How to Implement a
Process Improvement Change Initiative

October 8, 2008

Hi MBBP Subscribers, 

Cosmologists tell us the physical universe is constantly expanding… so too is the universe of business process management. “Process” as we know it today had its origins in the reengineering movement of the early 1990s.  

But reengineering began with a very limited domain: it centered on the redesign of back-office processes and was principally employed by large companies in dire circumstances. The process program and process management have extended dramatically in all these dimensions since then. 

This week’s article address process management today. If you and your company are having a hard time retaining gains won in process improvement, you’ll want to read this week’s article.

The new article appears below.

Have a nice day, and stay connected.

  

Bill Gaw

Business Basics, LLC
6003 Dassia Way
Oceanside, CA 92056
bg@bbasicsllc.com 
760-945-5596

Process Management

All work is process work. Today, we recognize that transactional processes like order fulfillment and procurement are just part of the landscape. Innovation, brand management, and demand creation - among others - are also processes, but more creative and developmental in nature.

Typically longer in cycle time and lower in frequency, these processes are often not yet ready for redesign; in fact, they may never have been designed in the first place. Research has found that applying the discipline of process to these domains does result in dramatic performance improvements, but that somewhat different techniques and perspectives are needed to do so.

Research has also explored the power of viewing management work through the process lens - strategic planning, risk management, and performance management, to name a few. In addition, many companies have achieved huge improvement in support activities from IT to HR by viewing them as enabling processes rather than as functions. 

Research is for everyone. Process is about work, and last time we checked every organization performs work. Process has now been enthusiastically and successfully adopted by every industry - health care is but the latest - as well as by companies of all sizes; my mantra is that process is needed by any organization whose personnel can not all sit around a kitchen table together.

Public sector organizations - from local school districts to giant agencies of the U.S. government - have found :that, with only a few modifications, what works for private companies works for them as well. Nor is process only for organizations in trouble. Enterprises facing major change find that focusing on their processes gives them a handle on responding to change, and industry leaders find that creating world-class processes is a powerful deterrent to potential challenges from competitors and an antidote to corporate complacency and sclerosis. 

Process touches everything. From its origins in workflow redesign, process has grown to imbue and reshape virtually every aspect of how an enterprise is managed: job designs, HR policies, training and education, management roles, metrics, IT systems, culture, leadership, governance, and more.

Moreover, a wide range of transformation initiatives - from globalization to integrated software implementation - have now revealed themselves to have process at their core. The way to integrate and leverage them is by managing them all under a process umbrella. 

An expanding universe demands an ever-expanding knowledge base. Any fixed body of knowedge quickly becomes inadequate or obsolete. By exposing additional people on a regular basis to a knowledge curriculum, organizations can ensure that their knowledge base does not grow stale.  Organizations that do not ride the leading edge of expanding knowledge risk becoming "wan-a-be leaders."

Bill Gaw's Triple-Step, World Class Lean Manufacturing Training Program

If you and your company need help in increasing speed, improving quality, eliminating non-value-added cost, and creating a fun work environment, may I suggest my "Triple-Step, World Class, Lean Manufacturing Training Program.". As a MBBP subscriber you can purchase this training program at a 47% discount. To review the details, take 5-minutes and simply click on the below link

World Class Lean Manufacturing

"ShowTime!" The Manufacturing Simulation Game
MRP vs. Lean Simulation Exercises

ShowTime, the manufacturing simulation game, demonstrates the benefits of pull manufacturing and manufacturing cells (lean Manufacturing) versus push/batch manufacturing. The game compares batch or push manufacturing techniques (traditional manufacturing) to one piece pull manufacturing using sequential production. It shows how quality and productivity improve while reducing WIP inventory, scrap, rework, and floor space required. The game has been designed for 6-8 participants with unlimited observers. It is based upon each participant taking an active role in running a mini-production line where ‘real’ products are manufactured.

Manufacturing Simulation Game