This presentation covers implementation of continuous improvement for small, medium, and large organizations

1. Implementation Methods of
Continuous Improvement
By Joe Buffa
MBA 592

2. Introduction
 What is continuous improvement?
 A system to improve the organization in all aspects over time
 Culture that fosters improvement by eliminating waste
 Company wide process with a focus of continuous incremental innovation
 Three key concepts
 A system that is constantly in motion
 All levels of the organization contribute to the program
 Improve by concentrating on eradicating waste using employee innovation

4. Why Continuous Improvement
 Similar to the definition each company has their own reason
 Common motives
 External pressure
 Periods of uncertainty
 Cultural problems
 Guide, harvest, and implement employee innovation
 Value in small high occurring cycles of innovation
 Nissan Diesel obtains a total of 1.1 million ideas, 88 ideas per worker
 Kawasaki Heavy Engineering collects 6.9 million, 425 ideas per worker

5. Why Continuous Improvement
 Tangible benefits
 Profitability will increase through reducing internal costs
 Greater efficiency and better use of time
 Non-value added activates
 Eliminate waste in a process
 Intangible benefits
 Low cost
 Improved relationships
 Improved external partnerships
 Heighten communication and collaboration
 Increase employee morale and job satisfaction

6. Methodologies
 Lean manufacturing
 Traced back to Henry Ford
 Toyota production system
 Eliminate wasted time, effort, and material; reduce cost while improving quality,
provide customers with make-to-order
 Just in time
 Identifying and prioritizing non-value added
 Cycle efficiency – value-added / total time

7. Methodologies
 Six sigma
 Traced back to Andrew Carnegie
 Places a great importance on training
 Relies on statistical and scientific methods to make reduction
 DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control
 Customer centricity – Knowledge of what the customer values most
 6 sigma – 3.4 defects per million; 4 sigma – 6,210 defects per million
 Hybrid methodology
 Combines six sigma and lean manufacturing concepts
 Some use methodologies in parallel while other view the hybrid methodology as a
single approach

8. Implementation Process
 Strategically managed
 Involving management is an indispensable enabler
 Connects to all the other enablers
 Regular milestones
 Should include short and long term
 Measurement and display routines
 Employees want some form of feedback
 Social media
 Communication
 Meetings vs. Email

9. Implementation Process
 Need for an underlying supportive culture
 All individuals have creative potential
 Attitude towards mistakes
 Pace of the program
 Pace should be reflective of the organization
 Resources
 The more mature the program the more resources needed
 Dedicated resources should be included in the budget

10. Case Studies – Small organizations
 Construction Company
 Poor working relationships
 Invested heavily in training
 Development of resources
 Expanded consultative committee
 Implemented a newsletter
 Established task forces
 Fortes Bakery Limited
 Changes in legislation regarding
food safety
 Training to improve leadership
skills and communication
 Training was more culture based
than knowledge
 Forgiving of mistakes
 Implemented quality program 2
years later
 Voluntary quality improvement
teams
 Was able to save 50 man hours in
one project

11. Case Studies – Medium Organizations
 Engineering Firm
 Recently restructured with fierce
competition in the market
 Structure highlights flexibility,
lead time reduction, and inventory
savings
 Program stresses communication
 Culture change: threat of closing
 Developed problem solving teams
that receive two days of formal
training
 16 projects for a total savings of
$0.5 million
 TM products
 Acquired by Thames Water which
regrouped into four sectors
 Goal was to implement quality
program along side a MRP system
 Quality program wanted to build
partnership with suppliers
 MRP system is an integrated
business process that helps
company plan activities
 Business improvement teams which
top management guide
 Use of regular meetings

12. Case Studies – Large Organization
 Food and drink sector
 Firm built a new plant and wanted to
start fresh
 Strong training program
 Learning facility which are open year
round
 Well skilled workforce; which
provides resources
 Culture change
 Key indicators of improvement are
posted in company newspaper
 Organic approach – no structure
 Profit sharing approach
 Estimated $2 million saved
 Lucas Diesel System
 After a long period of growth the
industry started to decline
 Started with improvement teams and
hired two full time engineers
 Relied on lean manufacturing to
guide these teams to improvement
projects
 Teams determined the need for a
culture change
 Organizational hierarchy changed,
cross training, new communication
system
 More presentations and an in-house
newspaper was developed
 Little improvements from everyone
(L.I.F.E)

13. Implementation Challenges
 No matter how well planned a C.I. program is challenges are going to be
unavoidable
 Understanding these challenges allow the organization a more effortless and
complete implementation
 Organizations struggle to foster collaboration between multiple departments
 Challenging to get I.T. and continuous improvement to work together
 Difficulty identifying which process to prioritize first
 Training, resources, and metrics
 ILL-suited tools
 Too complex or not insufficient

14. Implementation Challenges
 Lack of employee engagement
 How do employees adopt C.I. on their own; how does management drive
engagement
 Not having enough time, money, or resources
 Impact on staff turnover
 Lack of visible goals and metrics
 Affect of technology
 Reward systems
 Create a competitive culture between employees
 Disbelief in the ability of employee
 Not a silver bullet
 Copying other companies programs doesn’t guarantee success

15. Case Studies – Small
 Fortes Bakery Limited
 Biggest challenge was a result of directly copying another organizations program
 Maturity level of the copied program
 Program must fit the organization
 Lack of resources – suggestion scheme failure
 Voluntary process teams lead to the same individuals partaking in C.I.

16. Case Studies – Medium
 Engineering Firm
 Not enough resources, certain projects were put on hold (management)
 No devoted time for top management to participate in C.I.
 Talbot
 Employees struggled to grasp training
 Overwhelmed employees with MRP and C.I. at the same time (pace)
 Poor structure sense emphasis was put on MRP
 C.I was more reactive rather than improvement focused

17. Case Studies – Large
 Food and Drink organization
 Organic structure leaves the organization vulnerable
 Training may become diluted
 Free for all culture
 Lack of formal process makes it easy to overlook acknowledgment and feedback
 No exclusive resources

18. Analysis
 Is there one dominant approach when implementing continuous improvement?
 Wide range of enablers are needed
 Connection between small, medium, and large implementation methods
 Depending on the situation different enablers were used
 Organic vs. structured; training for culture vs. training for education
 Order of implementation varies
 Do companies of all sizes face the same challenges?
 Some research shows that resistance to change is the most common challenge
 Different methods will result in different challenges
 Develop a clear structure that fits the company and culture
 Consider the pace

19. Questions?