Question

Question 1 : Analyze the effectiveness of the continuous improvement with suitable   theories and concepts that can aid in achieving improvements. These theories might include to Kaizen, Lean Management, TQM and Six sigma.

Answer 1

The main focus of the continuous improvement remains in finding out the new methods and processes which can be implemented in order to have the processes and business operations to be improved on a continuous basis. This concept was first of all derived in Japan and with the passing of time, a number of techniques were evolved in order to have the ongoing improvements in the production quality and business processes.

Different concepts or theories which are used in the concept of continuous improvement are stated as below:-

Six Sigma is famous for being an orderly, data-driven approach which is mainly implemented for overcoming the various defects and faults which could result in any process. This method can be employed from the production phase to business end and it is quite useful for both products and services. While the Lean manufacturing mainly focuses on improving the overall speed of a process and avoiding or removing those processes which do not add value to the entire operation or in the final product. A great compatibility can be found between these two methods i.e. six sigma and lean six sigma. When both of these two methods are incorporated in a single process, it requires consolidation of various factors which are the constitutes of these two concepts and these can help in a great deal to improve efficiency and quality of the products.

Both the methods are addressed by a number of titles such as lean manufacturing, enterprise, and services. Both the theories are complementary to the main concept of six sigma and thus both six sigma and lean can be implemented in all those processes which are to be improved. The basic idea behind both of these theories is that the different businesses are made of various processes which are made to satisfy the demands of the customers. The main objective of six sigma and lean is to eliminate the wastes and wasteful processes and those do not add any value to the product. This is done in order to ensure the higher productivity, higher production output, and competence.

The main focus of TQM remains on improving the overall quality of all the processes and the products performed in the organization. TQM tries to find out all those processes which do not create any kind of value addition in the product or processes and try to eliminate it so that the productivity and the effectiveness of the firm can be improved and better quality products can be obtained. Thus in order to implement TQM effectively, it is required to understand what are the best practices in the industries which are being performed better by the others and how can our firm implement these so that the greater level of quality and competence can be accomplished.

Kaizen is a quality improvement concept in which the main focus remains on continuous improvement of various processes of the business organization. These concepts state that the organizations must strive for the improvement even if they think that all the processes are within the control as there is always some space for the improvement. This implies that the management should try to find out and look for those processes which do not add to the quality improvement of the production process and all these types of processes must be eliminated. If the organization is not able to do so then the losses will be occurring which will hamper the production, productivity and the profit margin of the organization. If these organizations do not focus on identifying these redundant process, it will lead to greater losses, higher customer complaints and finally, the firm might face losses resulting in the shutdown.

References:-

What is Six Sigma? (n.d.). Retrieved from leansixsigmadefinition/glossary/six-sigma/

C. (2018, February 22). Kaizan for Continuous Improvement. Retrieved from bourton/nothing-ever-changes-round-here/

Introduction and Implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM). (n.d.). Retrieved from isixsigma/methodology/total-quality-management-tqm/introduction-and-implementation-total-quality-management-tqm/