Process Improvement Application and Quality Improvements - Assignment Example

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT APPLICATION ASSIGNMENT Introduction Quality improvements comprise the use of qualitative and quantitative methods to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and safety of delivery of service processes and systems, in addition to the performance of the employees in delivering products and services. The basic underlying concept of improvement is that a system that is not changed will continue to produce the same results. For instance in health care, improvement science stresses changes in health care service delivery systems and processes that will allow implementation of high impact, and evidence based implementations to achieve better results. Most organizations use the quality improvement story, mostly the quality improvement tools to improve service delivery and systems. For example, most hospitals and clinics oftenly collect and use data about the health services being delivered, and statistically analyze the data to report to health authorities. Quality improvement methods are designed to study processes and help in improvement of systems. For instance in health care, students will be familiar with the goal of scientific research, but this only helps in discovering new knowledge but they are less familiar with quality improvement which is aimed at changing performance. Recently medical students are always encouraged to join teams undertaking improvement activities. Quality improvement activities require managers’ to collect and analyze data generated by processes used in the activities involved and measure imrovements.for example, a student cannot study changes about his study habits and the environment he lives in affects him. He will need to data to analyze his study habits problems, and decide the information he needs to measure improvements made by him. Measurement is an important component of quality improvement because it forces managers to look at what they do and how they do it. They commonly use the total quality management tools such as; flowcharts, cause and effect diagrams, Pareto charts and run charts. In the past years, quality improvement methods have been emphasized. This includes the identification of a process that has less than ideal outcomes, attaching measures to key performance attributes, analyzing devise approaches, integrating redesigned approaches the process and having checks to determine if the process was successful. Apart from total quality management, other quality improvement strategies are; international organization for standardization ISO 9000, Zero defects, Six Sigma and Toyota production system. The quality improvement story is steps by step procure of improving business processes. This is summarized in the table below; Steps Description 1. Develop Theme Problem definition or opportunity that can be exploited. It should be fairly specific, like "Reduce the number of defects found in A given Product the customers." 2. Schedule A time-phased plan to complete these ten steps. 3. Assess Current Condition Determination of current process effectiveness and efficiency based On facts. This measures the process, and Requires making of correct metrics. Effectiveness considers how good the customers’ needs are met by the process, while efficiency is the Consideration of costs. Effectiveness is measured by: failure Rate, number of defects, process capability, warranty claims, etc. Efficiency measures could be; re-work ratio, overhead and scrap costs. 4. Perform Cause- Effect Analysis Seeks what needs to be changed in order to improve the situation. Here the Ishikawa Diagram is useful. 5. Verify Cause Designed as a check to identify problems of the Present conditions. Statistical design of experiments is a powerful tool that helps in identification of importance of every factor. 6. Formulate Countermeasures Changes formulated will act as factors for improving the Process. These could be changes from suppliers inputs like the composition of purchases of solder, solder temperature changes, and substituting the Flow soldering for the of hand soldering. 7. Assess Countermeasure Effectiveness A test is done as countermeasures to confirm that expected improvements does indeed happen 8. Consider Total Evaluation Considers looks at other effects that the countermeasures may have. It Ensures that a promising countermeasure does not become a problem in the future. 9. Standardize The countermeasures are implemented, and documentations made, as employees are trained on how to use the process that is revised. 10. Recommend Future Actions Listing themes that have been recommended for new improvement. This could be more improvements to the process just changed, improvements to new processes that were brought to mind during the Effort. The plan-do-check-act cycle also known as the system for developing critical thinking, this was made popular by Dr. Edward Deming. For example in Toyota it is known as “building people before building cars.” Other companies such as Toyota that use lean production propose that having an engaged, problem solving workforce using PDCA is better because the company is able to innovate and stay ahead of competition through thorough problem solving and numerous innovations. Plan is when you recognize an opportunity and plan a change. Do is where the change is tested. Where a small scale study is carried out. Checks reviews the test, analyzes the results and tries to identify what you have learned. Act is when action is taken based on what is learnt in the study step. After completing the study step, and the change implemented was not successful, make it a point to add what was previous learnt into your wider changes. Make improvements from what you have learned and repeat the cycle again. In order to ensure success with quality improvements, the organization needs to focus on customer needs, meet customer requirements and exceed the expectations of customers. This is attained when the organizations knows both their internal and external customers and ensure that they are both satisfied. Leaders in the organization should establish a unity of purpose in which people can be fully involved in establishing the organization’s quality objective. There is need to have continual improvement, factual approach to decision making based on data analysis and information. Systems approach to management which involves understanding and managing all interrelated processes as a system. Involvement of people is also important and so is the process approach. The Pearl River, NY school District, incorporates the PDCA cycle to define their work processes, and is mostly used in the boardroom and in the classroom too. PDCA is the overall structure which they use for strategic planning, in setting goals and evaluation for staff, designing and delivery of curriculum, providing support services to students, and using in classroom instructions. Diagram 1 shows their “A+ Approach to Classroom Success.”It shows a continuous cycle for designing and delivery of classroom instructions. It is an activity that is built in the work process. Diagram 1: Plan–do–check–act Plan. This A+ Approach starts with a “plan” step called “analyze.” In this step, the needs of the students’ are supposed to be analyzed by looking at a range of data that is within the Pearl River’s electronic data “warehouse,” from scores on grades to standardized tests performance. Data can be analyzed based on grades, gender, individual or any other subgroup. A separate process for analysis data can be used since PDCA does not give specifics on data analysis. A separate data analysis process (Diagram 2) is used here and also in other processes within the organization. Diagram 2: Pearl River: analysis process Do. This A+ Approach continues with two “do” steps: 1. “Align” looks at how national and state standards and requirements will be assessed. The teaching staff plans their curriculum by perusing through what is taught in other disciplines, what was taught earlier and later in the grade levels so as to have clear continuity of instructions in the student’s schooling period. Teachers as well set individual goals to improve how they instruct students and where the “analyze” step showed any gaps. 2. The second “do” step is, in the illustration, called “act.” The instruction is provided that is in line with the curriculum and teaching goals, and within parameters that are set, there are variances in delivery of instructions and learning methods in accordance with the student’s learning rate. Check. This “check” step is called “assess” in this illustration. There are continuous formal and informal assessments, from everyday teacher “dipstick” assessments to yearly standardized tests and six weeks progress reports. Teachers access electronic database to get comparative data that they use to identify trends, as students who require special attention taken care of through a child study team. Throughout the year, corrections such as change of teaching methods, direct teacher mentoring and re-instructions are taken into account, if assessments depict that students are not learning as expected. The input for the next step in the cycle is the assessment data. Act. In this illustration the “act” step is called “standardize.”Teaching methods will only be considered to be standardized when goals are met. Mostly the teachers do interact in formal and informal settings. This becomes the input for the “analyze” phase. References Omachonu, V. & Ross, J. (2004). Principles of Total Quality. Retrieved April 13, 2013, from books.google.com/books/about/Principles_of_Total_Quality.html?id. Read More