Continuous Improvement as a Business Strategy

Continuous Improvement as a Business Strategy The case study focuses on Corus, Europes second largest steel manufacturing company and their efforts in following the path of Continuous Improvement to produce quality product in a timely manner by streamlining their processes and reducing the wastage of resources. Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, one of worlds top ten steelmakers. In their own words, Corus aspires to be the worlds steel industry benchmark for value creation and corporate citizenship. Corus is a leading supplier to most of the demanding markets around the world including construction, automotives, packaging, mechanical and electrical engineering, metal goods, and oil gas. With innovation and continuous improvement at the heart of its business performance, Corus aims to create value by offering a differentiated product range supported by unrivalled customer service. 1 The challenge that Corus faces in differentiating its products from that of its rivals is that, steel is a relatively inexpensive product and in major building projects, the cost of steel can be as little as 5% of the overall cost of the project. It is also a challenging task to meet the rising demand for steel, at increasing levels of quality and to comply with challenging delivery requirements. While it would be an easy task to meet these challenges using brand-new facilities, an investment of more than 300 million Pounds to build a ‘Greenfield Site steel mill is an impediment. Therefore, Corus decided to focus on the path of Continuous Improvement, commonly known as CI, at its steel plate manufacturing mill in Scunthorpe, to achieve process efficiency, quality and delivery improvements with its existing manufacturing setup. What is Continuous Improvement? Continuous improvement, with respect to organizational quality and performance, focuses on improving customer satisfaction through continuous and incremental improvement processes, removing or minimizing unnecessary activities and delays in product delivery and also minimizing defects in the products being delivered. Several organizations have gained a competitive edge by implementing Kaizen, commonly known as continuous improvement (CI). The philosophy of Kaizen was spearheaded by Masaaki Imai, and is constituted of two words, kai which means ‘change and zen which means ‘good as well as ‘wisdom. Hence we can conclude that Kaizen implies ‘changes for the better and covers all processes in an organization like Engineering, Information Technology, Finance, Procurement and Supply, Customer Service and Manufacturing. CI can be initiated either at Top Management level or at Process level based on effective feedback system. The most important factor is that, all employees should be responsible to make improvements and must work together to identify the steps needed to improve the efficiency of the overall process, in an iterative manner. This requires thorough supervision, flexible work force and technology to improve business efficiency. When an established organization like Corus attempts to differentiate its products or services from its competitors in the industry, CI can be the â€Å"Differentiation† or â€Å"Focus† competitive strategies which can help the organization grow. Corus has implemented CI of ‘flow where the products are pulled through a carefully planned production process from the supply of raw steel to the finished steel plate. The process is paced and scheduled to control the amount of product in each stage of the process, to keep bottlenecks to a minimum and to maintain high quality. A part of the CI process involves the measurement of improvements to gauge, whether the improvements have resulted in benefits. These results can be reducing waste time, saving money and efforts, or better utilization of available resources. These are the tangible benefits of the implementation of a CI process. The intangible benefits will include greater staff motivation and increased job satisfaction3. In Corus, improvement is gauged with the help of a set of new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) focused on meeting customer deadlines, such as zero backlog of customer orders and meeting targets for rolling steel plate in its allotted week. Thus benchmark level can be set and attempts can be made to better that level in an iterative manner. When Why CI need to be implemented? It is human nature to feel secure in ones comfortable environment of a â€Å"CASH COW† organization and therefore people are hesitant towards big changes. Some of the most common excuses that people give to avoid changes at workplace are: 1) Its been done in this way for a long time2) We know theres a better way but theres not enough time to fix things3) I dont get paid extra to think4) Its not my problem but someone elses problem However, a key aspect of implementing CI is the fact that it does not deal with big changes, but with smaller ones that take less time to implement at minimal cost. Also, an interesting aspect would be that it gradually transforms and brings about what one can call a big change without people being hesitant and overcoming their apprehensions. The objective is to minimize cost by leveraging the existing knowledge pool and gradually implementing changes. The key of effectively implementing CI is that it has to become a part of the organizations culture and gain consensus from the work force and stake holders. Like in the Corus case, moving from Tonnage, the traditional key measure of productivity to the smooth paced process of CI involved a significant work culture change for the employees. Initiation and integration of CI 1. Collect feedback from the horses mouth It is imperative to understand the operations at the ground level from the people who perform the tasks on a regular basis. By asking for ideas and by listening to those that know how the job is currently performed you will achieve a much greater buy-in from your teams 2. Place checks and implement improvement process cycle Not jumping to conclusions is the key here. Put into practice the steps of Plan, Do, Check and Act known as PDCA Model PDCA a simple model for CI implementation Plan the plan phase constitutes of setting objectives and goals that would form the guiding path for the entire process of improvement.Do the Do phase requires the testing of possible alternatives and arriving at a solution that would comply with best practices and industry benchmarksCheck In this phase, the effectiveness of the action phase is evaluated to ascertain the success of the plans and also to see if any negative consequences have arisen.Act The act phase is to implement the tried and tested processes and form the new standards. If the processes are unsuccessful, then the cycle is repeated till the time desirable results are attained. Even after the process has been established, the implementation of CI is not over. The goal of CI is to set newer and more efficient benchmarks. This philosophy has to become a part of the organizations culture. For example, in the Scunthorpe plant of Corus, a CI manager co-ordinates the process and 40 CI coaches chosen from the workforce received training to facilitate improvements. A toolbox of techniques has been put together to help managers, employees and operators understand where and how they can improve their work and come up with new ideas to change processes for better. Scunthorpe plate mill has set out a 5-year vision improvement plan which will help in the process of developing a CI culture for the business and has held workshops for employees to understand the vision and change since it was recognized that people might be resistant and cling to old ways of working. The 5 year-plan, established a timeline for the thorough acceptance and implementation of the CI culture among employees so that by the end of the 5-year period, the team and individuals are empowered to take responsibility and make decisions for themselves. Tradeoffs in implementing Continuous Improvement: Although several companies have benefitted from implementing CI, its quite interesting to see that something this innovative and cost effective could also derail the organization from its path to success or even create a new bottleneck in the entire process. At times CI may lead to a trade-off between self-management and discipline 5. Over engagement and a lack of prioritization in implementing new wave CI manufacturing strategies by front line managers and operations staff has actually led to a tradeoff between their core operations related work and CI related activities. Often, CI strategies led by an over-enthusiastic HR has caused them to over strategize which is a new bottle neck in itself and often goes unnoticed. Thus it is quite important to make sure that less than 7% of the total work time may be spent by such key operational personnel on CI oriented strategy development so that their core operational responsibilities may not be diluted beyond an acceptable limit. Another very interesting drawback that has been noticed is the invert effect of over emphasis on the implementation of CI Practices on the price v/s quality competitive strategy model 6. In her study, Barbara Flynn has very effectively shown that an uninterrupted iteration of CI programs for the reduction of cost price would ultimately result in increasing price since perfection always comes at a premium. Secondly it was also observed that in the quest to achieve the goal of CI within its designated time period, the complex untested assumptions about the relation between process and outcome are often deliberately not studied in depth. Managers prematurely conclude that any detrimental effects of implementing the new plan would be taken care of in subsequent CI programs 7. Thus such complacency could result in mission failure at the nth hour. But still, careful and well planned implementation of CI strategy is effective because it keeps production processes under control, rapidly trains production personnel to effectively manage production and possesses the flexibility to slot improvements into production schedules with minimum disruptions and at least effective cost. 8 Continuous Improvement in action at FORD India (A firsthand account) 9: Cost Reduction activity has become one of the major activities in any industry especially in Automobile field with ever increasing competition. The following is a firsthand account of Continuous Improvement initiate undertaken at Ford India for Cost Reduction. The Front End Module of the car is a plastic molded steel reinforced part, supplied to Ford by a Vendor X. The Input weight of the steel portion in that is 4.0 Kg and its output weight is 1.0 Kg. With 25% yield, Ford saw the scope for cost reduction in the above module. Normally for any steel part, yield of at least 40 to 50% is expected. Hence, the only way to reduce the cost would by reducing the input weight. After several discussions with technical department, Ford decided to optimize the design to reduce the input weight and proposed the modified design to the vendor. Various trials were conducted and accordingly the design was altered without compromising on the quality of the final part. After several iterations, the new design was approved by the quality team. Minor modifications were made to existing tools in order to work with new design. This Continuous Improvement initiative not only reduced cost but also reduced the scrap content and process time. Suggestions for Corus Corus has implemented lean manufacturing method of CI, which has really improved its deliveries and quality but only in an internal manner. Yet another dimension which can be facilitated through external feedback is available in the form of â€Å"WOWing the customer†. What we feel is that, Corus should start to simultaneously work upon gaining better customer feedback to facilitate continued product design improvement. This combined effort will enable them to suggest improvements in the product demanded by the customers which may exceed the customers expectation and will make them feel that they are getting a value for money preposition. Thus this would add to their customer satisfaction, retention and self sustainable associations which would be mutually beneficial. References and Bibliography http://www.corusgroup.com/en/company/about_corus/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen http://www.helium.com/items/558484-what-is-a-continuous-improvement-plan?page=3 http://www.helium.com/items/558484-what-is-a-continuous-improvement-plan?page=2 Continuous improvement: the trade-off between self-management and discipline Author(s):Alan Harrison Journal:Integrated Manufacturing Systems 6, 7, 8- Achieving simultaneous cost and differentiation competitive advantages through continuous Publication: Journal of Managerial Issues by Flynn, Barbara B. 9. From actual work experience of Santhosh Srinivasan

Coming of Age Essay

There have always been challenges that a young adolescent must make to become an adult. Whether it was one hundred years ago, or today in this day and age, the challenges are ever so present. Unfortunately, the challenges faced back then were far more harsh and difficult for the young adults compared to the present. They lacked the technology, resources, and knowledge we now possess today. Most jobs one hundred years ago had to be physically done by people, not machines, which the 21st century seems to love. Although times are now different in the sense of materials and knowledge, the society and traditional structure of becoming an â€Å"adult† still stands; you get a job, you get married – you are an adult. There are plenty more things that need to be done and prepared for before even entering the work world, let alone becoming an adult. One hundred years ago, someone my age would have already been working on a farm or in a warehouse with production of some sort. They might be already married with a baby on the way and one already born. Life was very out of the ordinary compared to what we are accustomed to today. A young person was considered an adult at a very early age, typically because he/she started working very young to provide for a family. Life expectancy one hundred years ago, if you survived birth without any antibiotics, was not very long. For women it was fifty-six and men, fifty-two. Due to the short-lived lives of parents, children had no choice but to learn how to fend for themselves in this wild world we call life. Almost all of these jobs, lacking any requirement for education, were not the safest, cleanest, or best paying jobs. Not everyone went straight to work; some had the luxury of going to school to further their education so that they may obtain a good, high paying job. Those who were lucky enough to have the money to pay for an education are the ones who set the high demand for education in the world today. Only the children of the wealthy were educated, and they became wealthy as well. That was the mind set, which led to current day policy. Everyone goes to school. There are some people that go straight to work after high school. Similar to one hundred years ago, the jobs they obtain typically are not the highest paying jobs that require less education, typically are labor union jobs or â€Å"off the books† working. In this country, you need an education if you want to work anywhere, even at McDonalds. Education has become such a big part of the world today.

Othello, the Moor of Venice

Iago (Othellos ensign) uses love against Othello (general of the Venetian army) to cause him to experience jealousy. He not only utilizes the Moors love for Desdemona, but also his love for Iago and their friendship My lord, you know I love you(1. 3. 117) Funny enough, Iago gives warning to Othello of the very negative emotion that he hopes to inflict upon him! (1. 3. 166). Oh beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-eyd monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on The first time that Iagos plan is seen is (3. 3. 33). Iago: Ha! I like not that! Othello: What dost thou say Iago: Nothing my lord: or if-Know not what. Othello: Was not that Cassio parted from my wife Iago: Cassio, my lord! No, sure, I cannot think it, that would steal away so guilty-like, seeing you coming. He continues his manipulating of his friend (3. 3. 95). Iago: Did Michael Cassio, when you wood my lady, know of your love Othello: He did, from first too last: why dost thou ask Iago: But for a satisfaction of my thought; no further harm. Othello: Why of thy thought, Iago Iago: I did not think he had been aquatinted with her. Othello: O, yes; and went between us very oft. See how he makes it almost seem as though Othello discovered this out on his own and Iago seems as a mere friend when the find is made. Iagos true nature is seen at this point. Iago refers to himself as a devil, but to say that he is bad because he is bad doesnt explain why he is repeatedly explains himself to himself. Your honest friend is one who is always there for you and who will always tell you the truth. Iago has a reputation for honesty and uses it for dishonest purposes. His nature is ugly in the way that compares others to animals, especially when referring to their sexuality. Othello is a military man who is often looked at with respect in this category. However, when taken away from the military eye where he offers so much safety, he is constantly mentioned by his color in a degrading way. Brabantio, Desdemonas father uses Moor as a derogatory name for Othello, but Othello is called other things, including my lord and general.. After the first two scenes of the play, Othellos color is rarely mentioned, so we may forget that when the play is seen Othellos blackness always makes him different from everyone else. Reference to him as the Moor emphasized that difference, but it is emphasized in other ways, as well. He is strong and firm in character but also has a loving side where Desdemona ( Othellos wife, Brabantios daughter) comes into play. He came from a loving mother and father which was mentioned in the importance of the handkerchief In Shakespeares time obedience was though to be one of a womans primary values, and Desdemona thinks herself to be as obedient, but as in the case with her father, she seems to have her own interpretation of what that means. She is beautiful, both in body and spirit. Its not something she mentions, or even seems to be aware of, buy it affects how others treat her and think of her. Desdemona spends much of her time making a case, for herself, for Cassio, and finally for Othello. Iagos devilish character is seen throughout the play. Towards the end of scene two in which Iago brings about Cassios downfall, he persuades Cassio to appeal to Desdemona, and plans to make Othello believe that Caossio and Desdemona are having an affair. Then he says, By the mass, tis morning;Pleasure and action make the hours seem short (2. 3. 378-379). In other words, hes been having so much fun during his busy night, so the time has just flown by. In the last scene of the play, after Iagos treachery has been proven, Othello says to Lodovico, Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devilWhy he hath thus ensnared my soul and body (5. 2. 300-302). Iagos reply is famous. He says, Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:From this time forth I never will speak word. (5. 2. 303-304). Iago is ready and willing to explain himself to Othello,Roderigo, and to us. So then why does he choose to silence himself now Maybe he cant think of another lie. In the characterization of Othello, no one describes him best than his wife and unfortunate victim. In the Venetian Senate, Othello tells the story of how he and Desdemona fell in love. Brabantio urges that Othello used magic and drugs on Desdemona, and that she be brought to testify; he says to her, Do you perceive in all this noble companyWhere most you owe obedience (1. 3. 179-180). In reply, Desdemona affirms her duty to her father, who gave her life and education, but asserts that she has a higher duty to Othello, because he is her husband. She says, My noble father, I do perceive here a divided duty: To you I am bound for life and education; My life and education both do learn me how to respect you; you are the lord of duty; I am hitherto your daughter: but heres my husband, and so much duty as my mother showd to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moor, my lord. (1. 3. 180-189). Further in the act, she says, My hearts subdued even to the very quality of my lord: Saw Othellos visage in his mind, and to his honor and his valiant parts did I my soul and fortunes consecrate. 1. 3. 250-254). Subdued means in harmony with and Othellos quality is both his character and his profession as a warrior. Desdemona asserting that she is very much like her husband and belongs with him, even in war. She shows tat she understands and rejects the bigotry that is directed at him. A persons visage is his face, and she understands that most Europeans consider black to be ugly, but she saw past his face to his honor and courage, which she adores. Her charter is well described here as beautiful both inside and out.

The New Code Of Laws - 1586 Words

In her famous 1776 letter to her husband, Abigail Adams wrote in regards to the formation of the constitution: â€Å"in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors† (how do u cite stuff) However, it would take another 144 years of dedicated, tireless effort in order for women to receive the basic constitutional right of voting. This conversion of women being seen as second-class civilians to becoming full citizens with the power to vote was a monumental political change in our country. Many suffragists of all backgrounds dedicated their lives to see this change occur. These suffragists were fueled by the hope that women would someday be equal to men not only in the eyes of our government, but in the eyes of our society as well. Their efforts transformed women’s suffrage from an improbable and far-fetched dream, into an awe-inspiring realit y. It has been 96 years since the ratification of the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution; one of the most profound pieces of legislation in all of American history. Although the passage of the nineteenth amendment was unquestionably a critical objective of the women’s rights movement during this era, there were a number of other goals of the period that are often little discussed. Suffragists of this time period were interested in numerous social issues, including the temperance movement, as well as access toShow MoreRelatedThe Byzantine Empire is and Example of the Golden Age1670 Words   |  7 Pagesarchitectural achievements as well as political achievements that have had lasting impacts on today’s societies. As the Roman Empire began to fall, it was split into Eastern and Western sections. The emperor at the time, Constantine, declared that the new imperial residence, Byzantium, would become the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. 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