Ranking Continual Improvement Projects

[beaser3]

Hi,

My company has recently started putting increased emphasis on continual improvement projects. All employees are encouraged to bring forward suggestions for what they feel could be improved. We have a lot of good suggestions and they are continuing to come in every week! Some are process related and some are product related. With the time and resources we have available it's not realistic to start all of the projects so some have had to wait. I am wondering if anyone has a "tool" to use to help evaluate which projects should get addressed first. I was thinking of trying to create something similar to an RPN calculation that breaks down severity, occurrence and detection in a way that makes sense to CI but thought I would see if anyone else already has another suggestion.


Thanks in advance for any input.

Lynn

 

[Ninja]

In my experience, the most important factor in continual improvement is a Champion.

Do your first cull by area managers based on what has the biggest ROI (not necessarily tangible return).
Then use the short list to shop for Champions.

If you have the typical number of Champions...you'll be at 2-3 projects pretty fast.

Projects that are great ideas, with no one to lead the charge...they won't get done no matter what you try until someone leads the charge. Find your Champions first, then list out what they want to Champion.

 

[Wes Bucey]

Congratulations to you and the bosses for implementing a continual improvement initiative! You are absolutely correct in wanting a process to prioritize the actions taken on the suggestions.

A little background might be helpful: Early in my career (mid 20th century), a big buzz word was "Kaizen" coined and made famous by Masaaki Imai. My good friend, Akio Miura, of Tokyo (who held EVERY ASQ quality certification) often spoke disparagingly of the process as it was actually implemented at Toyota and other industrial giants in Japan. The problem they created, according to Akio, was everyone in the organization clamoring to be recognized for their suggestions, however small or large, regardless if they actually were more efficient in the process as a whole. Akio spent a large part of his career as a quality consultant in helping these companies and ALL their employees understand and implement Deming's theory of SoPK (System of Profound Knowledge.) Armed with the knowledge of how the processes worked together with internal and external suppliers and customers included in the mix, the employees coming up with suggestions were better able to frame the suggestion in context of how it would provide a net benefit to the organization. This allowed the powers that be holding the purse strings a better handle on where improvement expenditures would provide the biggest bang for the buck. Alas, my contemporary, Akio, died about two years ago, but I hope I have maintained his memory by passing on this tidbit: ENLIST THE HELP OF THE SUGGESTERS BY ARMING THEM WITH THE KNOWLEDGE TO SEE HOW ANY CHANGE IN THE PROCESS AFFECTS THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE PROCESSS.

Hi,

My company has recently started putting increased emphasis on continual improvement projects. All employees are encouraged to bring forward suggestions for what they feel could be improved. We have a lot of good suggestions and they are continuing to come in every week! Some are process related and some are product related. With the time and resources we have available it's not realistic to start all of the projects so some have had to wait. I am wondering if anyone has a "tool" to use to help evaluate which projects should get addressed first. I was thinking of trying to create something similar to an RPN calculation that breaks down severity, occurrence and detection in a way that makes sense to CI but thought I would see if anyone else already has another suggestion.


Thanks in advance for any input.

Lynn

 

[David-D]

I'd encourage you to utilize a project Selection matrix to allow you to evaluate multiple projects/opportunities against (weighted) criteria identified for your organization. I like to have one set of totals for the benefits and another for the risk/effort. That way you can plot all the projects on a benefits-and-effort (b&e) plot to help you visualize what projects to focus on.

I couldn't quickly find a good project selection matrix online but here's a sample b&e plot:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...xUXjLcNsiH9qgOA_w&sig2=WbLQDsrgBn6Z1ioCmjHOpg

David

 

[Mikael]

I'd encourage you to utilize a project Selection matrix to allow you to evaluate multiple projects/opportunities against (weighted) criteria identified for your organization. ...
David

Or could be like the Importance-Performance matrix (Slack).

 

[Mikael]

In another thread in this section Jen Kirley links to an OEE paper:

(broken link removed)