Where is the scope of Continual Improvement ?

Whatever you are doing, there is always a scope of improvement.

Like if you are an office goers and handling some projects or duties in your office then you can think about Business process standardisation.

Business process standardization and simplification reduce the cost of operation as well as the efficiency of the employee. It is necessary in today’s competitive world to make the business process at par with the industry standard and to make it so simple and friendly to process it faster and faster. There are ten golden rules which need to be checked in any business process to make it smooth.

1-Bureaucracy elimination-Reducing the unnecessary paper works, Authorization etc.

This is the area where you can look for the improvements in unnecessary paper work or authorisation needed to perform any work or activities which actually not having any sense but it delays the work.  There are several incidents in any company or organisation where paper work is a necessity due to the system from a long time.   These can be eliminated and it will save time and speed up the work

2-Duplication elimination - Reducing the repeating exercise which does not add any value. 

Many times in an organisation , there is a practise of cross checking of things for a similar jobs which increase the lead time of a work.  These activities can be easily identified and can be eliminated from the system.

3-Simplification -Simplifying the process and avoid the complexity of the process. 

There are some processes which are very complex and work goes one table to another table or one stage to another stage which decrease the productive time.  These processes can be taken as a project to simplify them.

4-Process cycle time reduction-Reducing the cycle time of an activity. 

If any activity take more time then it can be taken as an improvement point to reduce its turn around time ( TAT).   First, in this type of improvement the cycle time of completion of any activity to be noted down and then improvements can done after applying some changes.  The reduced time is the fruit of these type of improvement. 

The best example of Simplification and process cycle time reduction is Installation of ATM machine by Banks.  Now, you can imagine – How this improvement made a significant impact in the working of Banks as well as to the customers.

5-Error proofing -To make it pokayoke and fool proof. 

There are some processed which requires fool proofing.  The example of this type of improvement is biometric attendance system which eliminates the wrong / superficies card punching.

6-Upgrading - Simple language Understandable by all.

There are some processes laid down in the companies which are either old fashioned or not upto the mark needs up gradation which can be developed in such a manner that every user can understand them.

7-Standardization -Standardization of a process.

This is the area where many companies are struggling. Standardisation of the process is the requirement of today’s world.  Customised solutions can work for a little time, but , in longer run, every company requires standardisation of the processes.  The main advantage of the standardisation of the processes or activities is – it reduces the individualistic dependency.

8-Supplier partnership - Best input gives the best output.

 In any organisation’s success, the supplier beneficial supplier relationship plays a vital role.  Supplier includes internal customers as well as external.  There are some projects can be taken which make the supplier partnership more strong in the benefit of the organisation.

9-Big picture improvement -Drastically changing the process. To

    select a   different route.

This type of projects are comes from out of box thinking.  These improvements projects are needed in company for changing an old practise into new one.  But the execution of these types of improvements is critical.

10-Automation / Mechanism -Automation of manual work

      through computerization
Automation is the demand of this modern era.  There are many activities can be automated through machines / computers to eliminate the human interface. 

You can choose any project of continual improvement from above category and excel in your professional life.