Process improvement
Business processes are rarely as efficient and effective as they should be. Most businesses never re-evaluate their processes and continue the same process as before. Although this is not bad in itself, it can create a platform for mistakes to occur. And this is exactly the point where you should improve the business process.
What is business process improvement?
Business Process Improvement, while it does not really have a universally accepted definition, can be considered as the analysis, review and improvement of existing business processes. This work is done by mapping the business process, identifying inefficiencies, redesigning processes, and initial benchmarking.
In general, the main purpose of BPI is the following three things:
1. Reduce process time – Finding ways to make the process faster or more efficient. There are many ways it can be used, from eliminating useless practices to adopting new technology.
2. Improving output quality – creating a better product with the same input of resources. This objective focuses on finding steps during the process that negatively affect the final product and thus cause defects and errors.
3. Eliminate wastes – discover wasteful processes and eliminate them from the workflow. This goal may either help achieve the first 2 goals or simply improve overall productivity. If your team doesn’t have to do useless work, they can spend more time on things that create value for the organization.
Process improvement steps
step one: Process mapping
If you don’t know what processes are going on in your organization, how can you improve their efficiency and effectiveness?
Therefore, you should visualize them so that you can see the general outline of your processes. Business process mapping is a good way to understand how things work and find activities and processes that seem inefficient.
The most basic way you can do this is using pen and paper. With a few simple lines, you can create comprehensible diagrams for yourself, but this seems a bit old-fashioned. The best way to map the process is to use software.
Graphics software does exactly that, allowing you to digitally draw process diagrams.
On the other hand, there are powerful workflow programs that allow you to track and track your processes in a way that actually works. Using these software, you can have the following potential advantages together:
1- Full process tracking
With this diagram, you have a simple document of your process flow. On the other hand, with workflow software, you run processes at your true scale. You can see who’s working on what, who’s behind schedule, and…
2- Responsiveness and productivity
Since the entire process is tracked by the software, everyone knows what to do at any given time and in turn takes more responsibility for their work. This in turn leads to overall productivity and greater process efficiency.
3- Automation
Flow software usually comes with various automation tools that allow you to cut off any useless and dangerous processes (for example, sending an automated email), allowing your employees to focus on the tasks that matter.
Second step: analysis
Once the process map is prepared, you can start analyzing it. You can do this by asking yourself…
Are the steps of the process done more than what should be done?
If there are delays or lost times, what is the main cause?
What are the steps that have the greatest impact on product quality, and is there a way to make them more efficient?
Are some stages more financially demanding than others? Why and how?
You can also use a variety of business process improvement tools, such as the 5 Whys, as a framework for finding inefficiencies or problems.
The most important feature of 5 Whys is that you keep asking “why” questions until you discover the root cause of a problem. Once you get to the root cause of the problem, it’s much easier to come up with a solution.
The third step: re-engineering
Once you recognize the inefficiency in your old process, you need to figure out how to change it. And it definitely depends a lot on your situation, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.
However, there are several best practices you can follow…
Choose the right metrics for comparison – you want to compare your new process to the past in terms of efficiency, so you can mathematically and logically determine whether the new process is better or not.
Work with operational-level employees. There’s a good chance they’ll have an impact on what you’re looking to improve.
Think about the risks in the process in the long term and evaluate and analyze them. In some cases, your solution works wonders in the short term, but proves ineffective or costly in the long run.
Specify the exact scope of the changes. You need to know exactly what impact your solution will have, or what risks you are exposed to that you can avoid.
Perform a risk analysis. You can never predict the outcome with 100% accuracy. You should do a risk assessment for anything that might disrupt the work.
Implementation
Implementation is an important step in improving the business process using the ideas and analysis obtained. If this step is taken wrongly, you may incur more costs than the inefficient process of the organization imposed on you before.
The steps for a successful implementation are as follows:
1. To reduce the risk, implement changes on a small scale. Before making general changes in the organization, it is better to make changes on a small scale and examine the results and test new methods.
2. Obtaining the correct resources and defining the implementation steps
3. Notifying the stakeholders of the organization about the intended changes and then starting the implementation
Business process improvement methodologies
Process improvement methodologies help you apply a framework to your initiatives, some of the most popular process improvement methodologies:
Six Sigma
Six Sigma was first developed by Motorola engineers and is used to measure defects or nonconformities in a process. This method, in turn, can be used to keep the final product perfect.
Six Sigma is also used as an indicator of the capability level of a process. “Six Sigma process” is a method that causes only 3.4 defects out of a million failure opportunities.
To improve the process with six sigma methodology, specifically, DMAIC, which is one of the main tools under the name of six sigma, is used. which consists of 5 parts
Definition – Find an opportunity for advancement.
Measurement – Specify the metrics you want to measure.
Analysis – Discover any flaws or non-conformities in the process.
Improvement – Get rid of the aforementioned problems
Control – monitor the new process and make sure there are no new problems.
pure
While Six Sigma focuses on eliminating defects and creating better product quality, Lean aims to optimize the process itself as much as possible. For example, finding a low-value step in a process and eliminating it completely is actually an activity whose elimination increases employee productivity and has little effect on the final product.
This system was developed by Toyota as a tool to shorten the order-to-money cycle. Typically, lean process improvement steps include:
1. Determining value for the end customer
2. Mapping the process and identifying which steps are not creating any value
3. Eliminating steps that do not add value or changing them in a more optimal way
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 for other processes in the organization and repeat until the organization is sufficiently efficient.
It should be noted that in recent years, another very practical methodology called Lean Six Sigma has emerged, which is a combination of Six Sigma and Lean philosophies.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
It is a method that originated in the 1950s, but gained popularity in the early 1980s.
As with Lean, the primary priority is to provide value to the end customer. However, the difference is that TQM looks at the whole organization as a process instead of improving each process alone like the lean methodology. The main idea here is that every department (from engineering to marketing) in the company should be optimized with customer values in mind.
However, what really makes TQM shine is that it involves the entire organization. It is not just the responsibility of top management to drive change, but it is an initiative at all levels of the organization, down to the lowest operational level of the organization, everyone is looking to create value.
Process improvement consulting
Now you have a good view of the efficiency of the process. If you are wondering whether your organization’s processes are costly and inefficient, you can contact our consultants at Noor Consulting Engineers Group (Modirfa) and get free advice in this area.
free consultation
Do you need a free consultation? contact us 02188764867 – 02188761795
There is definitely always a way to perform better, if you are looking to reduce process costs, create value and gain competitive value, we advise you to improve your processes with us.