Waverley Mills is Australia’s oldest working textile mill and is located in the heart of Tasmania, in Launceston. It is the last Australian wool mill in operation, taking wool from paddock to woven textile. A brand synonymous with enduring quality and unwavering commitment, Waverley Mills has been undertaking a remarkable transformation, expanding their reach to connect with a global audience and offer luxurious textiles, crafted with precision. Waverley Mills was seeking avenues for increased production efficiency while upholding the cherished tradition of unparalleled craftsmanship nurtured over 150 years, since 1874.

Challenge: Understanding the end-to-end production process

To support future growth, Waverley Mills needed greater visibility of how work moved through production, from customer order through to final delivery and payment. While individual stages of the process were well understood, there was limited visibility of how activities connected across the broader production cycle.

The organisation wanted to better understand production bottlenecks, scheduling requirements, process boundaries and the flow-on impacts between different production stages. There was also an opportunity to improve knowledge-sharing, communication, accountability and forecasting across the business.

Solution: Process mapping and operational analysis

The Project Lab worked closely with Waverley Mills stakeholders to document and analyse the complete order-to-cash process. Through stakeholder engagement, observation and operational analysis, we developed an end-to-end process map that provided greater visibility of how production activities interacted across the business.

Our approach:

• Established project objectives and aligned key stakeholders around desired outcomes.
• Conducted stakeholder interviews, observations and desktop analysis.
• Mapped current-state production and operational workflows.
• Validated findings with stakeholders and refined process documentation.
• Identified bottlenecks, pain points and opportunities for improvement.
• Delivered a practical process map to support future decision-making and continuous improvement.

Project Results

The engagement provided Waverley Mills with a clearer understanding of how work flowed through the mill, from customer order through to final production and payment. Through detailed process mapping and analysis, the business gained greater visibility of production activities, dependencies and opportunities for improvement.

The engagement delivered:

• A comprehensive end-to-end process map of the order-to-cash cycle.
• Greater visibility of how individual production stages interact and influence one another.
• Improved understanding of production bottlenecks and opportunities to improve workflow.
• Increased accountability across production stages through clearer definition of process boundaries and responsibilities.
• Identification of practical improvement opportunities, including the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and other process improvements.
• Increased production output following implementation of recommendations arising from the process mapping work.

"The end-to-end process mapping work undertaken by The Project Lab was completed in a very professional manner. The lead consultant, Paul, displayed a high level of capability and research and understand our production processes/challenges, analyse the data collected, and then develop a clear map of the mill manufacturing process. In doing so, The Project Lab process mapping exercise has highlighted a number of key recommendations that provide value for Waverley Mills right now, but also into the future.

The process mapping project is supported by the Tasmanian Govermnent through Department for State Growth. Through this vital support from the Department for State Growth and The Project Lab, Waverley Mills is building a strong foundation to continue to improve operational capability and efficiency." – Dave Giles-Kaye, Chief Executive, Waverley Mills.

Looking to improve operational efficiency, production flow or process visibility?

The Project Lab works with organisations to identify bottlenecks, increase operational visibility and support better decision-making through process mapping and operational analysis.

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