Key facts
- Purpose: remove waste, delay, defects and safety risk from a defined process.
- Scope: one process at a time, with a clear start, end and owner.
- Common methods: PDCA, DMAIC, kaizen, A3 problem solving and value stream mapping.
- Output: a measured gain and an updated standard work document or SOP.
What are the steps of process improvement?
- Choose the process. Pick one with a measure that matters, such as lead time, scrap or near misses.
- Map the current state. Walk the process with the people who do it and record each step, wait and handover.
- Find the causes. Use data and root cause analysis to see why the problem happens.
- Test a change. Trial a countermeasure on a small scale and compare the result with the baseline.
- Standardise and share. Write the better method into standard work, train the team and copy it to similar areas.
Which process improvement method should you use?
| Method | Best for |
|---|---|
| PDCA or kaizen | Small, frequent problems the team can fix within days |
| A3 | Problems that need a structured one-page story and leader coaching over a few weeks |
| DMAIC or Lean Six Sigma | Complex variation problems where data must prove the cause |
| Value stream mapping | Flow problems that cross several departments |
How is process improvement different from continuous improvement?
Process improvement is a single effort aimed at one process. Continuous improvement is the ongoing habit of running those efforts across the whole organisation, every day, so the gains keep adding up. A business can finish one process improvement project and stop; continuous improvement means the next one is always under way, usually raised in daily tier meetings.
Example
Picture a food packing line that loses around 40 minutes a shift to label jams. The team walks the changeover and finds each shift loads the label rolls differently. They trial a one-page loading standard for two weeks, jams fall sharply, and the standard goes into the line checklist and onto the other packing lines.