Ameliorate Before You Automate
Business process improvement, coupled with automation, makes for a good one-two punch to P&L maladies. The order in which the two are applied, however, can have profound implications in terms of an organization’s overall benefit from applying the two. Process improvement makes processes more efficient and reduces redundancy and variation, while automation simply increases process […]
Voice of the Customer
Nearly every business process improvement methodology, including Lean Six Sigma, places huge emphasis on a concept known as voice of the customer (VOC). Many years of working within the business process improvement arena, however, have taught me that very few people have a clear understanding of exactly what this term means, how to obtain it, […]
Don’t Be Your Own Root Cause
In classical process improvement vernacular, root cause is the primary factor that may have sparked a chain of events resulting in the manifestation of a defect or problem. Lean Six Sigma and numerous other process improvement methodologies focus on identifying and correcting root cause. The thinking is that by addressing secondary and tertiary causes, a […]
Lean Six Sigma…Not Just for Manufacturing Anymore
More and more organizations within non-manufacturing industries are becoming increasingly aware that the correct application of the Lean Six Sigma methodology can benefit them as much as (if not more than) it has proven to benefit organizations within the manufacturing industry. In fact, one does not have to look far to find case studies that […]
The Value of Cross-functional Process Improvement Teams
We reside in an uncanny universe; one in which the existence of one thing is typically signified by the absence of another (i.e. light versus dark, hot versus cold, wet versus dry, etc.). Where perspectives are concerned, the proverbial glass is shockingly half full at the very same time that it is half empty–it just […]
Who’s Watch-ing Now?
I went golfing the other day and got paired up with another single. During the course of our round, the gentleman with whom I was paired asked me what I did for a living. I told him that I was a Business Process Improvement Consultant. He informed me that he was retired, but had worked […]
Business Process Improvement Counter-measures
In last week’s post, I touched on the point that Business Process Improvement (BPI) is best measured in terms of its contribution to an organization’s net income. That sounds easy, right? Well, think again. As is the case with nearly all metrics, if the BPI program metric is ill-defined, it can drive dysfunctional behaviors and […]
Dis-continuous Improvement?
Recently, there has been increasing chatter regarding how process improvement programs may have adversely effected corporate profitability. I read an article published in Forbes magazine in July 2013 in which the author even goes so far as to suggest that continuous improvement can be hazardous to an organization’s health. He then cites losses by Japan’s […]
Correlation Versus Causality
The other day, I overheard a conversation where two individuals were discussing traffic conditions and car accidents. One individual made the statement, “There are a lot more car accidents when traffic is particularly heavy. So if you want to avoid a car accident, do not drive during rush hour.” Though I was eavesdropping, this statement […]
The Art of the Start: Design for Six Sigma
While many astute businessmen and businesswomen are familiar with the Six Sigma methodology used to effectively improve existing business processes, very few are familiar with (or have even heard of) the Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) methodology used to effectively design and create new business processes from scratch. This became blatantly apparent to me during […]