This course is about implementing continuous improvement initiatives in organizations with the objective of sustaining such efforts. The course focuses on managing an organizational process improvement initiative. Managing an initiative involves organizing it and we want to organize it with three objectives in mind. First, managing it so that it is aligned with the strategic objectives of the organization and it is working in harmony with other activities of the organization. Second, managing it so that employees can see the value in participating in that initiative. Third, managing it so that there is true continuous improvement. The lessons learned are sustained and built upon that there is no sliding back from the path toward continuously improving. In this course, you will learn how to make improvements to processes through implementation of projects that come under the umbrella of an initiative. You will learn techniques to discover and make improvements to processes. Now, this can be divided into three parts. First, techniques used to keep an eye on process performance so that you have a trigger point to indicate when there may be a problem to be corrected. Second, techniques used to conduct root cause analysis from exploring possible causes for a problem or opportunities for improvement to testing cause-effect relationships using qualitative and quantitative analysis tools. Third, mechanisms to avoid sliding back into older ways of working. In this course, you will learn about the long-term management of an ongoing program of projects, as well as about implementing a project with a start and an end. You will learn how to apply techniques at both levels through applied examples. From time to time, we will discuss the underlying principles and learn about the origins of these techniques. You will learn some qualitative techniques as well as some quantitative techniques applying some analytical tools using basic statistics. Now, this is critical because continuous improvement has both social or behavioral and technical or analytical aspects. This course is made up of four modules. In the first module, you will learn about the importance of continuous improvement initiatives, their connection to better processes and better products. You will understand the common principles that form the basis for continuous improvement initiatives in general. In specific, we will focus our attention in this course on two popular initiatives; lean production systems, and Six Sigma programs. The second module will focus on determining the objectives for the continuous improvement initiative and deciding how resources, time, and money are allocated to the initiative. You will learn to apply different techniques for deciding long-term goals for the initiative that is the program, and for prioritizing projects to execute as part of that initiative. The third module is called measurement and analysis for process improvements. In this module, we will get into some statistical analysis tools. You will learn techniques to determine whether a process is stable and how it is performing as compared to customer expectations. Now, based on what you learn in this module, you will be in a position to apply these techniques in your workplace and I will encourage you to explore such applications to generate insights that will help you and your organization achieve greater performance. The fourth module, designing improvements and sustaining changes, will focus on qualitative techniques for root cause analysis, finding improvement ideas, and implementing them. This module will focus on important issues that several organizations find to be the most challenging when deploying continuous improvement. That challenge is sustaining the changes that are made in a project and in the evolution of the level of problems that such projects are addressing. A continuous improvement initiative should result in better efficiencies and better effectiveness for the processes that are improved. It should also develop over time and move from low-hanging fruit, easy-to-see improvement projects to the projects with more broad-ranging implications for the organization. The strategic and innovative projects. This module will help you see those challenges and learn about ways of combating them so that you can focus on sustaining the changes in your organization. Overall, as we go through these four modules, we will alternate between principles and techniques, some generalities, and some specifics. Similarly, we will also alternate between generic continuous improvement initiatives and two specific ones. One is called lean production system and the other Six Sigma. The principles and techniques that you will learn in this course are naturally helpful for any job responsibilities that connect to operations and supply chains. In addition, the competencies in managing continuous improvement initiatives that you will gain are leadership skills that are fundamental for upper-management jobs. However, most importantly, the knowledge that you will gain in this course will give you a process improvement perspective that is universally applicable to all types of organizations and to all types of work. Processes are everywhere and every process can be improved.
