Regulars / Continuous improvement | 23A holistic approach to continuous improvementTake a look at the toolbox for continuous improvement. Paul Brauss writesach business improvement “Lean manufacturing alone methodology has a primary focus and approach to driving improvement Efocuses on the elimination in an organization. A process engineer I worked with a couple of weeks ago of process waste”asked which of the three improvement methodologies I liked the best between process variability. Variation of process lean manufacturing, the theory of drives waste. Understanding process constraints and Six Sigma. This person was capability and both upper and lower limits process constraints takes careful analysis seeking advice on the best medicine for his are fundamental. Seeing a process drift and emphasizes a need for trained material company’s mediocre fnancial performance. through regimented quality checks allows fow experts who look for larger high-value It is not the frst time I have heard the time for operators to make necessary targets that will unlock process capacity.question, and I offer this insight for leaders adjustments. The principles of Six Sigma on the verge of making a commitment to focus on customer needs for quality and Continuous improvement toolsimprovement and looking to jump-start then eliminate variations to that quality Continuous improvement tools, such programs that are now inactive. expectation. There is a heavy emphasis as value stream and process mapping, on training and certifcation, and certifed impact analysis, waste identifcation and Waste and drivers leaders tend to direct lengthy projects. more (see boxout) are essential to the Lean manufacturing alone focuses on the The approach requires a constant focus on commitment to continuous improvement elimination of process waste. Our lean data integrity, and operators need a higher but, by themselves, cannot address the training traditionally lists seven types of ownership level for adoption. Projects are organization’s full range of strategic needs. waste with three driving contributors. driven by experts within the company who I used most of the tools in the tool The seven types of waste are: help make a process fow smoother. Since a chest for many years, frst as an industrial 1. Correction high level of expertise is required, cultural engineer, plant manager, and eventually 2. Overproduction adoption takes longer. the CEO of a major Fortune 500 company. 3. Movement of Material The theory of constraints hones in on The game changed when I was introduced 4. Motion the elimination of bottlenecks. The best to an improvement bundling approach that 5. Waiting book on the topic is ‘The Goal,’ and it’s a began with the fundamental belief that an 6. Inventory mandatory reading requirement for most enterprise is a series of linked processes. 7. Processing operational management programs. It is Any improvement approach must And the three driving contributors are: a staple requirement on any continuous understand their interdependencies so 1. Unevenness improvement reading list. The fundamental that performance improvement initiatives 2. Overburden requirement is to fnd the limiting factor have a lasting impact aligned throughout 3. Current process methods in a series of processes. The emphasis is to an organization. Governance that reaches Waste has a distinct look and feel, improve the process until it is no longer all major business processes must be requiring extra foor space, extra time, a constraint. Then move to the following important to a company improvement inventory stockpiles, missed shipments, constraint and repeat. In the converter model, beginning with a high-level strategy mediocre quality and an organization that world, the most logical example is to implemented over the entire value chain. needs to be more proactive in prevention. look at the press and the related fnishing Most individualized tools mistakenly seen The worst of the waste elements equipment partnered with the press. It does as large-scale process improvement efforts is overproduction because it drives not matter how fast you print a label if miss the whole value chain participation unnecessary work with movement, storage you cannot perform the fnishing processes requirement and then come up short of and cash drain. Because the waste is simultaneously. A mismatch causes expectations, often failing within the frst visual on the production foor, many lean inventory bottlenecks and waste. Finding 12 months of implementation. initiatives focus on shop foor practices with a heavy emphasis on kaizen projects. Continuous improvement tool chestThe commitment to lean real-life practices produces good results. Still, after initial • Value stream mapping • Metrics focused on timekaizen campaigns around 5S and some • Process mapping • FPY (frst pass yield) basic requirements, they become nothing • Pareto analysis • House of leanmore than isolated islands of excellence. • Ishikawa diagrams • Standard workEfforts are operator focused and typically • 3W (who, what, when) • 5Sdo not address company culture, so most • Impact analysis • Visual factoryinitiatives run their course quickly without • Future state mapping • Waste identifcationsustained internalization. • Project management • Kaizen/barrier removalThe Six Sigma method focuses on Jul - Sep 2023