Chapter 8: “Continuous Process

Improvement”

“Improvement begins with I” - Arnold H.

Glasow

TQM – means gradual and continuous

improvements of the processes within the
organization.

The New Improvement Methodologies

Evolved in Japan: Concept, Techniques and
Tools that are Used for Continuous Process
Improvement:
namely the defects under
 Juran’s Trilogy control.
 Kaizen
 Kaizen Blitz  Quality Plan – a living
 5S Practice document revised often.
 Three MUs
 The Seven Deadly Wastes
 Business Process Reengineering  KAIZEN

 Kaizen – is a Japanese word,

 JURAN’S TRILOGY means gradual, orderly and
continuous improvement.
 Juran brings out that good
financial results are achieved
in an organization through
Three (3) Managerial
Processes: PLANNING,
CONTROL AND
IMPROVEMENT

 Juran’s Quality Trilogy:

QUALITY PLANNING,
QUALITY CONTROL, AND
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT
 Which means; “Managing for
Quality is Achieved by the
Use of Three (3) Managerial
Processes of Planning,
Control and Improvement.”
 3 Regions: Chronic Wastes,
Quality improvement, and
New zone of quality
 Quality Planning – is
completed before the
operations begin.
 Quality Control – is helpful to
keep the fire under control,
 Continuous Improvement – is
achieved through improving the
current way of manufacturing
and eliminating waste.
 Kaizen – is a Japanese
strategy for continuous
improvement.
 Improvement – is not one –
time activity, but a continuous
activity.
 2 Activities of Kaizen: >
Maintenance, > Improvement
 Maintenance – involves
activities directed at maintaining
current technological,
managerial and operating
standards.

 Improvement Function – aim
at revising the current
standards.
 Innovation aims at dramatic
improvement of the existing
processes, whereas, Kaizen
aims at small incremental
improvement in the existing
processes.
 Three (3) Basin Principles of
Kaizen:
1. Work place
effectiveness
2. Elimination of waste,
strain and discrepancy
3. Standardization
Table 8.3 Three MUs and Their
Meaning
 Represent the best, easiest and safety
way to carry out a job in the form of
operating procedures and work
instructions.
 Represent the best way to preserve
know-how and expertise and
standardize the procedure for the same
 Evolve effective means to measure
performance and standardized the same
 Standardize all the procedures that are
use in the organization for maintenance
and improvement of process
 Standardize the training programs
 Standardize the audit for diagnosing
problems
 Standardize the procedures for
preventing occurrence of errors and
minimizing variability
PDCA and 7 Quality Tools
 Kaizen advocates usage of 7
Quality Tools for problem
solving.
 It encourages forming cross-
functional teams for
improvement.
 This will facilitate effective
implementation for
improvement.

The waste, strain and discrepancy is respect of

the following are to be reduced and finally
eliminated:
 Human resources
 Production volumes
 Inventory (materials)
 Time
 Working space
 Machinery
 Techniques
 Facilities
 Tools and jigs
 Thinking
Standardization – objectives:
Goal of Kaizen

Kaizen – is a low cost approach to
improvement, available to every organization
that has the determination to improve processes
for delighting customers.
Key Implementation
 The organizations embrace
Kaizen in 2 ways as given
below:
1. Gradual improvement of processes
2. Kaizen Blitz
Gradual Improvement Processes
 the 1st methodology
 Apex Quality Council – constitute by
the management, which overseas
continual and gradual improvement in
the processes.
 PAT – a specific teams, constituted with
specific goal for each improvement
project.
 QC – tools for reorganizing work places
of the factory for their effectiveness.
 PDCA Cycle – to evolve and implement
improvement plans.
 Is a quick improvement
methodology (2nd).
 Kaizen – means making small
improvement over an extended
period.
 Goal – to create a better
production line.
 It is also known as Kaizen
workshop which targets a
particular work place.
Whether it is a Kaizen Blitz or Kaizen in the
traditional sense, it involves the following:
 Application of 5S for improving
workplace effectiveness
 Reduction and finally elimination of 3
MUs
 Standardization of effective
methodologies for carrying out the work

 KAIZEN BLITZ
A Typical Improvement Process using Kaizen is
indicated in Fig. 8.2
Kaizen Blitz – Benefits
 5S PRACTICES
 Is rather a management tool
focused on fostering and
sustaining high quality
housekeeping.
 5S:
1. Sort
2. Straighten
3. Scrub
4. Systematize
5. Standardize
 The Japanese equivalent names for the
5 practices start with the alphabet “S”
known as 5S Practices.
 5S Tools – a perusal of the 5S
Practices.
1. Seiri – Sort
 Objective – is to sort and throw
away unnecessary items.
Separate tools, machinery,
products, inspection, work in
progress, and documentation
into necessary and unnecessary
and discharged unnecessary
items.
 Categories of Items:
 Low usage
 Medium usage
 High usage
2. Seiton – Straighten
 For easy and fast access when
needed, everything has a place
and everything in its place.
 The executive has to devise a
system:
Step 1: Plan to Arrange Neatly
1. the management should
plan to arrange
everything at the
 appropriate place in
appropriate manner.
Some of the problems in retrieving things are:
1. Not knowing the correct names of the
things
2. Not sure where things are kept
3. Storage site at a far off place
4. Storage sites scattered all around
5. Repeated visits to far off places for
taking and putting back
6. Hard to locate the things since the box
contains many other things
7. Storage location and items not labeled
8. Thing is not there, but no clear whether
the stock is exhausted or somebody is
having it
9. No distinction between good parts and
defected parts, all look same
10. Too wide to carry
11. Too heavy to carry
12. No trolleys to carry huge items
13. Improper design of path ways with lot of
obstructions
STEP 2: Decide Where Things should be
Stored
2. The organization should
have a name for every
item and a place for
each item to be stored.
The following procedures should be adhered to:
1. Everything should have a name
2. A place for everything and everything in
its place
3. Quick identification and retrieval
mechanism
3. Frequent-use item
should be retrievable
easily
4. Safe storage/transfer
4. Heavy things on the
bottom
5. Heavy things to be
carried on trolleys
6. Benches and ladders to
be used wherever
required
5. Height consideration for the storage of
items depending on the frequency of
their use
STEP 3: Be Consistent in Following the
Rules
7. It should be the
discipline on the part of
the employees to follow
the rules, which they
made for themselves
3. Seiso – Scrub
 Objective – is to clean and
inspect the respecting work
places thoroughly, so that there
is no dust on the floor,
machinery and equipment. Keep
machinery and work
environment clean.
4. Seiketsu – Systematize
 Objective – Is to maintain
standards of work place
organization by making
everything clean and orderly at
all times. Develop routine
practices for cleaning and
checking.
 Visual Management
8. is an effective means
for systematic work
place organization.
9. Is self-contained and
understandable
instruction, painted
neatly at the right
places.
5. Shitsuke – Standardize
 Objective – is to make the
previous four steps part of the
daily routine and to observe
self-discipline through
continuous practice. Follow
procedures and standardize
continuously to improve
processes and reestablish
standards.
 Discipline
10. is the fundamental
requirement of success
for any organization.
 11. It will come only with
repeated instructions,
coaching and training.
12. Follows Standardization
 Self-Discipline – guarantees
the continuity of a daily routine.
5S Certification
 National Productivity and
Competitiveness Council (NPCC) of
Mauritius offers 5S Certification.
 It was introduced in April 2002
 Aim – developing and assisting the
productivity culture across Mauritius.
 NPCC 5S CRETIFICATION: THE
PROCESS:
1. A team of 5 auditors will audit the
gemba (work place) proposed for
certification. 3 audits, spread over
the period of one year will be
conducted.
2. The audited organization should
keep the following relevant
information:
- General background of
the organization.
- Sections or departments
where 5S is applied.
- Photographs of the
sections or departments
where 5S is applied.
- Tangible and intangible
benefits gained.
- Documented proof:
Support structure 5S (like
a formal 5S coordinator),
training on 5S conducted
attendance sheets,
standards (for colour
codes, etc.) and proof of
regular 5S activities.
3. A certificate will be awarded by
NPCC and Kaizen institute (Africa
and Pacific) to any organization,
which has successfully
implemented 5S Practices.
4. Following 3 random audits and on
the basis of the audit report,
eligibility of the 5S Certification
will be considered.
 SEVEN DEADLY WASTE
 Waste from Overproduction
 Waste of Waiting
 Transportation Waste
 Processing Waste
 Inventory Waste
 Waste of Motion
 Waste from Product Defect
1. Overproduction waste
 occurs due to failure of
production planning when
money is blocked in the unsold
products.
 Just-in-time (JIT) – Is the right
approach.
2. Waste due to waiting
 Work-in-progress (WIP) – is a
direct measure of quality of the
organization.
 Occur at any stage of
manufacturing due to poor
planning, organizing as well as
lack of dynamism in making
alternate arrangements when a
particular man, machine or
material is not available due to
unforeseen circumstances.
3. Transportation - unnecessary
transportation is a waste.
4. Processing waste – if a process is help
up due to breakdown of the machine,
money is lost.
5. Inventory waste
 Supply chain management
should be such that there are no
excess materials, similarly, the
organization should produce
exact number of every part.
 Every part should be accounted
to avoid inventory waste.
6. Waste of motion
  Watts Humphrey says, the considerations, which
purpose of driving is to reach processes are redundant
the destination on time and not and make a
to spin the wheel. recommendation
 The objective of the accordingly to the
organization should be to add management. Then,
value by every motion of the management will take the
employee and machinery. final decision to eliminate
the process.
7. Products defects
Radical Redesign
 The defects parts or supplies
cause loss of money. - Dramatic improvements
 Thus eliminating scrap through cannot be achieved only
zero defect is the only solution through fundamental
to the problem. rethinking. It calls for
design of new processes.

 BUSINESS PROCESS - The reengineering team

REENGINEERING (BPR) should question
fundamentally the
What is BPR? necessity to follow the
existing procedures of
BPR – is undertaken essentially to result new processes or
in a quantum jump in performance of methods or use of
processes. machinery and should not
care to throw all of them
- Is the fundamental and start fresh, only then,
rethinking and radical dramatic improvements
redesign of a business can take place.
processes to achieve
dramatic improvement in How to carry out Reengineering?
critical, contemporary
measures of performance The Five Phases of Reengineering Cycle are
, such as cost, quality given below:
service and speed.
1. Planning
- Dramatic Improvement 2. Process Study
– will only help the 3. Study of the Best Practices
organization to leapfrog 4. Redesign
in performance or 5. Implementation
achievements.
Reengineering does not fit in Kaizen. However,
- Objective – is to reduce reengineering may be called occasionally to
the cost of maintaining make quick and dramatic improvements in the
quality, improving service process.
features and delivering
the products and services INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
fast.
 Application of IT will help in
improvement of productivity, efficiency
Fundamental Rethinking and quality of the work.
 The most difficult part in reengineering is
- BPR – Is an opportunity the intelligent way of understanding the
for innovative person to current practices and finding innovative
decide, after due new methods.
  IT can be applied not only in
reengineering process, but also in the
continuing process.

BPR AND TQM

 The aim of BPR is to make dramatic

improvement in quality.

 TQM is not only continuous

improvement, but has many other
factors as given in the previous
chapters. BPR is one o the tools to
achieve TQM.

 The 2 approaches namely TQM and

BPR neither contradicts nor
compliments each other because they
are 2 parts of the same approach.

 Business Reengineering as a
fundamental component of total quality
approach. Therefore, total quality is an
objective, TQM means to achieve it
and BPR is an important tool within the
TQM Technology.