Keeping ahead of the game: Improvement
When companies are not content with the state of
current operations, they look ahead in the future to
improve them. This improvement can be can be
approached in different ways –
Radical (Breakthrough) improvement – doing
something completely new and innovative to
improve the operations.
Continuous Improvement – Regular
investigation of the operations can reveal
loopholes and improvements should be made
to it continuously.
Improvement Cycles
Popular Frameworks for Improvement –
1. Total Quality Management (TQM) – this
approach puts quality at the heart of the
operations and is very customer focused. It
includes improving every person at the
organization and aims at getting things right
the ‘first time’.
2. Lean -- this approach puts waste reduction as
primary means to improve operations. This will
be explained further.
3. Business process re-engineering (BPR) – this
focuses at removing non-value adding
processes and radical changes.
The Lean Philosophy –
When companies are not content with the state of
current operations, they look ahead in the future to
improve them. This improvement can be can be
approached in different ways –
Radical (Breakthrough) improvement – doing
something completely new and innovative to
improve the operations.
Continuous Improvement – Regular
investigation of the operations can reveal
loopholes and improvements should be made
to it continuously.
Improvement Cycles
Popular Frameworks for Improvement –
1. Total Quality Management (TQM) – this
approach puts quality at the heart of the
operations and is very customer focused. It
includes improving every person at the
organization and aims at getting things right
the ‘first time’.
2. Lean -- this approach puts waste reduction as
primary means to improve operations. This will
be explained further.
3. Business process re-engineering (BPR) – this
focuses at removing non-value adding
processes and radical changes.
The Lean Philosophy –
