LenTech Process Improvement

LenTech Process Improvement



LenTech Process Improvement

Process definition

Often, new insights become apparent when LenTech see how tasks relate to a series of events. Building a task and event relationship is called Process Definition. A process is a planned series of actions that advances a material or procedure from one stage of completion to the next. It includes the steps and decisions involved in the way work is accomplished. Being able to understand and define the process has several advantages: (Smart, P.A, Maddern, H. & Maull, 2008)

LenTech can better understand how individual and group efforts affect other groups and individuals.

LenTech can discover barriers that exist between work groups. These barriers are obstacles that get in the way of cooperation and performance.

Work is accomplished through processes and we improve performance by improving processes. Examining a process can highlight a glaring problem that could easily be fixed.

The first step of process definition is to identify the boundaries. This is where the process begins and ends. The beginning of a process starts with a trigger that causes a specific action to be taken by a person, another process, or work group. The ending occurs when the results get passed on to another person, process, or work group.

The beginning trigger starts when someone performs an action on an input that they receive from a supplier (another work group, vendor, or person). The input can be physical, such as raw material, parts, a person to be interviewed, etc.; or information, such as a computer printout, request form, etc.

The ending trigger is when the results of the process is passed on to the customer (another work group, person, or outside customer). The output can be physical, such as a television set, new hire, etc.; or information, such as a typed letter, grant, etc. (Smart, P.A, Maddern, H. & Maull, 2008)

LenTech and ontinuous Process Improvement

Quality is a never ending quest and Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) is a never ending effort to discover and eliminate the main causes of problems. It accomplishes this by using small-steps improvements, rather than implementing one huge improvement. The Japanese have a term for this called "kaizen" which involves everyone, from the hourly workers to top-management. CPI means making things better. It is NOT fighting fires. Its goal is NOT to blame people for problems or failures...it is simply a way of looking at how we can do our work better. When we take a problem solving approach, we often never get to the root causes because our main goal is to put out the fire. But when we engage in process improvement, we seek to learn what causes things to happen and then use this knowledge to: (Smart, P.A, Maddern, H. & Maull, 2008)

Reduce variation.

Remove activities that have no value to the organization.

Improve customer satisfaction.

Process improvement is important as (Smart, P.A, Maddern, H. & Maull, 2008) showed that process account for about 80% of all problems while people account for the remaining 20%.

Problem and Recommended Solution Statement

This is the output that ...