Seven Strategies In Process Improvement

Process improvement refers to the steps taken by an organization to identify processes, analyze the step-by-step procedures and define possible improvements in the existing process. Each organization, no matter how successful, has room for improvement and the best way to discover their strengths and weaknesses (and to determine if they require process improvement) is through process mapping.

Business process mapping is the process used by companies to determine whether the present company processes requires improvement and if so, in what areas these improvements should be. Here are some process improvement tips:

1. The “clean slate” perspective is the primary concept in Business Process Reengineering (or Redesign) (BPR). It basically requires organizations to consider their business processes from scratch, much like an inductive type of process build up. It is also known as business transformation or business process change management.

2. A comparative approach to process improvement is called benchmarking, wherein organizations develop processes for various aspects of the businesses based on existing best practice processes within the sector itself.

3. One of the much touted process improvement strategy is Total Quality Management (TQM) which focuses on inculcating managers and workers with an awareness of quality in order to improve performance and re-evaluate processes with quality improvement in mind. It is widely used in manufacturing and service industries.

4. Originally developed by Bill Smith of Motorola in 1986, the Six Sigma is a systematic improvement of processes which emphasizes the minimization of defects. It is considered a condensed combination of other process quality improvement methods such as TQM, Quality Control and Zero Defects. Six Sigma focuses on reducing variations in the process that may result in inconsistent quality of output in a sustained manner from all levels of the organization. It assumes that all processes are measurable, controllable, improvable and analyzable. Companies that currently subscribe to the Six Sigma commitment of 3.4 defects per million opportunities defect levels or better includes Bank of America, Merrill Lunch and General Electric.

5. Complementary to Six Sigma is the Lean manufacturing process improvement strategy which is a derivative of the Toyota Production System (TPS). One approach of lean manufacturing is the elimination of waste through identifying sources of waste using a continuous process improvement, the “5 Whys” and mistake proofing. Another primary approach to lean manufacturing is the implementation of smoothness of work through the system, i.e. production leveling. Some companies use a combination lean manufacturing and Six Sigma for their process improvement

6. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed a family of standards for quality management called the ISO 9000. This standard requires manufacturing companies to have a set of procedures that addresses all the key processes of their business as well as quality control and review protocol focused on the processes and checking for defects. Record keeping is essential as is sustained improvement facilitation. The ISO 9000 is designed to monitor and evaluate the processes rather than the end products, and certification with this standard therefore does not guarantee compliance with specifications and quality of the end products. ISO 9000 standards are used in many non-manufacturing organizations, including higher education institutions.

7. The Just In Time (JIT) inventory strategy seeks to reduce costs and increase return on investment by developing a process that reduces the need for keeping in-process stocks of materials. The rationale behind JIT is that with a properly designed and efficient process, the ordering and delivery of a specific quantity of a needed material will be available just when it is needed, rather than kept in stock for a longer length of time. The reduction in inventory costs (e.g. warehousing) can be significant for some manufacturing industries. One problem with JIT is that re-order levels are determined based on historical demand, and any variation in demand (seasonal fluctuations) may seriously affect customer service. JIT requires an organization to have safety stocks at three standard deviations of demand.

The above strategies are widely-used process improvement strategies. However, companies can develop their own hybrid of these strategies depending on the needs of customers, organization and employees.