This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Quality Magazine logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Quality Magazine logo
  • Home
  • The Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Digital Edition
    • Archives
    • How To Guide
    • Industry News
    • Subscribe
  • Web Exclusives
    • Blogs
    • NDT Exclusives
    • Quality Exclusives
    • Vision & Sensors
  • New Products
  • Channels
    • Management
    • Measurement
    • NDT
    • Quality 101
    • Software
    • Test & Inspection
    • Vision & Sensors
  • Markets
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Electronics
    • Energy
    • Green Manufacturing
    • Medical
    • Plastics
  • More
    • Leadership 100 Survey
    • Plant of the Year
    • Professional of the Year
    • Job Board
    • White Papers
    • Quality Store
    • Software Downloads
    • eCards
    • Product Spotlights
    • Industry Links
    • Sponsor Insights
    • Market Research
  • Multimedia
    • eNewsletter
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • Showcases
    • Image Galleries
    • Interactive Spotlights
  • Events
    • IMTS
    • Event Calendar
    • Quality Show
  • InfoCenters
    • Manage Quality, Risk & Compliance
    • Material Science Quality within Microscopy
    • Modern Quality Control with SPC
    • Process Control in Manufacturing
  • Directories
    • Buyers Guide
    • NDT Sourcebook
    • V&S Sourcebook
    • Take a Tour
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
Home » Blogs » Quality Blog » Shifting the Paradigm: Aligning Improvement Projects with Business Financials for Whole-Business Benefits

Forrest W. Breyfogle III is founder and CEO of Smarter Solutions Inc. (Austin, TX). For more information, e-mail forrest@smartersolutions.com, call (512) 918-0280 or visit www.smartersolutions.com.

Shifting the Paradigm: Aligning Improvement Projects with Business Financials for Whole-Business Benefits

Forrest W. Breyfogle
April 3, 2012
Forrest Breyfogle
11 Comments
Reprints


A previous blog, Strategic planning: Issues and Resolution , described issues with the traditional strategic planning process and provided an alternative approach using the roadmap in Figure 1, where strategy creation is step number five, not one.

With this IEE system, strategies are created where there is an alignment to the financials and their improvement (i.e., step 4) with a strategic-statement wording that leads to projects that benefit the enterprise as a whole.



Figure 1: Integrated Enterprise Excellence (IEE) Business Management System1



With typical process improvement programs, such as Lean Six Sigma and Total Quality Management (TQM), there often becomes a hunt for process improvement projects that are to be conducted. Often with these traditional process improvement efforts the following occur:

  • Identified projects are in silos that do not benefit the enterprise as a whole.
  • Improvement project efforts often fall off people’s plates and do not timely get completed, if at all.
  • Process owners are not asking for performance-metric-enhancement improvement projects to be executed in their areas.
  • Defined improvement projects are not structurally aligned with the enterprise’s strategies and the financials.
  • Completed improvement projects and kaizen events do not have a demonstration of how the projects positively moved an organization’s measurement needle with a quantification of the tangible benefit of the effort.
  • Process improvement practitioners often are one of the first to get laid off when times get tough for an organization.

    These issues are overcome with the IEE system, where high potential areas are identified in step 6, so that owners of the 30,000-foot-level metrics that need improvement are asking/demanding timely completion of projects in their area, which are to enhance their reported scorecard’s performance. (See blog Applying 30,000-foot-level predictive metrics to business scorecards .

    To be effective, these metrics need an automated system for updating the predictive-scorecard charts so that everyone can readily see how their (and other) performance metrics are performing on an on-going basis relative to the needs of the business. One approach to accomplish this automatic predictive scorecard updating is through the Enterprise Performance Reporting System (EPRS). Improvements to a process is demonstrated when its 30,000-foot-level statistical-time-series tracking chart transitions to a new, enhanced level of performance.

    As part of the IEE system, an enterprise improvement plan (EIP) is an effective means to identify process improvement projects that positively impact the financials, as illustrated in Figure 2. The column titles in this figure align with steps 4-7 of the 9-step roadmap.



  • Figure 2: Example Enterprise Improvement Plan (EIP)1



    Everyone knows that organizations need to improve in order to survive; however, what is often not considered is where process improvement efforts should focus so that the enterprise as a whole achieves its maximum benefit from these efforts and projects are completed in a timely fashion. The IEE system addresses these needs.

    References:
    1. Breyfogle, F. W., 2008. Integrated Enterprise Excellence Volume II – Business Deployment: A Leader’s Guide for Going Beyond Lean Six Sigma and the Balanced Scorecard

    Blog Topics

    Shifting the Paradigm

    Jim's Gems

    Steve Adams: Operational Strategies

    Recent Comments

    I simply want to tell you that I...

    This is important, though it's necessary to help...

    I wrote about a similar issue, I give...

    Your texts on this subject are correct, see...

    This is exciting, nevertheless it is vital for...

    Forrest W. Breyfogle III is founder and CEO of Smarter Solutions Inc. (Austin, TX). For more information, e-mail forrest@smartersolutions.com, call (512) 918-0280 or visit www.smartersolutions.com.

    You must login or register in order to post a comment.

    Report Abusive Comment

    Subscribe For Free!
    • Print & Digital Edition Subscriptions
    • eNewsletters
    • Online Registration
    • Subscription Customer Service
    • Mobile Help

    More Videos

    Popular Stories

    Lean manufacturing

    Lean In to 5S

    ASNT

    ASNT Annual Conference Brings NDT to Las Vegas

    RoyalPower

    Royal Power Solutions Opens Innovation Center

    Automation in manufacturing

    Automated Metrology: Manufacturing Trend of the Future

    EdmundsED

    Edmund Optics Announces 2019 Educational Award, Norman Edmund Award Recipients

    Quality Leadership 100 Survey

    Poll

    Topics to Talk About

    What topics would you like to see Quality cover more?
    View Results Poll Archive

    Products

    Quality Brain Teasers: Real World Challenges to Build Your Manufacturing Skills (ebook)

    Quality Brain Teasers: Real World Challenges to Build Your Manufacturing Skills (ebook)

    Assessments and Training in the following areas...

    See More Products

    SoftwareDownloads

    Quality Magazine

    Quality December 2019

    2019 December

    Check out the December 2019 edition of Quality: Quality 4.0 for medical device manufacturing, automated metrology, gage trends, plastics, materials analysis and much more!
    View More Create Account
    • Resources
      • Market Research
      • Custom Content & Marketing Services
      • List Rental
      • Partners
      • Manufacturing Group
      • Polls
      • Privacy Policy
      • Survey and Sample
    • Want More
      • Connect

    Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

    Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing