Process Improvement

Process ’n’ People – Synergies for Improved Business Performance
   by Leslie Allan AIMM MAITD

Involving employees in mapping business processes not only increases business efficiency, it also improves employee morale and productivity. Les Allan illustrates ten key pointers you need to keep in mind to get the most out of your mapping project.

Standardize Your Process to Improve the Bottom Line  by Donald Bryant

In this article, Donald Bryant discusses the significant advantages to be gained in standardizing process. The discussion centers on the healthcare industry, however, the points made are applicable to all industries.

Making Business Improvement Happen: How 40 Dollars Saved 400,000 Dollars
   by Tim Sweet

If a doctor told you that you had internal bleeding you'd have to go to the hospital and get that fixed, pronto. But businesses everywhere are "bleeding" money while not applying so much as a Band-Aid. They do nothing because they can't see the source of leaks, and they wouldn't know how to fix it if they did. This bleeding may not be fatal, but it does unnecessarily jeopardize profits. Simple and inexpensive process changes can often stop such losses.

Balancing Top-Down and Bottom-Up Change Processes  by Jim Clemmer

Managers' behavior is the single most important variable in the success or failure of any organization's change or improvement effort. This starts with recognition that the organization is full of current or potential change champions.

Writing Procedures: Tips on How to Create Effective Documents
   by Leslie Allan AIMM MAITD

Writing effective policies and procedures is a learned skill. Organizations that do not get it right suffer from political infighting and employees not knowing what they are meant to be doing from one day to the next. In this article, Leslie Allan brings together the factors that mean the difference between effective, well written procedural documents and those that are simply left on the shelf.

How Do You Know You Are Getting Better? Use Data to Drive Improvement
   by Donald Bryant

All around us success is measured. A football team measures its wins by its scores. We measure the success of our investments by their rates of return. To really measure quality improvement in healthcare or any other business requires that we use data to measure our success. This article gives you tips on how to do this.

Lean Strategies for Lean Leaders and Their Teams  by Melanie Beaumont

Convincing decision-makers and other stakeholders of the benefits of Lean Manufacturing is no easy task. In implementing Lean, you will also meet a number of roadblocks. Here are some useful strategies that you can use to ensure that your Lean project meets with success.

Learning to Run the Lean Marathon  by Mark Eaton

Organisations looking to implement change that is sustainable in the medium to long term need to have three key attributes to be successful. Based on research undertaken with dozens of businesses, this article explores the key factors that can make your improvement programme (including Lean) successful.

Six Sigma

Business Process Management – The Six Sigma Approach  by Peter Peterka

Managing a business entails a wide variety of responsibilities and project managers have to be up to the task. Fortunately, there are Business Process Management technologies in place to help processes run more smoothly. However, Six Sigma does more than just help processes run more smoothly. Six Sigma is a methodology. It allows for continuous improvement of processes, on a project-by-project basis.

Six Sigma Tools  by Peter Peterka

Statistics are at the heart of Six Sigma's powerful methodology for quality improvement. It pays to get to know some of the most important of the Six Sigma statistical tools.

The DMAIC Method in Six Sigma  by Peter Peterka

The Six Sigma DMAIC process methodology is a system that brings measurable and significant improvement to existing processes that are falling below specifications. This article explains the basics of when and how to use the DMAIC methodology.

Design of Experiments for Six Sigma  by Peter Peterka

Design of Experiments is an important tool within the Six Sigma methodology. It helps to bring to the surface hidden causes of process variation. This article takes a look at this statistical and structured approach to finding cause and effect relationships within process data.

Handling Statistical Variation in Six Sigma  by Peter Peterka

Six Sigma's clear strength is its use of data to drive the decision making process. This article explores how the Six Sigma methodology identifies and analyses statistical variation in business processes to achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction and reduce operational costs.