4 Process Improvement Tools that can Help you make a Greater Impact

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4 business process improvement tools to lift your
game
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• Many ways exist to improve business processes
  some more effective than others. Weve even
  talked about a few on this blog, including the
  Five Whys, SIPOC and Process Mapping. 
• In this blog, we will take a deeper dive into the
  world of process improvement - highlighting 4
  process improvement tools that can help you make
  a greater impact.
• Whenever you are considering embarking on a
  process improvement initiative, firstly get your
  head around the goals of the exercise.

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• Whats the problem? Why does something need to be
  done? What does good look like?
• Once you have answered these questions, consider
  these proven process improvement tools and how
  they could make the impact youre looking for. 

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Value Stream Mapping

• If you need to understand how work is flowing
  through a process, what steps are performed, what
  is adding value and what is not value stream
  mapping is the process improvement tool.
• The best way to perform value stream mapping is
  by following a sample of transactions as they
  flow through the process from beginning to end,
  tally the time spent on value-adding tasks
  (creating, building, ordering, processing, etc.)
  versus non-value-adding tasks (waiting, storing,
  travelling, fixing, holding, re-working, etc.).

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• From here, effort can be prioritized to reduced
  to highest volume of non-value adding activities.
  
• We'll shortly be offering a guide and template
  for Value Stream Mapping - stay tuned.
• Better yet, subscribe to our Newsletter to get
  notified when it comes available. 

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Jidoka

• Jidoka is a philosophy and a very practical form
  of visual management with a specific aim of
  lifting operational performance through better
  performing processes. The philosophy essentially
  states that any process should be operated by
  people who are empowered to call out when the
  process is not performing optimally.
• They are also empowered to stop the process when
  something is not right. From a practical
  standpoint, a Jidoka board allows process issues
  or improvement ideas to be identified by anyone
  involved in the process and then voted-on by
  fellow process operators or users.

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• A very simple, but powerful way to instil an
  always can be better mindset and empower teams
  to raise issues and ideas as they see them.
• More details and ready-to-use templates for
  Jidoka are available in our Management Consultant
  Toolkit.  

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FMEA

• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a
  powerful and proven method focused on trapping
  process errors before they occur. Developed in
  the manufacturing industry, it is particularly
  prominent in industries where failure is costly
  or even catastrophic.
• That said, FMEA is useful in any process scenario
  where it's important to understand what errors
  could occur and prevent the most material ones
  from occurring.

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• FMEA uses a structured methodology for assessing
  error likelihood, severity, detectability and
  controllability. Working through the process
  produces a Risk Prioritization Number knowing
  this, one can then systematically target the
  highest ranking potential errors for designing
  and implementing preventative measures. More
  details on FMEA including a ready-to-use template
  can be found in our Management Consultant
  Toolkit.  

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Pain Point Analysis

• This method is a more visual, qualitative when
  compared to a technique like FMEA, which is very
  quantitative.
• As such, pain point analysis lends itself well to
  a workshop environment or when communicating
  process issues to an executive audience.
• Pain point analysis is best used after working
  through a detailed process mapping exercise which
  provides a sound basis for understanding how
  things currently operate.

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• From here, process gaps can be identified and
  worked-through using a pain point analysis. At
  the heart of pain point analysis are 3 elements
  frequency of the pain point  impact of the pain
  point and how these elements are expected to
  change over time (worse, better, stay the same).
  Our Management Consultant Toolkit explains pain
  point analysis in more detail and includes a
  great template for using this technique.

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• Knowing these tools and techniques, you will be
  equipped to make just about any process run
  better - whatever better looks like
  productivity, efficiency, control, cost, speed,
  quality or customer advocacy. Don't forget
  better needs to be holistic and balanced. Making
  one aspect improve to the detriment of another is
  not effective process improvement.

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