Process Improvement
Part 1 of a 2 part series
Warning Signs: SIGNS A PROCESS NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
- Falling profits with stable or growing sales, stable prices and costs.
- Net sales to total assets out of line with industry averages.
- Unnecessary duplication.
- Bottlenecks.
- Missing information.
- Missing resources.
- Poor morale.
- Rejects.
- Customer complaints.
- Absenteeism.
Steps to Improve: GENERAL
- Interview employees and managers.
- Brainstorm to identify and solve problems.
- Use structured or unstructured brainstorming.
- Organize departmental or cross departmental task forces.
Steps to Improve: CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS
- Better understand customer requirements.
Steps to Improve: RAW MATERIALS & INFORMATION
- Eliminate missing resources.
- Eliminate missing information.
- Improve use of resources.
- Improve use of information.
- Improve quality of input (resources and information).