Continuous Process Improvement

Continuous Improvement Strategies

There are four primary Improvement Strategies: Repair, Refinement, Renovation & Reinvention. Repair: Anything broken must be fixed so that it functions as designed. Two levels to this strategy: Short-term- Customer receives a damaged product, a quick fix is required. Long-term- Individual or a team identifies root cause & eliminates it. Repair strategy does not improve process. Refinement: This strategy involves activities that continually improve processes, products & services to make them quicker, better, easier or with less waste. Renovation: This strategy results in major or break through improvement. Reinvention: A new product, service, process or activity is developed using teams based on a complete understanding of the customer requirements.

Leadership System-TQM Implementation

Quality Statements
VISION: The vision statement is a short declaration of what an organization
aspires to be tomorrow. Successful visions are timeless, inspirational & become deeply shared within the organization. IBM- Service. Apple- Computing for the masses. Disney Theme Park- Happiest place on earth. Paranoid- Instant Photography.

MISSION: Mission statement answers questions like: Who we are, who are the customers, what we do, & how we do it? Mission statement is generally less than one paragraph, easy to understand & describes functions of the organization. National Railway: To meet customers Transportation & distribution needs by being the best at moving their goods on time, safely & damage free. Ford: To improve continually our products & services to meet the customers needs, allowing us to prosper as a business & to provide a reasonable return to our share holders, the owners of the business.

Quality Policy Statement

The quality policy statement is a guide for everyone in the organization as to how they should provide products & services to the customers. It should be written by the CEO with feedback from the workforce & approved by the quality council. Common characteristics are: Quality is first among equals Meet the needs of the internal & external customers Equal or exceed the competition Continually improve the quality Include business & production practices Utilize the entire workforce. Quality policy is an essential requirement of quality certifications like ISO/QS 9000. Quality Policy of Xerox: Quality is the basic business principle for Xerox. Quality means providing our external & internal customers with innovative products & services that fully satisfy their requirements. Quality is the job of every employee.

Strategic Planning
For TQM to succeed the strategic Quality plans & business plans should be inseparable. Seven steps to Strategic Planning: 1. Customers Needs 2. Customer Positioning 3. Predict the future 4. Gap Analysis 5. Closing the Gap 6. Alignment 7. Implementation.

TQM MODELS

7. Accelerated Business Improvement Model (Smith-1995)

16. Dhruv Model for Excellence