How to Build an Effective Industry CPI Program
Many American companies have adopted the Continuous Process Improvement model that Japanese industry introduced to the United States in the 1980s. With CPI methods, sometimes called "Kaizen" in Japan and "lean business systems" in the U.S., companies are flexible enough to change on the fly to eliminate waste and improve efficiency. The organization values ideas for improvement from the bottom up, welcoming ideas from expert analysts and line workers alike about how to streamline the way people perform a job. Many different industries can utilize Kaizen theory to achieve continuous process improvement through analysis, design, implementation and evaluation.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Observe the process. Watch for downtime, waste and extra steps. No problem is too small to note. When a major automobile manufacturer adopted CPI, it noted that an employee returned from lunch two minutes late one day, and told the employee that he hurt the team and should not be late again without good reason. In addition to observation, strategists use brainstorming sessions, suggestions from employees and customers, surveys and process flow charts to identify areas for improvement.
-
2
Design a solution for each problem. Solutions should improve efficiency and be easy to implement. For instance, if analysts observed an assembly line slow down because one employee fell behind performing her process step, a short-term solution may be for employees down the line to help her catch up instead of standing by waiting for her to catch up. A long-term solution addresses the issue of why the employee fell behind in the first place. If, for example, a part on the assembly line did not conform to specifications, analysts analyze why the part is non-conforming and design a solution that eliminates non-conforming parts or at least prevents them from proceeding down the line.
-
-
3
Implement the solution. When the auto manufacturer adopted CPI, it created a method---a cord workers could pull---so that any worker could stop the production line when the worker needed more time to meet quality standards, such as ensuring that a part conformed to specifications. Workers routinely stopped production up to 100 times per day, yet taking extra time when workers needed it enabled the company to eliminate the production of non-conforming parts. Short breaks in production improving assembly time down the line and
improved the company's quality ratings.
-
4
Evaluate the effectiveness of the solution by measuring the variable that it was meant to improve. Count the number of non-conforming parts that workers produce after they install the cord that stops the line. Count the number of times workers pull the cord. Count the company's quality and performance ratings after products produced after the change enter the stream of commerce.
-
1
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Creatas/Getty Images
