Lessons learned in building processes and executing process improvements

I have been engaged in process engineering for nearly 6 years. From my first process improvement project thru the most recent one that I led, I have found three lessons that continue to ring true. 

Lesson #1 – People matter and greatly impact the success or failure or a process. Having a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities of those engaged in the process is a key element to laying a solid foundation. In addition to a roles and responsibilities document, Process Engineers leverage a SIPOC (Supplier, Input, Process, Output, and Customer) to map out the high level steps in a process. Understanding the contributions of people involved in the process as well as their skills, knowledge and experience can impact the success of your process.

Lesson #2 – Controls are not a one-time event. The development and deployment of process controls are critical to the success of the process. People change, the market changes which means controls need to be evaluated on a regular basis to determine their viability. Having a robust control plan is a key to ensuring you have a pulse on the performance of your process. From my experience, a significant contributor to process failures is a lack of controls or outdated controls.

Lesson #3 – Data analysis is an important driver in having a robust process. You can’t measure success or failure without data and analytics. Process engineers follow DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) to optimize and stabilize business processes. It is a continuous loop to driving step change improvements. Data tells you a story about your process and how successful or not your process is. Invest the time to determine what the data tells you.

A focus on process management can help any company to deliver a better, more efficient service or product offering. These lessons have influenced my focus and approach to leading and delivering a successful process.