We believe this process is fundamental to any continuous improvement programme. We proved time and again that you gain significant benefits by being rigorous about planning, thinking, checking and doing.
The planning stage is where you look at your current situation to identify issues and problems, and pin-point their root causes. How and where are you consuming resources and costs? Are you making efficient use of time? Are you getting quality and Value for Money from your suppliers?
At this next stage you identify strategies and tactics that can solve problems or improve Value for Money. You look at measures to monitor your performance improvement and plan your implementation approach. The aim is to deliver the same level or output in one or more of the following ways: at a lower overall cost; with fewer resources; or more efficiently.
This is an often overlooked yet crucial stage. You need to validate your chosen strategies and tactics through an assessment or a pilot project. This is how you prove your strategies work before they are implemented.
The final stage is to roll out a structured implementation across the organisation according to your plan. You'll need to monitor and assess any improvements you find. And you'll need to take further action if improvement is below your expectation.
