Managing Process Improvement Projects

1. John Alexander Bowie

2.  Definitions
 Types of Process Improvement Projects
 Managing Process Improvement Projects
 Case Study: Tips for Managing Six Sigma
 Case Study: Rolls-Royce Inchinnan Manufacturing
Facility
 Case Study: Implementing and Managing a Lean Six
Sigma Culture in Biopharmaceuticals

3.  A Project is…
 A planned or proposed undertaking
 A collaborative enterprise, frequency involving
research or design, that is carefully planned to
achieve a particular aim
 To achieve defined objectives and goals
 Project Management is…
 The application of knowledge, skills,
tools, techniques throughout the
lifecycle of a project

4.  A Process is…
 a succession of things in order; sequence;
progression
 Examples range from…
 A manufacturing process to setting up a bank
account – and everything in-between!
 A Process Improvement Project is…
 A project with the aim of improving a process is
some ways
 For the customer: accuracy, timeliness, product
performance, cost, value
 For the company: Reducing error rates, resource
utilisation, unit cost, profit

5.  The below YouTube demonstrates the benefits of
process improvement

6.  Lean is about…
 Focus, removing waste, increasing customer value
 Smooth process flows, doing only those activities
that add customer value and eliminate activities that
don’t
 Introduction to Lean Manufacturing on YouTube…

7.  In Lean Thinking, the 7 wastes are
 Do not carry out unrequired activities
 Eliminate waiting time for people or information
 The movement of information, people or materials
in non-value adding
 Eliminate process which generate further processing
 Eliminate wastes associated with building up
inventory
 Avoid the waste of motion
 Continually strive to reduce the waste caused by
defects or mistakes

8.  Sigma is…
 Mathematical symbol for standard deviation
 The Sixth Sigma is the likelihood that only 3.4 out of
every 1 million data points will appear outside the
sixth standard deviation
 Six Sigma is…
 Focused on specific problems
 A structured analytical and logically sourced approach to
problem solving.
 A data driven methodology to understand and improve
processes

9.  This clip on YouTube is another good introduction to
what Six Sigma is…

10.  The key difference between Lean and Six Sigma is…
 Lean deals with material and information flow
between processes
 Six Sigma deals with reduction of variation within
each process step.
 Lean Six Sigma was then invented to
 Make Six Sigma into a framework for problem
solving
 Integrate Lean and Six Sigma to have a single
method which will allow superior results than each
method independently

11.  www.isixsigma.com || twitter.com/#!/iSixSigma
 Top management commitment is essential.
 Six Sigma is a cultural change programme and if the
top level management within a company or not
100% behind the project and understand the benefits
introducing Six Sigma into an organisation then the
process improvement project will not succeed. The
top management should be trained in Six Sigma first.
 All leaders should be trained as Six Sigma Champions.
 This allows more people within an organisation to
understand the benefits of Six Sigma and make sure
they ‘ask the right questions of Six Sigma
practitioners’.

12.  Include Six Sigma planning within the business operating plan.
 By including Six Sigma project savings into future plans
of the company, the organisation is buying into the
project and engaging the project to ensure it succeeds.
 Select the right consultant to train your Belts.
 It is important to remember that ‘you will be best trained
by a Six Sigma practitioner (Black Belt or Master Black
Belt) rather than an academic who will teach you only the
theory’. Investing in Black Belt training programmes for
employees takes time (4-5 months) and it is important to
make sure the right people deliver the training.

13.  Ensure the Return on Training investment is a least 20
times.
 This will ensure the financial viability of introducing
Six Sigma into the organisation is sound. It can be
done by ‘good project definition and correct
practitioner allocation’.
 Create a certification process.
 And make sure it is ‘rigorous and true’. This will
ensure that only candidates of the required standard
are certified and it maintains a minimum standard of
practitioner while allowing more employees to
become certified. Key stakeholders in the Six Sigma
project should sign on project certificates ‘declaring

14.  Get the movement going at the shop floor level.
 Don’t just have a few Black Belts or Green Belts in
the organisation working on projects all the time.
Have shop floor operators and supervisors trained
into the use of the tools and techniques of Six Sigma.
The will engage them into the process and allow
them to ‘own’ projects and make improvements on
their own. It is suggested that project leaders and
their team members are rewarded when they receive
certification (Black Belt, Green Belt etc). Other people
in the organisation should aspire to achieve
certification so it is important to instil this in
employees and certified candidates ‘should be
adequately compensated during their annual

15.  Develop a mentoring process.
 Ensure that new candidates are partnered with more
experience practitioners to ensure knowledge
exchange and guidance for new candidates. This
ensures that ‘course corrections are made regularly
and the projects get completed on time’.
 Ensure financial validation of projects.
 Ensure that the savings made of projects using Six
Sigma are recognised. Ensure the ‘project metrics
continue to be tracked after the project is declared
complete’. This will allow tracking of long term
financial benefits of introducing Six Sigma.

16.  Never allow Six Sigma to be classified as a Quality
Manager’s job.
 ‘A Quality Manager's role is distinct and s/he will
not be in position to manage the Six Sigma process
as for the entire business.’

17.  The next section of the material focuses on case studies
to provide information of how these process
improvement methodology projects are managed.

18.  Rolls-Royce Inchinnan
Manufacturing Facility
 Opened in 2004
 Manufactures aero
engine components
 Initially struggled to
manufacture
components correctly
 poor efficiency
 high costs

19.  A process improvement project was initiated
 Managed using large quantities of data to analyse
the process AND intellectual capability of employees

20. • Manufacture process improved dramatically over 4
years, currently manufacturing at 4.5σ and aiming for 6σ
 How was it successfully managed?
 High level manager buy in
 Buy in at shop floor level
 Financial validation of project insured

21.  Why were the critical factors in making the project a
success?
 Shop floor employee engagement
 Process automation
 Key engagement of shop floor workers into the
benefits of process automation
 Successful cost reduction through an increase in the
number of products manufactured Right First Time

22.  Implementing and Managing a Lean Six Sigma Culture
in Biopharmaceuticals
 This case study can be examined by listening to the key
points from the podcast below.

23.  Please attempt the quiz on odijoo to test your
knowledge on Case Study 2

24.  Implementing Six Sigma throughout Your End-to-End
Value Stream
 A podcast by Christopher Coole, a speaker at Lean Six
Sigma Process Improvement Seminar in January 2010.

25.  Please attempt the quiz on odijoo to check your
knowledge on case study 3