Companies need and demand fast results to be competitive! Since the late 1980s, top performing businesses have ventured into various operational improvement methodologies with mixed results. The marketing of methodologies promotes that “the new” approach is better, easier, or more sustaining – hence TQM, Six Sigma, Malcolm Baldrige, Lean Mfg, ISO 9000.
Business Imperative to Accelerate Operational Improvement Initiatives
Topics:
Improvement Projects
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Key Capabilities Create the Value that Drives Competitive Advantage
Key
Capabilities
are those processes and people who perform the value-added activities that build a company’s product/service offerings and support the growth of markets served. Projects to enhance capabilities minimize business/operational costs, maximize product/service quality, and deliver repeatable on-time performance. Key Capabilities are the value creation engine that forms the foundation for building business
Competitive Advantage.
Topics:
leadership
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Guidelines for Effective Root Cause Analysis
Root Cause Analysis Efforts are generally procedure based and structured, but how do you know whether the process is effective? Answering this question is almost like the remark a client made in a discussion with me recently, namely
“Where do you start drawing a circle?”
The simple answer is, you put a pen on paper and start drawing. A lot can be learned from this statement when considering whether a root cause analysis effort is effective. Often there is a lot of initial inertia and people arguing as to how the root cause process should be structured. An effective process will be of such a nature that you can start work on the problem immediately, such as gathering and organizing information, without unnecessary time delays.
Topics:
Problem Solving
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RCA Facilitation for Complex Problems
- Subject Matter Experts and Process –
Problem Solvers are often asked to facilitate a root cause analysis session because the problem owner is of the view that the problem is complex. This article will focus on “how to process/facilitate a root cause analysis for a complex technical problem,” and the use of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).
Topics:
Blogs - Decision Making
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What I Would Do Differently in 2015...
As a consultant, I interact with a wide variety of problem solving situations, from Nuclear, Project Office to Information Technology. However diverse the industry the pitfalls are still the same. The following are four interesting but important lessons, when followed would make a world of difference in leading problem solving sessions in 2015.
