Process Improvement

The Need

Processes must work effectively and efficiently to enable the achievement of Quality, Cost and Delivery performance measures. The challenge is to identify where waste and non-value adding activities occur within the process and to remove or reduce these activities. Process improvements may also be required to support customer cost down initiatives and company growth plans.

The Solution

A Process Improvement Workshop is a highly structured, data driven improvement activity that diagnoses the waste and non-value added activities in a process, and then changes the process to work more effectively. The workshop is delivered in a learn-by-doing manner ensuring that the team members are equipped with the key skills required to replicate the improvement workshop in other areas of the business.

The overview

The PP Process Improvement Workshop is a structured approach to completing a ‘hands on’ practical improvement activity with a team of between 5 and 10 members, coordinated and facilitated by an experienced PP Consultant. The activity has four distinct phases that span a total time period of 4 months.

Phase 1 – Scope. The PP Consultant meets the senior management team to assess the business needs and to select the focus area for the improvement activity. The availability of QCD data to support the activity is reviewed and data collection implemented if required.

Phase 2 – Diagnostic. The team members are given the skills required to analyse and understand the waste and non-value adding activities occurring in the process. From this analysis the key areas for improvement are prioritised along with SMART targets for the improvement activity.

Phase 3 – Workshop. The team are lead through a highly practical and interactive improvement activity that follows the Plan Do Check Act cycle in order to achieve the SMART targets set during the Diagnostic phase. The PP Consultant will train the team members and allow them to practice these key improvement skills during the activity. Feedback will be provided to the senior management team in the form of a close-out presentation on the final day of the workshop. This will define the improvements made, benefits gained and any outstanding actions.

Phase 4 – Review. Three review days will take place at monthly intervals to assess the sustainability of the activity with any further training or coaching delivered, as required, to support the improvement activity. A development plan for replicating the Process Improvement Workshop in other areas of the business will be created and discussed with the senior management team. An activity summary document will be created to define the improvement process and the benefits gained.

The Results

A PP Process Improvement Workshop is not a theoretical, classroom based exercise; it is a practical activity that makes real time changes to a process removing waste and non-value adding activities.

The cost of the workshop is recovered through the benefits gained as a result of focussing on the QCD performance of a process. Typically this return on investment is in the order of 4:1

Additional benefits are gained through the team based approach and shared learning experience. This workshop is the ideal foundation on which to develop a culture of continuous improvement.

Process Improvement Workshop is within the Gain Control phase of our highly successful business transformation model making us ideally placed to support your organisational needs.

For more information on PP Business Improvement or to discuss your business needs please contact us at

sales@ppbusinessimprovement.com or 01922 419109.