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Engage company in improvement initiative?

Q: If I am going to engage my company in an improvement initiative for operations, what direction should I pursue?

A: It depends. Generally speaking, most executives have a good idea of the weakest links that are negatively affecting their market position. Use the following as a reasonable guide to determine the best approach, depending on the weakest area:

• Equipment reliability: Incorporate reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) into the business with systematic failure elimination (SFE) methodologies.
• Process waste: Incorporate Lean Enterprise methodologies into the business.
• Process variability: Incorporate Six Sigma methodologies into the business.
• Supplier value (delivery, quality, & cost) or customer satisfaction: Incorporate Supply Chain Management into your business.

All the approaches above require full commitment to change and change management methodologies. Typically, it’s best to use a combination of the approaches, determined through an assessment of the business early on in the process.