Action 1.1 Identify an Opportunity
Purpose
To look for a number of opportunities for improvement. The improvement should bring direct benefit to the company and improve the way we do our work.
DESIRED OUTCOME
-
A list of potential opportunities for improvement
How to do it
Opportunities can be identified in many ways, including:
​
-
Surveying customers
-
Employee suggestions
-
Using a Pareto Chart to analyse customer complaints
-
Looking at the Key Results Areas (KRAs) or the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the Business Plan
-
Brainstorming suggestions with employees
-
Gathering suggestions from suppliers
-
Brainstorming suggestions from the local management team
-
Looking for an outcome from another process improvement team activity that can be improved further.
​​
Analysing performance data and current processes:
​
-
Use a Checksheet to collect data about how often and the types of problems occurring
-
Use a Pareto Chart to separate the significant few problems from the trivial many
-
Use a Histogram to determine processes that have a wide spread, or a central point higher than would be liked
-
Prepare a Macro Flowchart of the processes to identify the steps
-
Collect data from processes using Run Charts
-
Collect data from processes using Control Charts.