Do you have a continual improvement program in place for your business? What adjustments are you making to guarantee your company is functioning at its best?
The continuous or continual improvement program is the gradual improvement of processes within your company. These minor improvements over time are not drastic, but they will give your company a competitive advantage and improve efficiency.
The continuous improvement program will align your team with the company’s goals and increase morale. When everyone has the exact expectations and common goal to improve their work processes, your company’s standards will be higher, and consumers will notice the difference!
What is your process?
If you are a business person who has worked on improving your skills, you probably have taken a class or two, read books, or you may have hired a coach. I have personally done all three and always feel as though I should do more. This concept of continual minor improvements applies to our career, business, and our personal lives.
The continuous improvement program is undoubtedly like trying to lose weight. If you lose it fast and stop your new eating habits, you end up right where you began. But you lose small amounts over time by making small changes, such as cutting back on soda or consuming less bread. This will make you more successful.
The Chemical & Service Industry Goal
Continuous improvement in any industry will improve efficiency and quality of service. You can measure your consumer satisfaction, identify the needs of your employees, and how you can make improvements to your business.
Under the Continuous Improvement Program’s Guidelines, I help my clients improve their daily, monthly, and quarterly goals. Because in advance, we set specific times to discuss:
The Guidelines I Follow
- History of purchases per department
- Future expenditures and the expected budget
- Report on past deliveries (on time without problems)
- Possible additional training needed (in person or online)
- What upgrades are needed, and what do they cost?
- Safety issues that might arise.
- Waste of either product or items not being recycled
Kaizen – The Japanese Philosophy that Changed the Game.
Kaizen means “improvement” or “change for the better” and is the pillar of your company’s competitive strategy. The main objectives are:
- Quality control
- Improved morale
- Teamwork
- Personal Discipline
- Just-in-time delivery
- Standardized work
- The use of efficient equipment
- Elimination of waste
- Suggestions for improvement
Kaizen focuses on making small changes and recognizing that it is the key to the company’s success. It requires that ALL employees actively participate in these changes – to increase employee engagement and provide a stress-free and fulfilling workplace.
Kaizen in the Chemical & Service Industry– Continuous Improvement Program
Implement quality controls that will identify the causes of bottleneck operations by continuous improvement. Following the Kaizen philosophy in your Food Production, Brewery or Dairy can help you find the root causes, and you can start to problem-solve. When processes have not been improved or tweaked, your guests have a stale experience. You can expect lower morale from your employees – especially when they are dealing with the same frustrations in their workdays, day after day.
The continuous improvement cycle
Are you ready to implement a long-term plan and improve your business practices afterward? Here is how you can start:
- Identify all your strengths and weaknesses of the organization and workflow.
- List all identifiable problems and prioritize them in order of severity. Those that have the most significant impact on your company must be first.
- All potential solutions must get matched with each problem.
- Engage your employees – get everyone focused on making these improvements and communicate your initiatives effectively. Listen to their advice; they may even know more than you! They recognize what will work and what will not. You may even need to go back to the drawing board.
- Run a test to see if your solutions affect your problem.
- Analyze your results. How has it improved workflow? Do other changes need to be made? What is working and what is not? If more improvements are needed, start over with step 3. When creating your guide, ensure all processes are measurable, for example, the back of the house cleaning of the delivery and shipping area. Is the person responsible for the task and completion time?
- Repeat this 1 to 7-step process continuously. You will always find areas in your business that needs improvement and empower your staff as they are a significant contributing factor to your company’s success.
Leadership with Kaizen
Kaizen in the food industry can become a natural process because there are many workflow components. Improvements can be made to every detail of every position, the kitchen, serving, bar operations, and cleaning methods. The list is endless on how your business works. So you will find the small details that need improving when you dissect the daily functions. Mistakes will begin to dwindle, and the overall morale of your staff will improve. All organizations should adopt this slow-but-steady mentality because it is simple and effective.
Leadership starts from the top of an organization. We all know your actions will determine how your employees treat your business. Set clear company goals and lead by example. Get involved in the company on every level and incorporate a ‘working together culture.
Be patient because you may not produce results right away. However, minor improvements over time will show long-term results.
Benefits of Continuous Improvement
There are numerous benefits of implementing a guide for continuous improvement:
- Increase productivity – as you discover your workflow areas that can use improvement, your team will start to perform better.
- Motivation – your team will feel heard.
- Reduce costs – now that processes are optimized, and your team is working more efficiently, expect to reduce costs.
- Reduction of execution times.
- You will have better products and services to offer your customers.
Do not be resistant to change – you may get blinded by the fact that you have a healthy organization. Everything can get improved, and we must always strive to be better.
Final Thoughts
In summary, the continuous improvement program has enormous benefits. You will see service and product improvement, increased employee morale, and workflow processes will be more efficient.
Be involved in the process and motivate your employees for increased engagement. They want to work in a safe and practical environment, and you can provide this for them by continuously improving your company. Your customers will see the difference in the quality of your products and services.
Continuous improvement can be tiring, but all employees will begin to change their mindset and distinguish which areas can use improvement. Change is difficult, but implementing the minor differences with Kaizen’s philosophy will show proven results.
Start small, lead by example, and continuously improve. You will soon see the fruits of your labor!
If you need my help getting started, contact me for more information!
