Reference no: EM133087100
What is the purpose of using control plan and process owners in continuous improvement projects? Why are these tools used in the Control phase of continuous improvement projects?
The chief reason for using a control plan in continuous improvement projects is because it offers detailed information about the methods to be employed when undertaking an activity within the project (Jung, Wang, & Wu, 2019). With the control plan, vital information is made available to the process owners such as how to measure, analyze, improve and control the techniques employed ultimately improving the quality of the final product (Jung, Wang, & Wu, 2019).
Process owners play a crucial role in managing and coordinating the performance of continuous improvement projects (Jung, Wang, & Wu, 2019). Additionally, process owners facilitate in making the required changes within the continuous improvement projects. The key objective of process owners is to ensure the targeted product quality objectives are achieved by putting in place the right strategies.
Having control plans and process owners in the control phase of continuous improvement projects is very important because it ensures products of the highest quality will be achieved within the budgeted time. The control plan defines the approaches to be used and the process owner is well conversant on how to execute the defined approaches. It is also important to understand this is the stage that red flags such as risks, limitations, and areas that need to be improved are identified. The control plan process owners play a very important role in identifying red flags and offering solutions that will the outcome of continuous improvement projects.
What are the main roadblocks to sustaining the results of continuous improvement projects? Why do many continuous improvement projects fail to control and sustain the gains they attained?
The following are major limitations to sustaining the outcomes of continuous improvement projects:
Challenging to achieve cohesion and cooperation among various stakeholders- multiple stakeholders are involved in continuous improvement projects (Jung, Wang, & Wu, 2019). Sustaining the results achieved becomes a daunting task because it is very challenging to enhance and sustain collaboration among the involved stakeholders.
It is very difficult to identify which processes to give the top priority in improvement efforts (Jung, Wang, & Wu, 2019). The organizations receive plenty of good ideas on what needs to be improved but the challenge is how to prioritize the suggested good ideas?
A strict and rigorous compliance obligation is another major roadblock to sustaining the results of continuous improvement projects (Jung, Wang, & Wu, 2019).
Scores of continuous improvement projects fail to control and sustain the gains they attained because of the following factors:
Inadequate stakeholder involvement
Inability to maintain a culture of continuous improvement.
In some cases, the lack of a business management system to support continuous improvement fuels the loss of the gains attained.
1. What is the purpose of using control plan and process owners in continuous improvement projects? Why are these tools used in the Control phase of continuous improvement projects?
Purpose of using Control Plan in Continuous improvement.
The control plan monitors the processes and makes sure that any changes or improvements made over the process lifecycle are maintained and sustained throughout.
Purpose of using Process Owners in Continuous improvement.
Process owners are an important part of lean projects whether they follow a DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) or a DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) methodology. Process Owners take responsibility for a particular process that they are allocated, and they monitor the process continuously and try to make improvements to reduce variation and streamline it.
Usage of these tools.
The control plans and the process play a pivotal role in the continuous improvement process. They work separately and in tandem with each other, thus complementing each other for the common goal of continuous improvement, variation reduction, process improvement.
2. What are the main roadblocks to sustaining the results of continuous improvement projects? Why do many continuous improvement projects fail to control and sustain the gains they attained?
Primary roadblocks to sustaining results in Continuous improvement project.
• Lack of support from stakeholders is the primary roadblock as without support, and no project can get off the ground.
• Lack of organizational culture to support continuous improvement.
• The process management tools selected are not suited in the current organizational environment.
Many continuous improvement projects fail to control and sustain the gains they attained because they find it difficult to prioritize the process improvements. Communication and collaboration between the stakeholders also cause issues in the long run, along with disengaged employees.