Continuous Improvement: Part 1

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This Reference Guide explains the common language of Continuous Improvement

(CI), a tool for creating standard work, achieving operational excellence, serving our

customers better and becoming more competitive.

Continuous Improvement

CI creates a system for operational excellence because it:

• Focuses on our customers

• Empowers our employees

• Provides tools and resources

• Helps prioritize opportunities

• Finds solutions based on root causes

• Builds sustainable results

• Uses a structured and disciplined process

• Offers the ability to leverage success across the organization and accelerate

improvement

This CI Reference Guide details the vision companies that want to be successful. It

defines key CI terms and explains tools that speed the improvement process and

help measure needs as well as progress.

Use it to focus department resources in ways that elate customers, streamline

processes and improve performance. If you can make CI a way of life and help those

who work with you do the same, you can unleash the power of the process. The

rewards are a delighted customer, reduced waste, fewer variations in our processes

and a sense of pride in a job well done.

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Sense of Urgency: Part 1

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A Sense of Urgency: Part 1

When we think about continuous development of highly innovative technology,

changing political environments, globalization and steep growth, tough competition,

mergers and acquisitions, it’s a whirlwind of rapid change that fosters urgency.

Urgency means a sense of pressing importance. To live out success factors, its

crucial to be able to distinguish between a “true sense of urgency” and a “false sense

of urgency.” In fact, distinguishing between them during the very first step of any

kind of change can mean the difference between success and failure.

A good change model is one whose leadership adopts and promotes a culture of

the “right” sense of urgency throughout the company. The thought leader on this

phenomenon is Harvard MIT Change Expert Dr. John Kotter, who says that 50%

of all change efforts fail during the first step of change. Why do they fail? Mainly

because of lack of vision, communication of the vision, empowering others to act on

the vision, and more, the lack of which creates a false sense of urgency.

In many cases, the opposite of a right sense of urgency is compliancy. We all

unconsciously experience complacency to a certain degree in certain situations. And

it is possible to see problems and be complacent because you do not feel tat they

require change from YOU.

On the other hand, people having a true sense of urgency think that action on

important issues is needed now and not eventually when it fits into their schedules.

“Now” means making progress every day. “Critically important” means that acting

upon it is central to success and winning. To illustrate something we all face every

day, a sense of urgency is not an attitude that I must have the team meeting today,

but rather, a positive, focused attitude that the team meeting must accomplish

something important today.

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Five Forces

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Five Forces

by Halden Zimmermann

The Five Competitive Forces model is a framework created by Michael E. Porter in 1980.

He included it in his book, “Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors.” This model is a tool used frequently in organizing an analysis of a company’s positioning and risks associated with entering to remaining in a specific market.

Five Forces Model

Thinking through the five forces, I wanted to address a few things with this model so that is can be effective, instead of a fill in the blank framework people discuss in meetings and then walk away.

For each of the forces there should be a specific understanding of the risk potential associated with each of the categorized responses. The risk metering should then be met with a specific action to offset or reduce this risk. A great tool for analyzing this is a PFMEA tool set which is typically used in process design and the risk of having a particular failure mode. The risk priority number (RPN) on the PFMEA tool would be the metric used to understand the potential of a failure occurring and then action surrounding those high potential problems would result in a recalculating of the RPN number. Using the PFMEA tool set you have a tool that not only captures potential risk factors but also puts a metric around level of risk and tracks actions to improve upon your position.

Another thing to consider is to completely sidestep the positioning in your market. If you are spending a lot of time trying to tactically address specific problems associated with weak barriers to the five forces, i would estimate your margin is in great risk for your business. This is because 80% of your time should be focused on creating new markets or “blue oceans” to be specific. Creating a new market starts at the customer and does not rely on how competitors and suppliers would respond as a priority.

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HALDEN ZIMMERMANN Leica Dananher

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