How to Use 8 Process Improvement Methodologies

Business process improvement (BPI) aims to optimize existing processes to improve customer satisfaction, eliminate bottlenecks, and comply with industry standards. Process improvement methodologies are problem-solving techniques used by project managers to identify inefficiencies and make necessary improvements to workflows. Many BPI methodologies make use of process modeling templates and improvement tools to streamline and redesign business processes.

Process improvement methodologies, also known as process improvement techniques, are tactics aimed at improving process performance. Here are some of the most common process improvement methods:

1. 1. Six Sigma: The Six Sigma method is used to minimize product variability and defects, and to reduce cycle times. Developed in 1986 by Bill Smith, an American engineer at Motorola, Six Sigma uses metrics to measure process efficiency. According to this methodology, a process is optimized if it has less than 3.4 defects per one million cycles. There are two main types of Six Sigma methodologies: DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) and DMADV (define, measure, analyze, design, verify). In order to visualize the root cause of a product defect, teams using the Six Sigma methodology employ cause and effect analysis by using a fishbone diagram or Ishikawa diagram—the head of the fishbone states the initial problem, and the spine of the fish states issues that could lead to the initial problem.
2. 2. Kaizen methodology: Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that is born from the idea that life can and should be continuously improved for the sake of greater fulfillment and satisfaction. The Kaizen methodology, also called continuous process improvement, employs continuous improvement initiatives and uses the PDCA (plan, do, check, act) cycle. Visualized by a flowchart, the PDCA cycle involves identifying the problem, testing solutions, measuring their effectiveness, and implementing successful solutions.
3. 3. Kanban: “Kanban” is the Japanese word for “visual signal.” With the use of a visual aid called a kanban board, this methodology helps organizations visualize problems, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies to help teams improve a current process or realize the need for a new process.
4. 4. Agile methodology: With agile methodology, the process improvement project has fewer fixed deadlines, and the project manager and team work through multiple iterations to correct errors. An agile methodology incorporates feedback from key stakeholders and is easy to adapt and change over time.
5. 5. Total Quality Management (TQM): Companies using a TQM methodology aim to apply continuous improvement processes across the board. Employees in every area of the organization are encouraged to continually seek opportunities to make changes to current processes in order to improve customer satisfaction and efficiency.
6. 6. Lean manufacturing: Lean manufacturing aims to increase profitability by reducing waste. Despite its name, this methodology can be used by sectors other than manufacturing. Lean manufacturing includes making value stream maps in order to understand customer perceptions. This kind of process mapping helps identify redundancies and eliminate overproduction from process flows.
7. 7. Business Process Management (BPM): BPM focuses on helping businesses maintain efficiency as they grow. This includes the automation of manual work, identifying process bottlenecks, and implementing strategies to improve efficiency.
8. 8. Theory of constraints: The theory of constraints methodology focuses on rapidly eliminating process constraints, or bottlenecks. It starts by identifying the constraint and then systematically improving it until it’s no longer an impingement to the process.

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