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Application of Continuous Improvement Techniques To Improve Organization Performance A Case Study
Application of Continuous Improvement Techniques To Improve Organization Performance A Case Study
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Continuous
Application of continuous improvement
improvement techniques to techniques
Brian J. Galli
School of Computer Science, Innovation and Management Engineering,
Long Island University, Brookville, New York, USA, and
Palvisha Ishtiaq
ASPIN Pharma Private Limited, Karachi, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study, analyze and implement continuous improvement (CI)
techniques in an interior design case company, which faces challenges in different departments that affect the
case company performance.
Design/methodology/approach – The proposed methodology implemented in three departments of an
interior design company in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). First, the authors analyzed and identified
problems using Pareto chart and cause and effect diagram. After that, they improved identified problems
using Kaizen, 5S, developed project selection form and modified organization chart. The result has been
shown savings regarding money and time.
Findings – Successful implementation of the proposed methodology reduced project in pipeline time from
16 weeks to nine weeks, profit margin increased from 25 to 27 per cent, sales win ratio increase from 11 to 32
per cent, better project and financial forecasting and 92 per cent of tender submission deadline achievement. A
habit of clean, tidy and organized workplace has been developed among workers.
Originality/value – Proposed solutions contributed significantly to saving time and effort spent to
accomplish different tasks in the case company. The company approved the proposed solutions and
implemented them, which show that these proposed solutions are feasible and practical. In addition to that, in
literature, most of the CI applications are in the manufacturing or production sectors. This was the first study,
which implemented CI techniques in an interior design company.
Keywords Process improvement, Kaizen, Continuous improvement, 5S, Cause and effect diagram,
Waste minimization
Paper type Case study
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides a research background in
the area of application of CI tools and technique in different sectors. Section 3 provides the
company overview and problem description, Section 4 proposes the methodology to solve
the identified problems as described in Section 3. Section 5 draws the conclusion and
identifies the limitations of the study and the recommend future research directions.
2. Research background
The scope of CI methodologies has been enlarged due to substantial advancements in
technologies, modern innovations and rapidly changing market demands. In this section, we
will provide the background of widely used CI techniques and tools as well as the objective
of this research.
The 5S method appears as an expeditious tool adopted by numerous organizations
working at different small/large scales, globally. It would not be wrong to call 5S a base of
Lean House. It has been exploited by all sectors of manufacturing and services.
Organizations initiated using 5S as a CI methodology from the late 1970s, and currently, it is
considered as the most dominant and fruitful tool of Lean tool case. A 5S methodology is a
lean tool developed by Japanese manufacturing companies, comprising five stages: sort
(seiri), set in order (seiton), shine (seiso), standardize (seikatsu) and sustain (shitsuke). These
five terms are interrelated with each other and play an important role in the achievement of
the Lean system, if implemented systematically. Hence, they serve as an essential
foundation of lean systems (Krajewski et al., 2009).
On the other hand, 5S is a systematic technique, which often used by companies to
organize, sorts and cleans the workplace to improve productivity and efficiency. It also helps
organizations in continuously improving the performance of the organizations (Singh et al.,
2014). It also helps in reducing downtime, lead time, wastes and defects. Pranckevicius et al.
(2008) implemented the 5S technique in a plastic cap manufacturing company. In addition to
that, they implemented the DMAIC cycle to improve the process. Randhawa and Ahuja
(2017) presented a comprehensive literature review on 5S applications and identified
IJLSS research gaps based on their findings. This study is focused on 5S initiatives for the
sustainable performance of the organization.
Sorooshian et al. (2012) studied the experience of implementing of 5S in an organization
in the context of its influences on the work environment. Bayo-Moriones et al. (2010) tried to
identify the relationship between 5S use, contextual factors and operating performance. This
study was based on surveys of 203 Spanish companies and hypotheses were verified using
analysis of variance and correlation analysis. Gapp et al. (2008) identified and presented key
concepts of 5S from the perspective of Japanese management. They collected data from
different Japanese companies who implemented 5S, and data were analyzed using computer-
aided lexical analysis (Leximancer). Results indicate that 5S implementation has visible
(technical) and intangible (philosophical) benefits. Gupta and Jain (2015) implemented the 5S
technique in an instrument manufacturing company. Findings reveal that tool-searching
time on the shop floor has been reduced from 30 to 5 min and improved in overall
organization performance.
5S aims to create a productive environment by appropriate categorization and an orderly
arrangement of all workplace stuff. 5S philosophy develops discipline and working standard
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among employees (Hilton and Sohal, 2012). Organization of workplace not only achieves
optimized production but also builds a safe, secure and under control atmosphere. Patel and
Thakkar (2014) implemented 5S in Storage and Insulator departments of Ceramic
manufacturing factory in India. In this regard, red tags, workstations organization, GEMBA
board to highlight KPIs and in last 5S monitoring check sheets are used. After implementing
successfully space utilization, worker’s safety, improved inventory systems, increased
productivity, clean environment and many other benefits are observed. History of Lean
shows that 5S adoption is not only done to increase productivity but also for improvement of
safety systems within organizations.
On the other hand, Kaizen is a Japanese terminology means, “change for the better.” It is
the process of CI in small increments that make the process more efficient, effective, under
control and adaptable. Improvements are usually accomplished at little or no expense,
without sophisticated techniques or expensive equipment (Cherrafi et al., 2016). It focuses on
simplification by breaking down complex processes into their sub-processes and then
improving them. The Kaizen improvement focuses on the use of value-added and non-value-
added work activities; Muda, which refers to seven classes of waste-overproduction, delay,
transportation, processing, inventory, wasted motion and defective parts; and the 5S’s for
workplace organization (Singh and Singh, 2009).
Kaizen relies heavily on a culture that encourages every employee to improve the jobs/
process or provide suggestions about the enhancement of particular process efficiency, as it
is believed that employees know better about their specific jobs. Suárez-Barraza et al. (2011)
conducted a literature review to analyze the application of Kaizen in academic and
practitioner literature. Findings demonstrate that the literature of Kaizen is displayed fewer
than three umbrellas, which include a series of principles and techniques. Arya and
Choudhary (2015) implemented Kaizen in a machine vice manufacturing company in India.
Results show that Kaizen has the significant impact on production techniques and lead
times. Paul Brunet and New (2003) implemented Kaizen in Nippon Steel Corporation in
Japan to assess uniformity. Results indicate that Kaizen is an integral element to improve
operations management systems operations. Arya and Jain (2014) implemented Kaizen in a
small-scale Indian company. Results prove that processing time has been reduced by 44.4
per cent and the amount of Rs. 64,000 has been saved by better utilization of area and
workflow. Farris et al. (2008) describe results related to Kaizen event effectiveness regarding
primary event outcomes and its sustainability. Oropesa Vento et al. (2016) analyze the
effects of managerial commitment and professional development of the workforce on benefit Continuous
in obtaining Kaizen implementation specifically in the planning phase. A survey-based case improvement
study has been conducted and implemented in Mexican maquiladora companies. Based on
the obtained results, the managerial commitment has a direct impact on economic benefits.
techniques
In addition, Pareto analysis and cause and effect diagram are also statistical process
control tools mostly used where quality-related problems are the center of attention. Pareto
Charts highlights the major problems (the reason behind most many defects) and supports
management in decision-making, whereas the cause and effect diagram is a brainstorming
technique used to identify the principal cause of the problems. If Pareto charts help us to
prioritize our efforts and to focus on the most serious issues, then cause and effect diagram
supports to isolate the cause of that identified problem (Ahmed and Ahmad, 2011). The core
idea of lean manufacturing is to maximize customer value and to minimize waste by
controlling the extra use of resources. A lean organization understands customer value and
focuses its key processes to continuously increase it. The ultimate goal is to provide perfect
value to the customer through a perfect value creation process that has zero waste. To
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accomplish this, lean thinking changes the focus of management from optimizing separate
technologies, assets and vertical departments to optimizing the flow of products and
services through entire value streams that flow horizontally across technologies, assets and
departments to customers (Summers, 2011).
Anything that does not add value to the product or for which customer is not willing to
pay can be defined as a Waste. To avoid/determine Waste, Lean defines five simple steps
“Define Value, Identify value stream, Eliminate waste, Pull Production, Strive for perfection.
The basic objectives of a lean system are as follows:
eliminate waste within the organization; this refers to all types of waste including
downtime;
reduce costs within its operations, not only in production but also office and
administrative expenses; and
improve customer satisfaction; this should be the main driver of implementing
lean, as differentiation through customer service can be a powerful competitive
advantage; this can be achieved through the reduction in lead times, increase in
product and service quality and price competitiveness.
Table I summarizes some of the recent related works on CI tools implementation in different
industries.
3. Research methodology
Following the objective of the study, we evaluated and analyzed an interior design company
and tried to implement some CI tools like 5S, Kaizen, Pareto and cause and effect diagram
approaches to improve the organizational performance of the studied company. In this
regard, we applied a framework, which was based on five main steps as follows:
(1) Step 1. Case selection: In this step, we select the company for the doing the CI
project.
(2) Step 2. Current situation analysis of the company: In this step, we assess the
primary situations of the company for identifying the challenges and problems,
which the company faces too. Moreover, collecting the required data by different
process observations and investigating the documents would be done.
(3) Step 3. CI tools implementation: In the current step, we implement the CI tools Continuous
based on their principles and procedures. improvement
(4) Step 4. Improvement results analysis: In this step, we compare the before situation techniques
which was evaluated in Step 2 to the results have been obtained after implementing
the CI techniques.
(5) Step 5. Recommendations for the company: Finally, some recommendations would
be provided to the managers of the company.
4. Case study
In this section, we explain in details the conducted steps of CI, noted in Section 3, in an
interior design case company as below:
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Figure 1.
The steps of the
research
methodology
IJLSS 180 staff members. So far they have successfully finished around 620 different projects for
different customers such as 3M, CISCO, The address and DHL.
This helped us to understand the flow of the project execution process from receiving it until
its submission. Thus, the current situation of the major departments of XYZ Company was
analyzed to specify the challenges the company faces. The screened departments included
the sales and marketing, shop floor and project team departments. First, we had a meeting
with the operation manager, the sales manager and the project manager to discuss the
current problems that the company is going through. They identified problems in the
mentioned departments. After detailed discussions with the managers, we decided to spend
some time to observe the process in each department to identify the real causes. After the
observation procedure and consultation with the managers of each department, the list of
problems we found in each department was listed as below:
4.2.1 Sales department challenges
They waste a lot of time and effort while pricing a project spending two to three
weeks; eventually, they will lose the opportunity to get the project due to the lack of
the project selection process.
The sales manager attends all the meetings and negotiations with customers to get
the projects by him due to the lack of enough resources, i.e. no assistant.
No documentation of data, as there is no specific person to enter the data, i.e. bill of
quantity (BOQ), causing delays and defects in getting the exact estimation for the
customers leading to problems even before starting the project.
When they start executing the project, NOCs must be obtained from various
departments and government authorities. Therefore, this task will be borne by the
Sales manager due to the lack of resources in the department.
Miscommunication due to the absence of a built-in designer, communication
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between the draughtsman and the designer (outside the company) is vague.
Therefore, there is no direct relationship between them. The project manager is the
link between the two parties, and that causes some undesired deviations in design,
as the draughtsman do not know what the designer exactly needs. This requires
them to draw it more than one time (Scrap and rework).
Some of the workers on the site are unused well as the management is not providing
testing for the new workers. Testing the workers can help the project manager
knowing each worker capabilities and putting them in the right position.
By assessing the whole three departments, we analyzed the procedure of each department in
details in coordination with our contact person in the company to indicate the existing
problems. Moreover, data were gathered regarding the main challenges. Then we used the
lean concept as a tool to classify the problems into the seven types of waste. Table II lists
the types of waste existed in the different departments of the case company. Notably, the
percentages of occurrences and the related data were collected from our meetings with
the departments’ managers based on their experiences and knowledge and the data
available on the timesheet and check sheets. Data have been collected over a period of
eight weeks. We have divided data collection time (eight weeks) equally in every
department and at the end, all percentage occurrences and categorization of types of
wastes were discussed with each department head for their approval.
4.3.1 Using Pareto and cause and effect analysis approaches. In this part, Pareto analysis
was used to identify the types of wastes affecting the company efficiency. Also, a cause and
effect analysis was carried out to target the causes of the problems that the sales department
struggles. The Ishikawa diagram acts as a first line for the solution of problems by
exhaustively generating possible causes. This creates a visual or pictographic representation
of a process and leads to the immediate identification of possible causes of issues.
We focused on the problems that represent at least 80 per cent of the occurrences. We
used the data from the table to identify and target the most significant problems; we found
that solving 20 per cent of the causes will solve 80 per cent of the problems. A Pareto
diagram was constructed with the data from Table II and is shown in Figure 2. As shown in
Figure 2, the significant few causes will produce a large majority of the problems.
When we deal with a serious problem, it is important to explore all the potential reasons Continuous
that could cause the problem, before we start thinking about a solution. By doing this, we improvement
would be able to solve the problem completely, first time around, rather than just addressing
part of it and having the problem run on and on. Cause and effect analysis helps to identify a
techniques
useful way of doing this. At the end of a successful brainstorming session, we had a long list
of ideas, and we created a manageable list of feasible ideas that were worthy of further
investigation. A cause and effect diagram was created for the existing types of waste.
Figures 3, 4 and 5 illustrate the cause and effect diagram for the main three types of the
wastes exist in the aforementioned departments.
It is noteworthy that the purpose of using the cause and effect diagram was to get the
answer to three “Whys.” For example, Figure 3 is a cause and effect diagram for excessive
motion. Three Whys here are “Why there is excessive motion?” The answer to this question
is because of the inadequate training and poorly design layout. Another question is “Why
there is inadequate training?” The answer is because of lack of resources, and the last
question is “Why layout poorly designs?” and the answer to this is because they do not have
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a standard operating procedure. These three Why’s lead to excessive motion. Similarly, the
other two figures (Figures 4 and 5) were constructed to get the answer to three Whys.
4.3.2 Implementing kaizen. We implemented Kaizen in XYZ Company in the previously
noted departments according to the following steps:
Pareto Diagram
40 100
35 80
30
25 60
20
15 40
10 20
5
0 0
Waiting
Inventory
Processing
Underutilized
Motion
Defects
Transportation
Over-
People
Figure 2.
Pareto chart
Figure 3.
Cause and effect
diagram for the
excessive motion
waste
IJLSS
Method Machine
No documentation
of data
Failure
Ineffective production
planning
Design Issue
Downtime/
Breakdown
Waiting
Lack of Enough
Resources
Poor
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No Customer Maintenance
Service
4.3.2.1 Analyze the process. We selected the sales department and the painting section
on the shop floor because their employees were facing various problems in their sector.
The managers also suggested implementing kaizen in these departments. First, we
observed the current practices in the painting section with the supervisor. After that,
we identified the wastes generated in the current procedures.
4.3.2.2 Identify the problem. After a thorough analysis of both departments in
coordination with the manager and the supervisor, we identified the following problems:
waste of time and effort;
low efficiency; and
poor safety.
4.3.2.3 Set the goals. After we identified the problems in the last step, we discussed with the
manager to set the targets to minimize the waste and mitigate essential problems. After
discussion, we set the following goals:
reduce cost;
improve the processes;
increase sales;
reduce time and effort that spent in the process of selecting the right project;
improve customer satisfaction; and
improve employee morale.
Continuous
Method Machine
improvement
techniques
Machine
Inaccuracy
No
Inspection
Poor
Maintenance
Defects
4.3.2.4 Gather the required data. To increase the participation of the employees in both
departments, we consulted several employees of the departments and collected data and
information from them to analyze the problems in more details.
4.3.2.5 Make the change. After data collection, we moved on to the most important step,
which is to make a change based on the data that we collected in the previous step. We
focused on improving the process in the two areas (sales and marketing department and
painting area on the shop floor). Our proposed solutions are listed below:
development of new project selection form in the sales and marketing department;
development of new organizational structure for the company; and
implementation of 5S technique in the painting section of the shop floor.
Sort Sorting means distinguishing needed items (such as materials, tools, gauges) from
unneeded items, and removing unnecessary items such as broken tools, scrap,
unusable or not frequently used items
Set in order It can be described as organizing the layout so that the items are easier to find and
accessible to everyone, putting items in a logical storage location according to their
importance or how frequently they’re used and marked with signs and labels
Shine This stage concentrates on keeping the work area neat and clean on a regular basis.
The benefits include an improved worker attitude, making it easier to identify
abnormal conditions, reducing contamination, and improving safety. The key point
here is that cleanliness is a regular part of the daily work effort, not an effort
initiated when the workplace gets too messy
Standardize Standardizing the work practices means operating in a consistent and standardized
fashion. Everyone knows their role and exactly what his or her responsibilities are.
Actions are taken the same way – the right way – every time. Some of the tools used
in standardizing the 5S procedures are visual cues (e.g., signs, placards, posters,
and display scoreboards), job cycle charts and scheduling of “five-minute”
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5S periods
Sustain Sustaining stage is the most difficult S to implement since people always tend to
return to the way they did thigs in the past. Practicing and repeating until it
becomes a way of life. The benefits include establishing a culture of competence and
Table III. shortening training cycles. Tools for sustaining 5S include 5S training, checklists,
5S Stages definition department Tours, performance reviews, and management support. To prove that
(Folk group, 2009) the company is serious about “5S”, an audit must be performed on a regular basis
4.3.3.2 Stage 2: Set in order. We located the items, which were more frequently used in the
workplace close to the worker. On the other hand, the items that are used together were
stored together.
4.3.3.3 Stage 3: Shine. We then removed the non-essential items and the remaining items
were put in their proper places, then we cleaned and washed the two work areas.
4.3.3.4 Stage 4: Standardize. We focused on developing standard daily practices in which
each employee should maintain the work area tidy and cleans it during and at the end of
each shift. To emphasize the idea, we created a standardize poster which helps to ensure the
first three steps are maintained. Desks should be organized before going home for the day.
Each employee had to do his/her part to ensure that the 5S standardization is being
implemented.
4.3.3.5 Stage 5: Sustain. The supervisors were asked to check that each job has duties
based on the 5S stages, and each employee knows his/her responsibilities to fill the standard
5S audit form weekly.
4.3.4 Solutions for the project team department. In this part, we shared our solutions
with the concerned managers and supervisors in the company including the project selection
form, improved organizational structure and 5S method in the painting section, where we
took their feedback and notes and made adjustments to them according to their
requirements. Once the case company approved our proposed solutions, we implemented
our solutions as follows:
4.3.4.1 Project selection form. The company had no systematic way for the projects
selection process; therefore, we developed a new project selection form. A Project Selection
can be defined as a process to assess each project idea and select the project with the highest
priority. The selection is often made based on some criteria, which have been set by the Continuous
company. improvement
According to the company requirements and after consultation with the sales manager, we
created a project selection form in which each project was scored against the selection criteria,
techniques
and the total project score was calculated. The distribution of grades in each section was
determined according to the sales manager requirements. This method gives the sales manager
the ability to take some possible projects and identify which project deserves attention and is
viable. Our proposed project selection form consisted of seven sections, which were as below:
(1) client details;
(2) project details;
(3) estimation;
(4) project information;
(5) relationship;
(6) score;
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(7) approval.
The first section covers the client details along with the score, where it is essential for the
sales manager to receive detailed information about their potential client. Figure 6
demonstrates the client details section as follows:
It consists of few subsections, which are listed as below:
(1) Project name and brief
(2) Types of the project, which includes three types:
Design-build: in which the sales manager receives the information about the
available space, while the company will handle the design and the materials
used.
Build only: the client provides the sales manager with the design and the
information about the available space, the sales manager decides what material
will be used and manufactures it in the company.
Joinery: Only Wooden work is done for one section, for example, the reception desk.
Figure 6.
Client details section
in the project
selection form
IJLSS (3) Location of the project. According to senior managers’ opinions, Dubai and Abu
Dhabi are the most desired target markets for their projects, as the company has
two branches there.
(4) Sector. The scoring is done based on their experience; for example, they have more
experience in manufacturing furniture for hotels. Therefore, it will be less risky for
them to handle such a project.
(5) A grade for the project. The studied company prioritizes the project with the large
budget and high-end furniture such as Executive offices.
Figure 7.
Project details section
in the project
selection form
Continuous
improvement
techniques
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Figure 8.
Estimation section in
the project
selection form
Figure 9.
Project information
section in the project
selection form
added to improve the existing organizational structure based on our analysis and
observation of the process:
Design department (including senior interior designer, a team of three interior
designers and a team of two 3D animators) were added to the organization why the
IJLSS company faced the problem of miscommunication between the designer (outside the
company) and the draughtsmen in the project team department. By adding this
built-in department, the time spent on the designing phase will be decreased, and
fewer errors on the drawings will occur.
Production supervisor in the project department. As there was no link between the
foremen and the operation manager and due to the pressure on the operation
manager, the new production supervisor fills the gap and helps to reduce the
pressure on the operation manager.
Two sales executives to assist the sales manager. One will assist him in the negotiations
with the clients, and the other will be specialized in recording the data and documenting
them, which will reduce the delays and defects in any project.
QHS (Quality Health and Safety) section which combines both the safety department
and quality department. As XYZ Company does not have such a department, this
will help them to take the right actions and caught the errors before they become
defects. Also while taking care of the workers, they will feel safer and more
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confidants.
Project Manager Assistant. Who will help the project manager in collecting and
getting the required NOCs and documents, and that will save the project manager
time and effort to focus on his job and responsibilities.
Figure 10.
Relationship section
in the project
selection form
Figure 11.
Score and approval
sections in the project
selection form
The improved organizational structure is mentioned in Figure 12. Continuous
improvement
4.4 Step 4: Improvement results analysis
techniques
Once we implemented all the above CI approaches, two months later, the sales manager
provided us with the results. Table IV shows the comparison of results as follows:
Table IV summarized the results and compared it with the initial analysis. After successful
implementation of CI tools and techniques, we found that results are motivational and give
management a confidence to implement similar CI tools and techniques in other departments
CEO
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General
Manager
Operations
QHS
Sales Procurement Manager
Manager Manager
Project Mgr.
Factory Manager
Marketing Quantity Assistant
Executive Supervisor (Team of 2)
Foreman
Estimation Foreman (Team off 3)
(T
Team of 2 (Team of 2)
Sr.Interior
PRO
Design Sr.Accountant
Figure 12.
Interior
Receiptionist Designer Improved
(Team of 20 Accountants organizational
(Team of 2) structure of the
3D Animator
Added (Team of 2) case company
4.6 Challenges faced during the implementation of continuous improvement tools and
techniques
Aforementioned results were achieved by overcoming the following challenges:
Selected case company did not have the continuous and pre-defined set of a process
like in manufacturing or production industry. To overcome this challenge, we
first created a culture in which we encouraged the management and workers to
identify the “hidden” and “unidentified” reasons that lead to ineffective process
and operations. Once they started experiencing the improvement, they adopted a
proactive approach to improve process and operations using CI tools and
techniques.
Initially, management response to facilitate this project was not very much positive.
To overcome this challenge, we met with the concerned managers and decision
makers in the company and discussed the potential benefits of this project. In this
regard, we arranged several meetings with the managers to convince them about
the project.
Cooperation with the shop floor workers and supervisors were the most annoying
challenge that we faced during this project. We spent ample time with the workers
and their supervisors and explained about the benefits of CI tools by relating it to
their everyday tasks. Once they saw the initial benefits, most of the workers were
motivated and participated in this project.
Delivering a comprehensive project report in a short period was another challenge
we faced. As agreed by the management, we had to deliver a comprehensive report
within three months. Thus, we distributed tasks related to each department among
the group members and conducted weekly meetings to discuss any difficulty and Continuous
the progress of the project. improvement
techniques
5. Concluding remarks
The primary goal of this paper was to study, analyze and provide the solutions to the
most significant problems in different departments that affecting the case company
efficiency and productivity. In this regard, the three main problems were addressed in
this paper are:
problems in project quotation phase;
unorganized painting section; and
inappropriate organizational structure.
To solve the aforementioned problem, we proposed and implemented the following solutions.
For Project selection problem, we developed a project selection form. The main
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objective is to guide the organization about the important details they need to
consider before choosing a project. Also, it will assist the sales manager by
providing a procedure for comparing the importance of the different projects then
prioritize them. Finally, select the most suitable project to undertake.
The importance of having an organized work area is to avoid the storage of unneeded
items as well as to eliminate the time wasted searching for tools and equipment. The
existing work area in the painting section is disorganized and cluttered, and it is affecting
the employees’ morale. Employee morale is directly related to company productivity, thus
keeping their morals high will enhance productivity. Therefore, a 5S technique needed to
be implemented there to save the employees some space, time, money and energy.
The current organizational structure does not include enough human resources, and
it is causing role confusion to the employees. The proposed organizational structure
is clearer and well defined in a way that each knows his/her responsibility; also it
includes enough human resources and departments within the company to enable
them to accomplish the targeted goals.
5.2 Limitations
During doing this study, we faced several limitations as follows:
Employee training to work in CI environment required both time and money, in
addition to the costs of training to perform the main job.
Due to the lack of resources (workers and personals) that were assigned to this
project from the company management, we implemented CI technique in areas and
departments, which had the biggest impacts on the company performance.
As compared to any firm in the services industry in which many opportunities for
incremental improvements exist, the case company had lack of incremental
improvement opportunities because of the lack of standardized processes and
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operations.
As any other qualitative research, the results of this study cannot be generalized to
the other industries and sectors.
References
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Corresponding author
Mohamad Amin Kaviani can be contacted at: aminkaviani1366@yahoo.com
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