Proven methods for achieving continuous process improvement Resolve "quality chaos" by creating a link between quality problems and their optimal solutions. With a focus on building an integrated quality environment, Strategic Continuous Process Improvement: Which Quality Tools to Use and When to Use Them begins by discussing the different types of continuous process improvement (CPI) systems available. This practical guide explains how to implement a strategic performance model and select and integrate appropriate metrics to achieve desired results. Tested techniques for executing an improvement process are included along with real-world examples. The book concludes with a plan to help you sustain an ongoing culture of continuous quality improvement in your organization. Find out how to: Identify CPI opportunities Evaluate various CPI options using comparative benchmarks Understand the characteristics of each quality option Map CPI characteristics against quality problems Select the appropriate tool to fit a specific quality problem Recognize the role of governance and performance reviews Cascade and communicate CPI throughout your organization Move the needle toward successful process optimization
This book enables enterprise business leaders - from CEOs to supervisors - to understand what "Continuous Improvement" is, why it is probably the best answer to improved business performance in years, and how to put it to work in the unique environment of a specific organization. The book examines what is at the core of "Continuous Improvement" and delves deeper into the elements and constituents necessary to take an organization to the next level to ensure its continued, long-term existence. It provides guidance to enterprise management and to professionals engaged in the implementation of a "Continuous Improvement" initiative and enables them to structure and manage its implementation successfully. It also provides tools to quickly assess where an enterprise business stands in terms of strategic management and "Continuous Improvement".
This handbook provides a comprehensive and detailed framework for the implementation of "Continuous Improvement" and Lean Six Sigma in a professional project management environment. For this purpose the book brings together Lean Six Sigma and the PMBOK standard for project management. It provides an integrated approach, which can be used for both transactional and manufacturing businesses to better define ways to reduce costs, enhance processes ,and achieve faster implementation and new product or service development. The reader is guided carefully and reliably through the detailed procedures introduced in this book using a comprehensive, conceptual and practical well-balanced approach.
Your organizational transformation begins here! Comprehensive, detailed, and easy to read and understand, How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement takes you through a real-life case study of one organization’s journey to a world-class continuous improvement process. Joakim Ahlstrom—one of the world’s most respected continuous improvement experts—serves as your coach. He first helps you decide whether you want to embark on the continuous improvement journey and takes you through the entire process step by step, all the way through generating remarkable business results with his unique methods. In each chapter, Ahlstrom describes a specific stage of the transformation story and provides a clear analysis of each one to help you apply his methods in your own company. In no time you’ll grasp all the concepts you need to know. How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement covers it all, including: How to shift mindsets and behaviors using the often neglected practice of coaching Common pitfalls to help you plan out how you will apply the principles and practices Using “six-legged spiders” and “fishy” diagrams to achieve measurable results Ways to avoid “Watermelon” key performance indicators that often mask the truth Ahlstrom explains rational behind all the methods in the book—the results they produce, and why—and offers practical advice on how to get full input from everyone involved. Ahlstrom concludes the book with a chapter offering a current-state analysis tool and a simple template to apply in your company. If you’re seeking to design and launch a continuous improvement program, How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement is the first book you should turn to—and it’s the last one you’ll ever need! Praise for How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement “Using a story he lived through, Joakim vividly brings to life for us the transformation from a mediocre top-down organization depending on a few internal experts for its survival to a high performance organization of empowered employees engaged in continuous improvement.” –Jeffrey Liker, bestselling author of The Toyota Way “This succinct book packs an enormous amount of wisdom and experience into an entertaining fast read. It gives a clear roadmap for any leader to implement a strong continuous improvement program in his or her unit. Highly recommended!” –Alan G. Robinson, Professor of Management, University of Massachusetts and author of Corporate Creativity and Ideas are Free “The most valuable and lean book I have read about lean.” –Göran Martinsson, Continuous improvement Manager, IKEA “Well written, easy to read, filled with excellent examples . . . If you only plan to read one change management book this year, this is the book you should read.” –Dag Näslund, Professor of Management, University of North Florida “An amazing guide in lean principles, with simple tools for simplifications.” –Susanne Schipper, Continuous Improvement Coach, AstraZeneca “Simplicity is the essence of this great book. Ahlstrom delivers a straightforward and simple approach to support your work with continuous improvement.” –Ronny Ålund, Productivity Management, Volvo CE “This book is a little gem with large content! Unlike many other books on the subject, you only have to read it once because it sticks.” –Johan Valett, Vice President Haldex Way, Haldex “I recommend How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement to anyone who needs a fast and inspiring introduction to continuous improvement.” –Janne Lundberg, Global Lean Innovation Manager, Assa Abloy
An easy-to-apply illustration of a basic process-improvement methodology covering the continuous cycle of process improvement, analyzing work processes, determining customer needs and more.
Lessons Learned is an important phase in project management. This is when organizations can pave the way for future project success by documenting mistakes so they are not repeated and recording best practices so they are repeated. This book covers the important role a project management office (PMO) plays in promoting lessons learned. Project managers learn how to improve processes by applying lessons learned. The book emphasizes "actionability," or producing a process improvement that can be acted upon by anyone in the PMO or project team.
Today, technology has become too much a part of overall corporate success for its effectiveness to be left to chance. The stakes are too high. Fortunately, the idea of 'quality management' is being reinvigorated. In the last decade process programs have become more and more prevalent. And, out of all the available options, three have moved to the top of the chain. These three are: The 9001:2000 Quality Management Standard from the International Standards Organization; The Capability Maturity Model Integration from the Software Engineering Institute; and Six Sigma, a methodology for improvement shaped by companies such as Motorola, Honeywell, and General Electric. These recognized and proven quality programs are rising in popularity as more technology managers are looking for ways to help remove degrees of risk and uncertainty from their business equations, and to introduce methods of predictability that better ensure success. Process Improvement Essentials combines the foundation needed to understand process improvement theory with the best practices to help individuals implement process improvement initiatives in their organization. The three leading programs: ISO 9001:2000, CMMI, and Six Sigma--amidst the buzz and hype--tend to get lumped together under a common label. This book delivers a combined guide to all three programs, compares their applicability, and then sets the foundation for further exploration. It's a one-stop-shop designed to give you a working orientation to what the field is all about.
Manufacturing companies work endlessly to make process improvements, yet they are often hard to implement and even harder to sustain. The reason: companies often stumble when communicating why the methodologies are being used and how to sustain the improvements. Communication for Continuous Improvement Projects demonstrates how to communicate change, create confidence in the new processes, and empower employees. It shows how to be an effective change agent by utilizing tools that make sense while being competitive in the business market. The book explores how the proper tools, communication, and management make the Lean Six Sigma methodologies work. It includes a Continuous Improvement Toolkit that is an easy reference for what tool to use and when and how to effectively teach the tools to employees who are not necessarily engineers. Communicating these tools is the most difficult part of using the tools. The author details the implementation of the actual tools that create confidence and explains Lean Six Sigma in a way that will make employees want to jump on board. Result-driven decisions can be made from the methodologies described in this book, making processes quantifiably better with sustainable results. Extensive and informative, the book takes the guesswork out of the art of continuous improvement through communication.
Modular Kaizen is a development of necessity. Improvement has to happen on the fly in our rapidly changing world. This book is about using the resources, people, and schedules already in place to get things done. Modular Kaizen is the counterpoint to a kaizen blitz, in which team members are confined in a room to hammer out an opportunity or a solution to some problem. In the hectic, interrupt-driven environment of many organizations, it is simply not possible to remove critical players from normal operations for any length of time. Grace Duffy draws on 40 years of experience to incorporate techniques, innovations, and lessons learned in pursuit of effective continuous and breakthrough improvement. Part I provides the conceptual model along with steps and tools for process and system improvement in an extremely busy and interrupt-driven workplace. Part II offers three case studiesfrom manufacturing, healthcare, and aerospaceto show how the techniques work in real time. If you are looking for proven approaches to integrating quality improvement into daily work, this is your book. It is written for those of us who have to get it done, not just talk about it. So roll up your sleeves and dig in.
