How to make a continuous improvement plan for your company?

continuous improvement plan

Do you want to improve the excellence and quality of your company? With this continuous improvement plan you will surely achieve your goals, get to know it.

Have you ever wondered if the way your company works is the best? A question that arises when some of the operations and processes are not giving the results they should. Or, if the level you have achieved is no longer enough and you want to promote further growth.

Regardless of the situation, any company needs to achieve the best level of excellence and quality, which allows it to be more competitive in the face of current market demands. The question is, how to get it?

Optimizing the operation of your business means finding a way to improve the way things are done and for this you must have an effective plan. Here we tell you how to achieve it.

What makes continuous improvement effective to optimize your company’s processes?

To devise an effective continuous improvement plan you must consider some issues. The most important is to understand that this strategy must be carried out constantly , since the processes and operations can work for a while, but there are endless factors that can diminish the quality of their results.

On the other hand, the willingness of the collaborators is also necessary , since they must accept the changes that are required. Such as using new work techniques, investing in automation tools that help reduce costs and time, among others.

Everything that helps to devise an organized methodology so that it is capable of:

  • Conduct research on each process,
  •  Identify bugs and plan to run improvements  
  • Provide feedback on the results to measure their effectiveness. This should also facilitate the constant realization of continuous improvement .

7 steps to carry out a continuous improvement plan for your company

In general, these are the 7 steps to define a continuous improvement plan that will allow you to identify the processes that require urgent intervention, as well as find the best way to solve them.

1. Define your goals

First, you must define the objectives you want to achieve and direct the continuous improvement plan towards them.

Remember that improving the functioning of your company depends on making the corrections and optimizations of the failures that may be affecting the results of each process.

2. Measure and analyze your results

Knowing what the results of the current processes are like is only possible with precise documentation that establishes how each activity and operation is carried out in all the organization’s processes.

The metrics and KPI’s are the most valuable indicators to obtain data on how they have operated so far. They are the perfect parameter to identify which faults there are and which aspects are correct.

3. Comparison of results between processes

Based on the information and knowledge of the historical data of all the organization’s processes, it is important to make comparisons between results, in order to find which situations and moments have been most beneficial in the company.

 4. Simplify processes

In addition to solving the problems that arise in the company’s processes, continuous improvement also seeks to simplify them, both to avoid loss of time and costs and to increase productivity.

5. Involve the work team

In the effective optimization of processes it is necessary to link your collaborators, so that they know and are trained in the new methodologies. It is very important to have the support of your team, as they will be the ones who guarantee the success of your continuous improvement plan . 

6. Periodic evaluation of the continuous improvement plan

Once the continuous improvement plan has been defined , you will have to carry out evaluations of the results to plan when the optimization process should be carried out again and not lose the excellence of the company.

7. Analysis and feedback of the results

From the evaluation and analysis of the results of each modified process, it will be possible to identify the success of the strategies that were implemented for optimization. This is the parameter to adjust the improvements that may not be reaching the established objectives.

Methodologies for continuous improvement 

Finally, to carry out a continuous improvement plan, there are some tools that will help your organization correctly manage the necessary evaluations and repetitions during the optimization process.

One of the most effective process improvement methodologies is Lean Six Sigma, whose combination guarantees great results in process improvement.

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