Through Continuous Improvement

Businesses have always sought to enhance the quality of their products and services while improving their productivity.

This quest resulted in the notion of continuous improvement with regard to quality and productivity.

Technologia Consulting offers services to help companies implement good continuous improvement practices. Our approach is in large part based on the Lean and Six Sigma methods.

What is the Lean approach?

The Lean approach is the brainchild of Toyota, which explains why it is also referred to as the Toyota Method or the Toyota Production System (TPS). Today, it is most commonly called Lean Manufacturing.

The Lean approach is based on two key concepts: continuous flow and elimination of waste.

Continuous flow implies that materials should never come to a halt, be it with regard to raw materials inventory, inventory of finished products, or during the manufacturing process. This approach is based on the idea that a company should only produce what a client needs, in the quantity requested and only when required.

Limiting inventory forces companies to continually think about methods for eliminating client risk. This generates a need to eliminate errors while imposing stable production where every task is carefully standardized in order to eliminate all possible risk.

What is Six Sigma?

Variations in company processes are the primary cause of material and resource waste. Six Sigma is a rigorous and disciplined continuous improvement method that uses data and descriptive statistics to eliminate these variations and thereby improve product and service quality.

What does continuous improvement have to do with computer technology?

The success of computer applications lie in their user-friendliness and the extent to which they are suitable to the processes they support.

Any company—whether in the manufacturing or service industry—should make use of continuous improvement tools and techniques to improve and enhance the efficiency of their processes. This is the best way to make computer tools a strong and integral part of the company’s processes.

Technologia Conseil uses a world-renowned methodology for its continuous improvement interventions—this approach is known by its acronym DMAIC which stands for Define, Mesure, Analyse, Improve, and Control.

Technologia applies this five-stage method to obtain maximum benefit from continuous improvement methods and tools. This applies to improving products or services as well as to reducing the rate of defects.

Here is an overview of the five steps required to maximize your chances for success:

Key benefits of the Lean/Six Sigma approach

Lean/Six Sigma initiatives generally make improvements possible on three fronts—reduction of delays, improvement of quality and reduction in operation costs.

Continuous improvement reduces delays by:

• Eliminating waste.
• Reducing equipment breakdown.
• Reducing set-up time.
• Reducing non-value-added activities for the client.

Continuous improvement results in better quality by:

• Reducing defects.
• Implementing anti-error systems.
• Standardizing processes.
• Using process-optimization tools such as experimental designs.
• Using statistical-monitoring of processes.

Through all of these steps, and greater efficiency, continuous improvement also helps reduce overall operation costs.