1. Continuous Process Improvement
Ali Al-Hamdani, Master Black Belt
June, 2019

2. CPI – What is it?
CPI is a strategy to improve mission accomplishment by using process improvement tools—such as Lean, Theory of Constraints, Six Sigma, 8-step Practical Problem Solving Model and others – to create a new way of thinking that produces more efficient processes that might be taken at/by the enterprise level.
8-Step is the AF-wide problem-solving model
Tools: LEAN, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints, Business Process Reengineering
Develops (through education and practice) a mindset and ability to “see and kill” non-value-added work

3. CPI Benefits
Improve mission capability & performance while reducing cost of operations
1st Order Effects: Productivity of People & Equipment (Readiness, Cycle Time, Agility), Safety, Energy
2nd Order Effect: Productivity of Dollars, Developing Leaders
Enable the workforce to “see” and close performance gaps
Identify and eliminate waste across enterprise
Views of Others
DoD, Army, Navy & AF directed to implement Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) programs (DODI 5010)
Other Fed Gov’t pursuing CPI (HUD, FAA, FBI, EPA, NRC, VA, etc.)
drive improved mission performance in line with Air Force strategic goals & objectives by:
By being Excellent in everything they do
Effectively managing resources
Continuously improving processes 3

4. Strategy and a clear vision drive Continuous Improvement
Photo courtesy Shutterstock

5. What is Lean
The core idea is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste. Simply, lean means creating more value for customers with fewer resources – Lean Enterprise Institute
Identify Value - Specify value from the standpoint of the end customer by product family.
Map the Value Stream - Identify all the steps in the value stream for each product family, eliminating whenever possible those steps that do not create value.
Create Flow - Make the value-creating steps occur in tight sequence so the product will flow smoothly toward the customer.
Establish Pull - As flow is introduced, let customers pull value from the next upstream activity.
Seek Perfection - As value is specified, value streams are identified, wasted steps are removed, and flow and pull are introduced, begin the process again and continue it until a state of perfection is reached in which perfect value is created with no waste.
Purpose of Slide: Define Lean
Key Points:
Elimination of waste and process improvement must permeate an organization. Toyota is a great example of how lean has been successfully implemented and have become part of their organization’s culture.
Optional Points:
Examples:
TRANSITION TO NEXT SLIDE: Now that you know what Lean is, let’s look at some of the benefits of Lean.
Checklist –
None
Materials needed-

6. Benefits of a Lean Culture
Traditional Management:
Personally-Focused Work Practices
Lean Management:
Process-Focused Work Practices
Batch-and-queue on desks
Visible work in progress across office
Partitioning/cubicles
Line of sight visibility
Uneven workloads
Level workload (shared)
Fire fighting – Do whatever it takes to get the job done
Calm - There's a defined process for pretty much everything; follow the process
Individuals working in isolation
Teams working toward common goal
Unknown performance
Performance goals and targets
‘Hot-list’ management
Self management
Methods defined individually
Methods are standardized
Results focus; do whatever it takes
Process focus is the path to consistent results
Improvement is someone else's job; it's not my responsibility
Improvement is the job of everyone
From “Lean Success in an Administrative Environment”, Target Volume 20, No. 1, “The Case for Lean Culture”, Target Volume 19, No. 4, 2003.

7. Goal is to eliminate waste while increasing value added activity
Waste – What is it?
Waste may not be as easy to recognize as you think!
Value Added Activity - An activity that transforms, shapes or converts raw material or information to meet customer requirements.
Non-Value Added (Waste)- Those activities that take time, resources, or space, but do not add value.
In most traditional processes, the vast number of steps in the process accomplished by people and machines are waste.
To understand what is considered waste, ask “if this step went away, would the customer know or care?”
Transportation – Transporting items or information that is not required to perform the process from one location to another.
Inventory – Inventory or information that is sitting idle (not being processed).
Motion – People, information or equipment making unnecessary motion due to workspace layout, ergonomic issues or searching for misplaced items.
Waiting – Waiting for the previous step in the process to complete
Overproduction – Producing too much of a product before it is ready to be sold.
Over processing – is adding more value to a product than the customer actually requires such as painting areas that will never be seen or be exposed to corrosion.
Defects – Products or services that are out of specification that require resources to correct.
Purpose of Slide: Show 8 types of waste
Key Points:
DOWNTIME, DOTWIMP, TIM WOODS, WORMPIT, TO WISDOM—there are various acronyms to internalize and remember the seven or eight wastes associated with Lean, depending on how you define and order them. We've chosen DOWNTIME not only because it's easy to remember, but also because it makes more intuitive sense than the others. "Downtime"—time wasted instead of adding value to the final product—is a common result of all eight of the wastes described here.
Optional Points:
Examples:
TRANSITION TO NEXT SLIDE: Let’s look at the first type of waste
Checklist –
None
Materials needed-
Goal is to eliminate waste while increasing value added activity

8. Process Driven Results
Inconsistent
Process
Results
Traditional = People doing whatever they can to get results
Consistent
Process
Expected
(desired)
Results
Lean = People using standard process to get results
Focus on consistency to ensure predictable and consistent results
There will always be variation in product w/out specific instructions (AFI, TOs, OIs, etc) and defined standard work
Remember, if you never do the same task the same way, you don’t know how long it takes and how many resources it should consume
Examples: Signing in to the base and completing the in-processing checklist. There is a “good timing” window and best path (least gas consumed, shortest time, maximize number of right turns, etc.) to go to each office with your checklist for in-processing. The best case scenario is that you would get this completed within one day. However, if you are unfamiliar with the base layout, where buildings are and what time offices are open (including when they close for PT and in-service training), you may not follow that best path at the right times causing you to waste more time and maybe even more days just completing the checklist.
Have any of you experienced something like this? You probably didn’t if you had a sponsor to lead you through this. Did you get it all done in one day? Did you zig zag around? Were you confused about where you were and where other buildings/places were?
How many units tell you to take a few days to get settled without really knowing how fast this process can really be done?
Is this important?
Sure it is. For every day you’re signed in at the base and not doing your job, the job is not getting done or it is an overload for someone picking up the slack?
What might you do to ensure people don’t waste their time getting signed in to the base?
The sponsor program
A base map with a pre-thought out “BEST” travelling route from the place they pick up the checklist or start the sequence, timing notices (must be kept current/refreshed), etc.
GOOD JOB!!!

9. Questions