Continuous improvement is generally considered to be a paradigm shift that occurs when organizations move from the Managed to the Optimizing Process (SEI CM Level 4 to 5). This paper supports the view that continuous improvement needs to start early to enable and guide the gradual evolution and maturation of process definition across Key Process Areas and maturity levels. It is a well known pri...

Continuous improvement programs traditionally focus on making small incremental improvements to a system. Unfortunately, their success can be limited due to the rapid changing environment within which most small companies operate. Improvement efforts should be flexible enough to capitalize on incremental and radical changes to a system. This paper presents a case analysis of how Road Rescue, an...

For better business performance or continuous process improvement of an enterprise, real-time measurement and analysis of the performance of managerial activities is essential. Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) which provides real-time access to key performance indicators or business processes is one of core elements for successful BPM system. Since performance measurement cannot be managed in...

Continuous Improvement and Innovation (CI&I) is both a management process and a management strategy. In this paper we aim to provide some background on the development of CI&I as a management concept and to describe the steps involved in implementing the CI&I process in the Beef CRC project. There are six key steps in the CI&I process: Situation Analysis; Impact Analysis; Action Design; Action ...

Organisations must constantly monitor, measure, evaluate and improve their processes in order to remain competitive. Construction organisations are no different in this aspect and are increasingly realising the need for process improvement due to external and internal pressures. The construction industry is working towards improving its efficiency by implementing process improvement techniques ...

This paper presents an application of 5S lean technology to a production facility. Due to increased demand, high product variety, and a push production system, the plant has suffered from excessive wastes, unorganized workstations, and unhealthy work environment. This has translated into increased production cost, frequent delays, and low workers morale. Under such conditions, it has become dif...

The paper aims to analyze the opportunities that modern business process management systems (BPMS) provide in improving industrial service processes. A case study identifies improvement opportunities in the order-tocash process in two service lines of a large industrial service provider. Implementing a business process management system in the studied case context potentially enhances service p...

Lean is the automobile manufacturing production system of the Toyota Motor Corporation that many businesses have been trying to reproduce for over 30 years.1,2 To desire the benefits of Lean requires direct extrapolation or some parallel of Toyota’s manufacturing-based production methods of efficiency and process improvement to different work environments. This is not as easy as it may seem, es...

The use of a nursing-directed and/or respiratory therapist-directed protocol in many intensive care units for weaning from mechanical ventilation is associated with a shorter duration of ventilation and length of stay in the ICU. Most protocols have two formal components: the daily screening of a set of simple observations or interventions to identify readiness to proceed, followed by a spontan...