Every organisation has standard processes that it uses to provide its services or create its products. Sometimes these processes evolve, everyone does their own thing to get the result that need. That result can differ in quality, output and time depending on who does it. Organisations are now looking to improve the way they do things to ensure a consistent output in both time taken and its quality.
The industry you are in can change what methodology you should apply, it also depends on what progress you have already made. You can also use a mix of all of them to get to where you need to be!
Why bother? Well without improving the way you do things; you will just end up increasing your head count rather than increasing your profits!
How well does your organisation adapt to change? When you get busier do you find yourself working harder, longer and faster? Improving the way you do things can stimulate growth, but it can also relieve the tension and stress that has been building for you.
Here is a whistle stop tour of my favourite 7 methodologies:
- LEAN / Just In Time Production This form of process improvement goes by many names, with lean manufacturing being the most common. It may also be referred to as Lean production or just-in-time production. Defined by James P. Womack, Daniel Jones, and Daniel Roos in the book “The Machine That Changed the World,” Lean highlights five main principles based on the authors’ experiences at Toyota manufacturing.
What does Lean/Just in Time solve? This is usually applied to manufacturing industries, but it can be applied to people, work, cash or information. The focus needs to be on getting rid of inventory. For example, if you are holding on to people not at capacity, you should look at how you can recruit temporarily/seasonally, this could be by creating standard operating procedures or applying automation that reduces the skill required to perform the tasks. Holding onto additional inventory or resource can be costly. - Business process management, or BPM, is the act of analysing and improving business processes. Much like any organic being, businesses grow and shift over time. Your team may have implemented processes that worked when your team was small, but as you grow those processes may not scale in a way that allows your team to be as efficient as possible.
By looking at why you do what you do and why you do it the way that you do it, you can start to see improvements. Sometimes you need someone external to review these processes. If you can’t engage with external consultants to do this, a useful way of reviewing is pairing up different sides of the business and describe their work to each other. People from different areas of the business may be able to identify redundant steps. Whilst it isn’t the same as a specialist it will give you some improvements. - Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology that aims to minimise the number of variations within the end product. It would be classified as a quality control methodology but by improving the variation in creating the product or performing the service you can ensure that you are not revisiting or recreating anything. Saving costs, improving the output and giving a consistent service or product.
Six Sigma uses a 5-step approach to review those processes; Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, and Control – DMAIC.
Define – A group of key people and a Six Sigma specialist, choose a process to focus on and define the problem they want to solve.
Measure – The team measures the initial performance of the process, creating a benchmark, and pinpoints a list of inputs that may be hindering performance.
Analyse – Next the team analyse the process by isolating each input, or potential reason for any failures, and testing it as the possible root of the problem.
Improve – The team works from there to implement changes that will improve system performance.
Control – The group adds controls to the process to ensure it does not regress and become ineffective once again.
What Is Lean Six Sigma?
Lean Six Sigma is a people centred approach. It looks to improve performance by eliminating redundant steps or steps that aren’t value added. It combines Six Sigma methods and tools and the lean manufacturing/lean enterprise philosophy, to reduce the waste of physical resources, time, effort, and talent while assuring quality in production and the organisations processes. Anything that does not create value for the end customer is considered a waste and would be removed from the process.
Over the years many different organisations have used Six Sigma, including Amazon, Ford, 3M. Even though they are powerhouses of their industry, it doesn’t mean you should discount it for smaller or younger organisations. - The 5 Whys analysis is a process improvement technique used to identify the root cause of a problem.
Define the Problem:
1. Why is it happening?
2. Why is that?
3. Why is that?
4. Why is that?
5. Why is that? – The Root Cause
Problem: Staff have their own individual/edited versions of the standard operating procedures.
1. Can’t find the instructions in the procedures.
2. The manuals are online and not stored in a central place.
3. Manager removed printed copies of the procedures
4. Old versions were being used.
5. Unable to keep printed procedures up to date
Solution: Improve access to online documentation and ensure access is available in the locations needed, such as via tablets or computers.
I like the 5 whys analysis as you usually find out that the original problem has nothing to do with what you think it is. The problem above initially made me think that it was due to being unable to use the worksheets, such as visual learners or that they were of bad quality. But it was merely a case of access to the materials wasn’t easy. - Plan Do Check Act – The PDCA cycle is an interactive form of problem solving. It’s used to improve processes and implement change. Recognising an area/opportunity for change and trialling it out before large costs are realised. Implement a smaller version of the change and review the output is as expected before investing more time and money into something that isn’t 100% fit for purpose.
Plan: Identify the problem
Do: Test Potential Solutions
Check: Study Results
Act: Implement the best solution - The Japanese philosophy of kaizen guides the continuous improvement model. Kaizen was born from the idea that life should be continuously improved so we can lead more satisfying and fulfilling lives.
Kaizen has five steps associated with it:
1. Seiri – Sort: Identify the problem
2. Seiton – Set: Analyse the problem & current situation
3. Seison – Shine: Create and test the solutions put forward, measuring and analysing results
4. Seiketsu – Standardise: Implement efficiencies and create standards for them.
5. Shitsuke – Sustain: Continue reviewing, measuring and analysing for any new problems. Loop back around.
With Kaizen you can implement other methodologies to support you in its implementation, such as TQM.
Kaizen is more of a mindset throughout the organisation rather than a methodology to be implemented. You need to let go of assumptions and be proactive about seeing problems rather than accepting them. Creating an environment where issues can be openly talked about rather than glossed over, listen to potential solutions and get the involvement from everyone in the organisation. - Total quality management (TQM) principles are a customer-focused method that involves continuous improvement over time. This technique is often used in supply chain management and customer-focused projects. It involves everyone, every part in the process is responsible for improving the process. As this is an everyone solution, everyone needs to be trained in what to do and how to identify problems.
TQM is used in many industries with this in mind, including but not limited to manufacturing, banking and finance, and medicine. Some examples are Toyota, Motorola, Xerox etc. Toyota uses TQM to support its Just in Time inventory management methods.
A downside of TQM is that it is slow, it involves incremental changes. If done correctly and continuously you ensure a high standard of You could use TQM to support the new processes and the new way of working and the culture so that you keep momentum.
