Essay: Business process improvement

Introduction & Background:

My topic for dissertation is Business process improvement. Some people call it as Business process change, some calls it Business process reengineering. In this topic we are going to study about how to change or improve different processes in the organisation. Many new improvement techniques have been introduced from past decades like Continues quality improvement (CQI), Total quality management (TQM), Six Sigma etc. (USING SIX SIGMA FOR PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT IN BUSINESS CURRICULUM: Anil Kukreja; Joe M Ricks Jr; Jean A Meyer, Performance Improvement; Feb 2009). But I am going to focus on Six Sigma study for quality improvement and will be discussing about how the companies are adopting it now days, why are they implementing it and are been adopted positively or not. Many of these techniques are used for developing new processes whereas many of them talks about how to upgrade or improve the existing processes of an organisation. There will talk about reengineering, business process change, what kinds of changes are required, why the changes are required, how they can be implemented, how they needs to be tested and these kinds of activities. Because it’s not easy to adopt any kind of change we will study about people who will get affected from it and what can be done to make the change successful.

Aims and Objective:

The main Aim of this study is to apply changes in organisation successfully by knowing which change is important for their business to survive in the industry. I will be working on Six Sigma approach for the quality improvement. “An important problem in business has now been how to implement Six Sigma at small sized companies. Many large companies are beginning to mandate Six Sigma to their supply base (smaller manufacturing company) as a condition of future business. This is a problem because Six Sigma implementation can require millions of dollars investment, dedication of many resources and training of many employees in a business. Many small companies do not have enough time or financial resources to invest in long-term benefits of Six Sigma.”(Six Sigma at Small Manufacturing Companies, Yewande Adeyemi, MS University of Pittsburg, 2005). Now as we have said that Six Sigma approach is required to improve quality of a business process but not every company can adopt this approach because of many problems i.e. time required, financial factors, culture clashes, knowing if this is the right time to change or not and many other factors. We will be discussing these factors with their problems, cause of problems and their solutions. All this study will be done by keeping the quality factor in mind because at the end it will affect customers of the business and no business can survive without their customers.

Literature review:

Many companies are doing Business improvement process/ Business process change/ Business process reengineering these days and they are doing it on continues basis or periodic base. Because this has become a need for every organisation now a days to improve their processes, to reduce defects in production, increase efficiency, proper utilization of resources and all other factors effecting their business. Six Sigma is playing a vital role in this sector as well due to which many companies have applied this tool to enhance their organisation. “Nearly 60% of all corporate Six Sigma initiatives failed to yield desired results, according to Parveen Gupta , a noted author on methodology and master Six Sigma belt who was been involved in Six Sigma since it’s inception in 1980’s. there is a raising concern across industry sectors regarding the failure of many Six Sigma and lean projects”. (BEHAVIOR TESTS SIX SIGMA Christopher Del Angel; Christina Pritchard, Industrial Engineer; Aug 2008; 40, 8;). “Six Sigma project can fail some times as well but there are reasons behind it as well which can be:

1. The expert isn’t really an expert.
2. Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma tools are used to solve every problem –
3. The company does not devote enough resources
4. The timeline expectation is too short
5. Using the name Lean but not the principles
6. The business is beyond repair”

(6 Reasons Why Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma Fails

By Carl Wright, Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carl_Wright)

And many other reasons are there as well. So it’s really important to apply this kind of technique with proper research done forehand. In fact this approach can get fit in evey kind of organisation i.e. may be large or small. “Results show that there are apparent challenges in Six Sigma deployment regardless of company size. However, the benefits of Six Sigma deployment at small manufacturing companies were very apparent. Through the research it was found that many small manufacturing companies have the capacity to implement successful Six Sigma programs. Recommendations for further study and an increased research population is also suggested for future research”. (An Analysis of Six Sigma at Small vs. Large manufacturing companies, Yewande Adeyemi, 2003). Change can be implementing a new activity/process or might be introducing a new activity/process. So focus needs to go on all these factors which will get affected by change and the one’s which will help to move them easily across the organisation. This study says : “Customers not only demand higher levels of Quality in new products, but also demand the latest innovations. Continuing market Micro-segmentation has dramatically reduced single product volumes and slashed allowable investment levels. Despite these difficulties, a steady stream of high quality products effectively delivered to the customer is a pre-requisite for a competitive enterprise. To meet these challenges companies try to apply innovative practices to new product development (NPD)” (Innovative new product development), Paulo Augusto Cauchick Miguel, Department of Production Engineering, Polytechnic School, University of Sa� o Paulo (USP), Sa� o Paulo, Brazil). This is the most important aspect of every business to stay in competition for which they have to perform consistently. And for this they need consistence growth plans which will tend to some changes at the end because every industry is changing according to their customer’s needs these days.

Methodology (outline for project):

The methodology I am going to use for my dissertation is which companies have implemented Six Sigma to improve their processes, when they have used it, why they have acquired this methodology and have they been successful in doing it.” Motorola’s quality journey started in 1981, when a goal to improve quality ten times in five years was established. In reviewing performance about five years later, the company recognized a need to establish more aggressive goals to maintain a leading position within the industry. Motorola recognized there was a need for a higher rate of

improvement. Based on the customer feedback, market analysis, and benchmarking

studies, a new quality benchmark was established. The Six Sigma was born, and a new meaning to quality was defined. Based on the reality in manufacturing, use of control charts, and application of the “central limit” theorem, the Six Sigma corresponded to 3.4 parts per million. It is slightly more than “Zero Defects” however, it is close to perfection. So, the Six Sigma is not perfection, but it is virtual perfection — an almost perfect work”( Six Sigma — It Works !, An overview of the basics of the Six Sigma methodology and its implementation approach, By Praveen Gupta, Published in July 1999 issue of CircuiTree). Actually Six Sigma methodology was first implemented by Motorola in 1981 and that was the time when this kind of “improvement culture” has begun. After this many companies have adopted these kinds of quality measures to improve their process, way of doing work like Total quality management (TQM), Continues improvement process (CIP) etc. Japanese used “Kaizen” for this which actually means “change for the better” or “improvement”.

Conclusion

Six Sigma methodology is important for every company for improvement and many of them are adopting it. But some of them could not implement it completely due to external and internal barriers. Although it is expensive and time consuming process to choose but is still effective for many companies. So it will not be incorrect to say that Six Sigma is actually one of the best approach to adopt for the quality and process improvement.