Get the Right Start: Five Criteria for a Practical Process Improvement Project

What are the proper criteria necessary for a successful start to your first practical process improvement projects?  From my experience, five are necessary.

      First, I suggest that you start with a small project first.  It should not be too big or too ambitious.  It should be big enough though that its success would be clearly beneficial to the department and, hopefully, the entire company.

Second, the top management team of your company must be committed to the project.  Not just involved but committed to the project. 

Third, try to find something that “slightly hurts” the organization at this time.  A little pain is ideal and for our purposes, it should involve something that your area or department is directly responsible for.

Fourth, set up a system to track the cost of the project before you begin.  For the type of basic project you should start with, labor is probably the most costly component.  Keep in mind though it is not just the cost of the time participants meet for the project.  They will need additional time to perform project tasks. 

Fifth review team size.  I would like to suggest that for your initial projects, you keep the team small and involve the areas “touched” by the process you want to improve.  My suggestion is no more than four or possibly five to start.

It’s a good idea to get a few successful projects under your belt to build momentum.  By taking this approach you will build credibility and gradually move to bigger projects with larger benefits to your organization.

Assembly vs. Transformation Production: Some Commonalities but Also Differences

      Until recently much of my career I was in the printing industry.  My undergraduate degree is in printing and I spent over twenty five years in the newspaper business.  I’m mostly out of it now but I still keep up with some of the goings on.  Recently I read a printing group discussion on LinkedIn on application of the Toyota Production System to printing production.

      The dozens of comments are interesting but through it all one point was not clearly brought up which is not all production operations add value the same way.  Because of this, not all approaches to improvement apply equally to both.

      Let’s start with vehicle production in any plant.  Very little if anything is actually made in the plant.  Components and subassemblies from different vendors all over the world are placed onto the vehicle as it proceeds ‘down the line.’  Value is added in this case by “assembling” the various pieces onto the vehicle.  In the vehicle assembly plant, product control is key.  Each of those components must have final specifications from their production operation which dovetail with those of other components when they are assembled.

      Printing is different.  Substrates/paper and colorant/ink of many different types are supplied to a printing press.  The paper and ink are put in the press, it is turned on, and through the use of an imaging technology those components are “transformed” into a printed product.  That is how value is added in this production operation.  Printing must use process control to ensure ink is placed accurately on paper during transformation.

      These are two examples of the common types of production and there are many variations.  By all means study the various techniques of how any manufacturer controls and improves quality.  But take a selective approach and you’ll be much more successful.  Approaches don’t apply equally across industries.