improved documentation quality. Mandatory fields ensure purchase requests contain all required information first time — reducing rework and delays.
- Standard Work in place. The process is documented, trainable, and can be followed by any team member — reducing person-dependency.
Learnings
- Media organisations often overlook their operational processes because the focus is on editorial output — but procurement, production scheduling, and advertising operations all carry significant waste.
- Cross-departmental process standardisation requires buy-in from all areas — the brainstorming event brought different perspectives together and created shared ownership.
- Spend visibility is not just a finance tool — it’s a management tool that enables better decision-making across the organisation.
- Standard Work for administrative processes is just as valuable as Standard Work on a factory floor — it creates the baseline for training, consistency, and further improvement.
Lean works behind the headlines
A national newspaper publishes every day — and behind that daily output is a web of operational processes that either support the mission or slow it down. This project tackled one of those operational processes — procurement — and brought it up to the standard of a well-run manufacturing operation. The same methodology applies to advertising operations, production scheduling, and every other process that keeps a media organisation running.
LeanTeams has worked with The Irish Examiner on multiple improvement projects. All our case studies are available on our sectors page.
Lean tools applied in this case study
Get results like The Irish Examiner
Our Lean training programmes help businesses across Ireland reduce waste, improve processes, and build a culture of continuous improvement.
More Case Studies
Explore our media & publishing sector page.