Improvement Process Cycle

Improvement Process FOR THE INDIVIDUAL

Training is required for 100% of people in the Organization to learn the right approach to problem solving. This needs to be simple and effective such that it can easily be applied to everyday problems. It is not sensible to bombard people with "1000 tools and techniques" of ranging complexity; which is an approach sometimes adopted by Companies attempting to establish a Improvement Process capability in their people. The problem with this approach is that so much time is spent in learning the individual techniques that no time is left for understanding how to apply them!

The majority of problems can be solved with the technique described in this course - simple, easy to use, and successful.

Before describing the appropriate technique, however, there is an absolute requirement to understand the Improvement Process Cycle. This thinking   the approach to Improvement Process which is required from 100% of people. It is essential that this Improvement Process Cycle is fully understood before training People in Tools and Techniques  otherwise nobody will know when to use which technique. The problem with many tools and techniques courses is that, because the Improvement Process Cycle is not fully explained or understood, people have great difficulty in understanding their application.

The Improvement Process Cycle is as follows, and has'4 steps.

4 STEP IMPROVEMENT PROCESS CYCLE

STEP 1 The first step is to clearly define the problem - to use the Japanese terminology "What is the Fact". The temptation is to jump to conclusions without ever really studying the problem in the first place.

STEP 2 The second step is to analyze the information and establish the root cause problem.

STEP 3 The third step is to solve the problem by applying a corrective action, which meets the immediate requirement.

STEP 4 The fourth step is to take the actions to ensure the problem can never occur again. This is very often different to STEP 3 in actions as it may mean a change to a Process method, or system. It may be the promise of new or additional training, better communication between people. This is the key Prevention step  this problem should never be allowed to happen again.