Process ID

PIM.3

Process name

Process Improvement

Process purpose

The purpose of the Process Improvement Process is to continually improve the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency through the processes used and aligned with the business need.

Process outcomes

As a result of successful implementation of this process:

1) commitment is established to provide resources to sustain improvement actions;

2) issues arising from the organization's internal/external environment are identified as improvement opportunities and justified as reasons for change;

3) analysis of the current status of the existing process is performed, focusing on those processes from which improvement stimuli arise;

4) improvement goals are identified and prioritized, and consequent changes to the process are defined, planned and implemented;

5) the effects of process implementation are monitored, measured and confirmed against the defined improvement goals;

6) knowledge gained from the improvement is communicated within the organization; and

7) the improvements made are evaluated and consideration given for using the solution elsewhere within the organization.

Base practices

PIM.3.BP1: Establish commitment. Commitment is established to support the process group, to provide resources and further enablers (trainings, methods, infrastructure, etc.) to sustain improvement actions. [OUTCOME 1]

NOTE 1: The process improvement process is a generic process, which can be used at all levels (e.g. organizational level, process level, project level, etc.) and which can be used to improve all other processes.

NOTE 2: Commitment at all levels of management may support process improvement. Personal goals may be set for the relevant managers to enforce management commitment.

PIM.3.BP2: Identify issues. Processes and interfaces are continuously analyzed to identify issues arising from the organization’s internal/external environment as improvement opportunities, and with justified reasons for change. This includes issues and improvement suggestions addressed by the customer. [OUTCOME 2, 3]

NOTE 3: Continuous analysis may include problem report trend analysis (see SUP.9), analysis from Quality Assurance and Verification results and records (see SUP.1 – SUP.2), validation results and records, and product quality measures like ppm and recalls.

NOTE 4: Information sources providing input for change may include: process assessment results, audits, customer's satisfaction reports, organizational effectiveness/efficiency, cost of quality.

PIM.3.BP3: Establish process improvement goals. Analysis of the current status of the existing process is performed, focusing on those processes from which improvement stimuli arise, resulting in improvement objectives for the processes being established. [OUTCOME 3]

NOTE 5: The current status of processes may be determined by process assessment.

PIM.3.BP4: Prioritize improvements. The improvement objectives and improvement activities are prioritized. [OUTCOME 4]

PIM.3.BP5: Plan process changes. Consequent changes to the process are defined and planned. [OUTCOME 4]

NOTE 6: Process changes may only be possible if the complete supply chain improves (all relevant parties).

NOTE 7: Traditionally process changes are mostly applied to new projects. Within the automotive industry, changes could be implemented per project phase (e.g. product sample phases A, B, C), yielding a higher improvement rate. Also, the principle of low hanging fruit (that is implementing easy improvements first) may be considered when planning process changes.

NOTE 8: Improvements may be planned in continuous incremental small steps. Also, improvements are usually piloted before roll out at the organization.

PIM.3.BP6: Implement process changes. The improvements to the processes are implemented. Process documentation is updated and people are trained. [OUTCOME 4]

NOTE 9: This practice includes defining the processes and making sure these processes are applied. Process application can be supported by establishing policies, adequate process infrastructure (tools, templates, example artifacts, etc.), process training, process coaching and tailoring processes to local needs.

PIM.3.BP7: Confirm process improvement. The effects of process implementation are monitored, measured and confirmed against the defined improvement goals. [OUTCOME 5]

NOTE 10: Examples of measures may be metrics for goal achievement, process definition and process adherence.

PIM.3.BP8: Communicate results of improvement. Knowledge gained from the improvements and progress of the improvement implementation is communicated outside of the improvement project across relevant parts of the organization and to the customer (as appropriate). [OUTCOME 6]

PIM.3.BP9: Evaluate the results of the improvement project. Evaluate the results of the improvement project to check whether the solution was successful and can be used elsewhere in the organization. [OUTCOME 7]

Output work products

02-01 Commitment/agreement → [OUTCOME 1]

05-00 Goals → [OUTCOME 4]

06-04 Training material → [OUTCOME 4, 6]

07-04 Process measure → [OUTCOME 6]

08-00 Plan → [OUTCOME 2, 4, 7]

08-29 Improvement plan → [OUTCOME 4]

10-00 Process description → [OUTCOME 4]

13-04 Communication record → [OUTCOME 6]

13-16 Change request → [OUTCOME 2]

15-05 Evaluation report → [OUTCOME 2, 3, 4, 5, 7]

15-13 Assessment/audit report → [OUTCOME 3, 5]

15-16 Improvement opportunity → [OUTCOME 2, 3, 4, 7]

16-06 Process repository → [OUTCOME 4]