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".
The results of the quality revolution have been mixed. Global competition has elevated the most successful companies, in terms of providing goods and services, but even then initiatives such as total quality, business process re-engineering and Six Sigma have been heralded as the solution, only to have been replaced with the next 'big thing' when it came along. Hoshin Kanri is not the next big thing in quality, it is a strategic approach to continuous improvement that provides a context for all of the individual elements such as Six Sigma or Lean Manufacturing. David Hutchins' Hoshin Kanri shows you how to develop a dynamic vision for continuous improvement; to implement effective policies to support it; to link key performance indicators to Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and Kaizen and to sustain a strategy-led programme for improving business performance.
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.
This book guides process-industry professionals from the implementation of the basic foundations of Continuous Improvement (CI) through to an organization where CI is a “way of life” and a defining feature of the culture of the organization. The readers of this book are seeking solutions to such pressing issues as: • Eliminating accidents and near misses. • Reducing customer complaints. • Improving customer delivery performance. • Elimination of accidents and near misses. • Reducing customer complaints. • Improving customer delivery performance. • Introducing new products. • Improving staff productivity. • Removing costs to meet the budget. • Dealing with absence and poor morale. • Improving staff retention. This book provides them with guidance on how to address issues in these areas in a way that enables improvements to be realized quickly but not at the expense of a long-term goal of a sustainable Continuous Improvement culture. In addition, this book presents the implementation of CI as a cyclical journey with no endpoint. The stages are ordered in a sequence that enables the reader to get started in their area of the company and build up the elements without the need for an overall organizational strategy at the beginning. Continuous Improvement is a vast subject with many takes on principles, approaches, and tools. This book is about how all the fundamentals of these areas fit together and, as such, covers only some of them. However, within the bibliography, I have signposted the books that have guided me during my career and which go into the principles, approaches, and tools further.
This book prepares readers to master an IT and managerial discipline quickly gaining momentum in organizations of all sizes - Business Process Management (BPM). It describes how BPM treats processes as a portfolio of strategic assets that create and deliver customer and shareholder value and adapt, when necessary, enabling competitive advantage thr
Building upon the international bestselling Toyota Way series of books by Jeffrey Liker, The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement looks critically at lean deployments and identifies the root causes of why most of them fail. The book is organized into three major sections outlining: Why it is critical to go beyond implementing lean tools and, instead, build a culture of continuous improvement that connects operational excellence to business strategy Case studies from seven unique industries written from the perspective of the sensei (teacher) who led the lean transformation Lessons about transforming your own vision of an ideal organization into reality Section One: Using the Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) methodology, Liker and Franz contrast true PDCA thinking to that of the popular, superficial approach of copying "lean solutions." They describe the importance of developing people and show how the Toyota Way principles support and drive continuous improvement. Explaining how lean systems and processes start with a purpose that provides a true north direction for all activities, they wrap up this section by examining the glaring differences between building a system of people, processes, and problem- solving that is truly lean versus that of simply trying to "lean out" a process. Section Two: This section brings together seven case studies as told by the sensei who led the transformation efforts. The companies range from traditional manufacturers, overhaul and maintenance of submarines, nuclear fuel rod production, health care providers, pathology labs, and product development. Each of these industries is different but the approaches used were remarkably similar. Section Three: Beginning with a composite story describing a company in its early days of lean implementation, this section describes what went right and wrong during the initial implementation efforts. The authors bring to light some of the difficulties the sensei faces, such as bureaucracies, closed-minded mechanical thinking, and the challenges of developing lean coaches who can facilitate real change. They address the question: Which is better, slow and deep organic deployment or fast and broad mechanistic deployment? The answer may surprise you. The book ends with a discussion on how to make continuous improvement a way of life at your company and the role of leadership in any lean transformation. The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement is required reading for anyone seeking to transcend his or her tools-based approach and truly embrace a culture of continuous improvement.
A must-read for all managers, leaders, and change agents, Performance Hubs: Engaging Teams in Focused Continuous Improvement supplies a proven system for engagement that allows teams to use their own data, understand the need for performance improvement, and drive improvements at their own level. Highlighting common pitfalls in improvement initiati
Ten skills for agile leadership Complex challenges are all around us—they impact our companies, our communities, and our planet. This complexity and the emergence of networks is changing the practice of strategic management. Today’s leaders need to understand how to design and guide complex collaborations to accelerate innovation and change—collaborations that cross boundaries both inside and outside organizations. Strategic Doing introduces you to the new disciplines of agile strategy and collaborative leadership. You’ll learn how to design and guide complex collaborations by following a discipline of simple rules that you won’t find anywhere else. • Unleash the power of true collaboration • Learn and master the 10 skills of agile leadership • Apply individual skills to targeted situations • Introduces a new discipline of leadership strategy Filled with compelling case studies, Strategic Doing outlines a new discipline of leadership strategy specifically designed for open, loosely-connected networks.
Your strategic initiatives are constantly under fire due to the evolving nature of markets, technology, laws, and government. To ensure your strategy succeeds, it must remain flexible while confronting these shifting challenges. Agile Strategy Management: Techniques for Continuous Alignment and Improvement explains how to achieve this flexibility by building agility into the initiation, development, implementation, and governance of your strategic initiatives. The book details what it takes to initiate, develop, implement, and govern a healthy strategy that delivers the benefits expected by all stakeholders. It presents insights gained by the author’s organization over the last 25 years helping their clients achieve success with their strategic initiatives. Filled with real-world examples and case studies, it illustrates wide-ranging situations where the author’s company helped clients reach important business objectives. Readers can use the book to look up examples that describe the various ways to use agile methods and techniques for critical business functions, including: Scope definition of strategic initiatives Stakeholder identification Team building Project and program quality management Change management Procurement of resources Solution development, implementation, and quality management Strategy governance In this book, you will find guidelines that explain how to establish internal organizations for change and how to ensure these intermediate organizations stay motivated until final solution delivery. Presenting success stories as well as major blunders, the book can help you avoid many of the pitfalls that other organizations have experienced while governing their strategic initiatives.
