Process Evaluation and Improvement

Process Mapping is a lean tool that employs a flow diagram documenting in detail every step of a process. Many lean practitioners see process mapping (or value stream mapping) as the fundamental tool to identify waste (non value added activities), reduce process cycle times, and implement process improvement.

Process Evaluation and Improvement would be love to work with you to detail your process. This can be also be accomplished as a part of one of our other problem solving tools, like business process analysis or a kaizen event. Please contact us at peiadmins@kent.edu and we can discuss how process mapping can help you and your department.

Root Cause Analysis

This is the process of investigating and identifying the deeper causes contributing to an issue.

In identifying root causes, a team will be able to:

Gather input from all stakeholders, creating a complete picture of the problem
Evaluate all possible causes in a thorough, systematic way
Identify the problems causing the highest impact
Develop specific solutions targeted to each problem

Useful tools to identify root causes:

Cause & Effect (Fishbone Diagram) - categorizes common causes; this is ideal for collecting input from many stakeholders and displaying visually
5 Why Technique - asks "Why" multiple times until a root cause is identified; one of the simplest and most effective tools to use

Process Evaluation and Improvement can facilitate these conversations and exercises, and provide your team with the resulting documentation. Contact us at peiadmins@kent.edu.

Kaizen

What is Kaizen?

Kai: To take apart
Zen: To make better

The term “Kaizen” roughly translates into “change for better”. A Kaizen Event is a cross-functional working session designed to be an intensive 1 to 3 day focus on one specific area. It is used to quickly implement process improvements with focused working team involvement. A Kaizen Event can be a stand-alone working session or may be scheduled as part of a larger project.

Kaizen Exercises

The PE&I office facilitates these events to accomplish the following objectives:

Make concrete improvements to an existing process.
Bring new problem-solving skills to individuals on the working team.
Build enthusiasm by achieving results quickly.
Develop ownership for the solution through involvement.

If your area is interested in discussing the benefits of holding a Kaizen event, please contact us a peiadmins@kent.edu.

5S Methodology

What is 5S?

5S description

5S is a lean philosophy and a way of organizing and maintaining a clean, high-performance office environment. The intent of the 5S method is to improve efficiency by eliminating waste. If you are interested in learning more or having the Process Evaluation and Improvement team facilitate a 5S exercise for your department please contact us at peiadmins@kent.edu.

Sort

Getting rid of items that are not needed (paper or electronic files, emails, etc.)
Arranging often-used items in your work area
Discussing how to sort shared spaces with others (physical spaces or virtual spaces, e.g. SharePoint)
This step helps to eliminate waste that results from being disorganized, and can also help to reduce unwanted duplication or redundancy.

Straighten (Set in Order)

Having a place for everything, and everything in its place
Putting essential items in order so you can easily access them when you are ready
Having a designated place for the often used/shared items
Ensuring shared items are kept in a central location, and the location is communicated to all team members that require access
This step makes commonly used items more convenient to access, and helps to eliminate waste by reducing the time spent looking for items.

Shine

Looking for different ways to keep things clean and organized
Visual inspection of work areas
Creating a cleaning schedule to assign responsibilities
This step helps to improve safety and accountability throughout the office. Additionally, it can eliminate waste by identifying potential issues before they become a problem.

Standardize

Creating checklists
Setting goals or standards for a consistent and organized work environment
Defining roles and responsibilities clearly, which creates accountability
Standardizing reinforces the first three steps by putting effective and efficient procedures and practices in place. This step helps to eliminate waste by ensuring the first three steps of the 5S process are adhered to and monitored.

Sustain

Making it a routine to maintain the correct methods and processes that you identified in the first 4 steps
Develop a continuous improvement culture that drives excellence and maintains the 5s methodology
Ensuring the 5S principles are embedded in training activities
This final step helps to maintain the progress built through the first four steps, and eliminates waste by ensuring the waste-saving practices of 5S are adhered to. It is easy for people to fall back into old habits, and the 5S process will eventually fail if all aspects are not sustained.

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