Process Improvement

Organizations are continuously trying to improve performance, increase quality, and improve customer satisfaction. Without these advances, organizations often stagnate. Accomplishing these improvements is no small task, but it is manageable. CESD has adapted many of the most successful modern improvement systems into one process. We call it the continuous improvement process (CIP).

The CIP system is designed to help teams develop organized solutions to problems. The solutions are developed and measured using problem-solving tools and common statistics and then institutionalized throughout the organization so everyone can take advantage of everyone else's improvements.

The system is implemented in the following five phases:

• Qualify: The first phase defines the potential project, develops a team that will solve the selected issue, and has the project approved.
  
  
• Quantify: In the second phase, the team uses process data to create a baseline for beginning the project and measuring improvement. Common statistics are used to create sustainable and comparable measures.
  
  
• Investigate: The investigate phase uses data analysis tools to determine the source or sources of the problem.
  
  
• Fix: The fix phase concentrates on implementing a selected corrective action and uses data to verify that the correction is improving process capability.
  
  
• Keep: During this phase, the team sets process controls for the corrective action. Once the corrective action is approved, it becomes a 'best practice' for the entire organization.