The process of continual improvement
The strategic objective of an enterprise is continual business process optimization and improvement with the aim to improve activities of an organization in order to provide profitability of it.
The process of improving repeats for remaining problems and also for development of objectives and making decisions on further business process optimization.
For assistance in involvement and awareness of employees of activities directed on improvement the management should consider the following actions:
- Creating of not very big groups with the opportunity of participants to choose a leader;
- Employees are able to manage working areas and to improve it;
- Increasing of knowledge, gaining of experience and developing of skills of employees as part of basic activities of organization in the sphere of quality management.
There are two basic approaches to implementation of a continual improvement of processes:
- Breakthrough projects leading to changing and optimization of business processes or to implementation of new ones; usually, multifunctional groups fulfill these objectives out of common activities;
- Step-to-step continual improvements, implemented by employees within the frames of existing processes.
Breakthrough processes usually contain the redesign of existing projects and include:
- Defining of aims and objectives and short description of a project on improvement;
- Analysis of existing process and opportunities of its improvement;
- Defining and planning of business process optimization;
- Implementation of improvements;
- Verification and validation of business process optimization;
- Evaluation of implemented improvements including drawing a lesson.
Breakthrough projects are effective and productive ways using project management methods. After changing a new plan of a project is the basis of continual management of a process.
Employees of a company are the best suppliers of new ideas on continual improvement of processes and often take part in working groups. Activities directed on step-by-step continual improvement of processes should be managed, in order to understand their consequences. Employees involved in implementation of improvement should have enough authorities, technical support and all necessary sources for changes connected with improvement.