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A Stepwise Process of Implementing Continuous Improvement Using 3I Model Nagdev Amruthnath, Department of Industrial Engineering, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Abstract-- The goal of this paper is to identify and understand the current continouous improvement strategies and understand how they play an important role in building the productivity. In this paper, we deal with the common problems associated with implementation of continuous improvement for a process. A stepwise solution is provided to implement continuous improvement by using 3I model. 3I model, investigate the problem, Identify the solution and Implement and control the solution and provides how to identify the actual problem by breaking down the process elementally and choosing the solution with mentioned characteristics. The process of implementing the solution and verifying the results with the target condition. This paper also highlights the history of continuous improvement and Toyota Production System.
Index Terms-- Continuous Improvement, 3I model, Toyota Production System, Lean Manufacturing, CIM, Continuous learning
steps, it can also be huge steps for a breakthrough [2]. Continuous improvement is a process of improving a system or process by setting up a current condition, target condition and an ideal condition and implementing improvement in increments to reach the target condition and the final target condition would be the ideal condition where the system is or a process has an efficiency of hundred percent. In other words continuous improvement is an ongoing activity to improve the performance of the organization with incremental improvements There are factors that are involved that affect the CI(Continuous Improvement) such as Motivation, communication, information exchange, knowledge management, cross-boundary work, appropriate structures and team work[3]. Our continuous improvements make the process lot worse than better. The major failure in any implementation of continuous improvement falls under these factors leading to identifying the problems elementally and this will be discussed in detail in later part of this paper.
I. INTRODUCTION
T
HE main focus in this industrial world has been shifting to
lean manufacturing day by day. Toyota Production system (TPS) has been one of the earliest methods of lean manufacturing. Most of the companies these days have successfully employed the basic principles of Toyota production system [1]. Although, in the beginning TPS was mostly focused on manufacturing industry as time passed by it has been implemented in various sectors like transportation, health care, businesses and many as such. Handful of continuous improvements fails due to the attempt of radical innovation. In other words, lack of innovative thinking and breaking the conventional rules for better results. In this paper we are inclined mainly toward the process of implementation of continuous improvement by a stepwise procedure using 3I model. In the industry world, getting things done using continuous improvement is the at most notion. But, they fail hard to understand that continuous improvement or implementing one is also a learning process and leading to new models and new efficient systems. Continuous Improvement doesn’t mean that improvement should be in small incremental Nagdev Amruthnath, is a Doctoral student with Department of Industrial Engineering, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008 (email:
[email protected])
Figure 1
II. 3I MODEL The 3I model consists of three steps in a continuous improvement implementation process; investigate, Identify, and implement. Identification is the basic step in a continuous improvement process [5]. It involves investigating the root cause of the problem. Although this might looks very simple, in reality most of them who are trying to implement continuous improvement fail to correctly investigate the root cause of the problem. This resulting to not observing the expected results or worsening the process or the system status. Identify is the next step in the 3I model which deals with identify the solution why asking the 3W’s (What, Why, When). Identification involves preparing a suitable solution for the problem. Implementation is the final step of continuous improvement where the solution to the problem is implemented and the results are verified for the expected target condition. 3I model also proposes the entire method to be documented for future continuous improvement processes.
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A. Background The main idea behind this paper is to develop creative way of continuous improvement model as a part of process improvement in the company to make the process run at its peak. There have been CI programs today that develop various tools to implement CI, but these programs still lack in developing CI models or every process to run as effectively as possible.
an industrial engineer who is implementing a continuous improvement in the process. But, fails to elementally breakdown other problems in the system which leads to main effect on the production loss. table 2 elemental break down table provides the minimal possible breakdown of a process. All though downtime as a block is the major entity causing the loss of production, intervention time (wait on next process) is a major cause of production loss elementally. Hence investigating a process elementally is very important for continuous improvement implementation in a process.
Figure 2
There are number of Process improvement models that are used in industries today. One of which is PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act). This model works well when the problem is known precisely. 3I model delivers similar solution as PDCA model but, helps in determining the root cause of the problem and timely achievable solution to the problem. Another version of PDCA cycle is PDSA cycle [4] (Plan, Do, Study, and Act). This cycle provides some insights of currently developed model of studying the process after the improvement is been put in the process. All the models available identify the major problem and solution may not be achieved timely but, 3I model puts itself in the picture but identifying the problem and providing immediate solutions. B. Investigation Investigation is a process of carefully examining the process. To get to the root cause of the problem we need to understand the working and mathematics of continuous system. This process is conducted to identify the precise reason for cause of affecting process efficiency. [6] The investigation process should never be based on theoretical knowledge or theoretical observations. The most important factor that affects the investigation process is the human factor. A wrong entity in the team would lead to failure to take of the pilot project or disastrous results. In this paper we propose a method of conducting a more efficient and reliable method of conducting an investigation by the process of elemental breakdown. Elemental breakdown is a process of breaking down the process into minimal possible sized pieces. This simplifies the process of investigation. In most of the industries, a process of grouping up the elements into individual blocks and these blocks are plotted into a graph. Then the process of continuous improvement takes place by solving the highest occurred problem or a high bar problem. This method customarily results in overseeing other occurred problems. In table 1 and graph 1 are the traditional process of problem investigation method. In the above traditional graph it can be clearly observed that downtime has a grander effect of the production rather than any other problems. This would be an outmoded mind set of
table 1
graph 1
In some processes it would be difficult to breakdown the process elementally. A time study would be the best tool in elementally breaking down the process. Time study is a process of recording the time taken to complete a process. The process could be repetitive or non-repetitive process. Time study can be classified into two categories. They are continuous time study and elemental time study. Continuous time study: It is a process of recording the time taken to complete an entire cycle of process. This time study helps to identify the wait time and also identify the line balance ratio of a process. Elemental time study: It is a process of recording the individual steps in a repetitive process. This time study is useful when identifying the elemental steps in repetitive process. During the process of investigation it is very much needed to perform both continuous time study as well as elemental time study. [7] Continuous time study helps to understand the line balance and the man power or process utilization in a process. The elemental time study helps to identify the elemental steps in a repetitive process and identify the problems associated with these elemental steps. C. Identification of solution Identification in our 3I model is process of identifying all the possible solutions to the current problem. Once all the possible sets of possible solutions are identified, then develop a selection matrix for the best solution to the problem by which
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the expected target condition can be reached. Most of the times, the solution would not be a completely new solution but, an evolved version of the existing solution.[8] There are different types of investigations involved in the process; such as preliminary identification of the solution, secondary identification of the solution and finally the partial identification.
solution based matrix must be constructed. This matrix provides the best solution to achieve the target condition. The Table 3 represents a solution based matrix for a set of available solution.
table 2
The characteristics can vary based on nature of problem and the target solution. But containing the following characteristics in the matrix would help to realize the target solution in timely manner and with a smaller amount of cost.
graph 2
Preliminary identification is a step also called as the first thought answer where, the first possible solutions are identified by every individual. Secondary identification is process of identifying the solution based on specific features of the existing problem. Partial identification is the final identification method of analyzing solutions from similar processes. This step in our 3I model process has to have set characteristics to obtain target results. The characteristics are The solution should be feasible The solution can be implemented timely The solution should be low cost D. Implementation and Controlling Implementation is the final step in the problem solving process of continuous improvement.[10] After identification of the solution, the next steps involves conducting trials on the process with the new solution, updating or creating a standard work for the process and verifying the solution with the target condition. The following characteristics are very important for the improvement solution. These characteristics help to achieve the set target condition. There are instances where there are [9] multiple solutions available. In those environments a
table 3 The process of trials encompasses implementation of the solution in numerous conditions. If the process involves manpower, the trials have to be conducted with diverse personals. By doing this the results would not be biased. Randomization would be the best way in designing the trials and analyzing these trials would provide the most suited results for any condition. Creating a standard work is one of the important principles of lean manufacturing. Standard work is a work instruction for a process. This work instruction makes sure the process behave in the same way in any given work situation or environment. This repeated process reduces fluctuation in cycle time and improves the manpower utilization. These factors in turn have an undeviating outcome on the production. The concluding phase in implementation involves authentication of results. The results in few processes can be determined immediately after implementation and in a few it cannot be. It would be time before actually the results are visible. The verification process is the final process of continuous improvement implementation process. The previous condition results are compared with the achieved
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condition results. The achieved condition results can be verified using a process utilization tracking method or by a continuous time study.
[11] John Bessant, David Francis, (1999) "Developing strategic continuous improvement capability", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 19 Issue: 11, pp.1106 - 1119
III. CONCLUSION
V. BIOGRAPHIES
The process of implementation of continuous improvement is not only improving the process to maximize the profits in the company but, crossing the boundaries to make it into a continuous learning process to achieve continuous results. Continuous learning created a way to develop 3I model which has been successfully implemented and has been verified with the results. This model provides a stepwise method to implement continuous improvement and to achieve the target condition. There are several methods that are available for implementation of continuous improvement, but 3I model provides an elemental breakdown stepwise procedure which is well used in processes where it is difficult to identify the problems. IV. REFERENCES [1]
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[2]
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[10] JOSÉ AUGUSTO DA ROCHA DE ARAUJO, “BARRIERS TO THE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT OF THE QUALITY IN SERVICE OPERATIONS: A BRAZILIAN CASE STUDY”, Second World Conference on POM and 15th Annual POM Conference, Cancun, Mexico, April 30 – May 3, 2004
Nagdev Amruthnath was born in Bangalore, Karnataka, India on April 15, 1992. He graduated from Visveswaraya Technological University with a Bachelor’s degree in Information Science and Engineering. He is currently pursuing his Doctoral Program at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Michigan, United states and studying Industrial Engineering with research interest in continuous improvement and lean manufacturing. His employment experience included working at DENSO Corp as a manufacturing engineer.
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