Continuous Improvement

Ideas of CI Continually seeking ways to improve operations Not unique to quality – also applies to other process improvements Never-ending process of achieving small wins

CI approaches vary from very structured SPC tools to simple suggestion systems Areas for Improvement Machinery Materials Labor utilization Production methods

CI Methods Benchmarks Sense of employee ownership Reducing: Time Scrap Injuries Customer problems Supplier issues, etc. Reduce or eliminate activities that don’t add value

PDCA Cycle (Deming Wheel): Conveys the sequential and continual nature of CI Plan Do Check Act Plan CheckDo

TQM versus Business Process Design (BPD) BPD – The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to bring about dramatic improvements in performance. – Michael Hammer BPD is revolutionary & CI is incremental!! BPD is NOT restructuring! Driving forces behind BPD: Customers Competition Change

TQM versus BPD TQM Large number of small incremental changes Start with existing system Changes made continuously. Implement in as little as one day. Change starts at the bottom Change affects workers in a single functional department. Primary enabler is statistical quality control techniques. BPD Large radical change. Begins with a clean slate. Major changes are made infrequently. A long time frame, several months and perhaps a year or more Changes begin at the top. Changes affect workers across functional departments. Primary enabler is new technology.

BPD Algorithm 1. Prioritize processes for radical change. 2. Organize and educate. 3. Document the current processes. 4. Develop a vision for the future processes. 5. Starting with the current process, design the future process. 6. Develop an implementation plan. 7. Implement the plan.

Top Ten BPD Mistakes 1. Don’t really make radical changes but say you are. 2. Don’t focus on processes. 3. Spend a lot of time analyzing the current situation. 4. Proceed without strong executive leadership. 5. Be timid in redesign. 6. Go directly from conceptual design to implementation. 7. Redesign slowly. 8. Place some aspects of the business off-limits. 9. Adopt a conventional implementation style. 10. Ignore the concerns of your people. - Michael Hammer © 1995

So you’re not ready for BPD – Steps for TQM Success 1. Train employees in the methods of SPC and other tools for improving quality and other performance measures 2. Make SPC methods a normal aspect of daily operations 3. Build work teams and employee involvement 4. Utilize problem-solving tools within the work team. 5. Develop a sense of operator ownership in the process.

Continuous Improvement/TQM Tools For Generating Ideas: Brainstorming Employee Suggestion Box To Collect & Organize the Data: Check sheet Pareto charts Flow charts (Process diagrams) For Identifying Problems: Cause & Effect diagram Scatter diagram Histogram – a distribution showing the frequency of occurrences of a variable Statistical Process Control

Continuous Improvement Approaches we will consider Deming Approach – Reduce variability Kaizen Approach – Just Do It Shingo Approach – Zero Defects – Poka Yoke Goldratt’s Approach – Theory of Constraints These will each be discussed in detail and then compared/contrasted.