"The first half of the book presents an overall business process improvement model, with the ensuing chapters dealing with topics of understanding and modeling your current business processes, using performance measurement in improvement work, creating a business process improvement road map, and organizing for improvement work. The second half of the book presents the overall toolbox, followed by one chapter for each phase of the overall improvement model. For each of these phases, a selection of suitable tools is presented with background, steps for how to use them, and an example of their use. The final two chapters contain two more extensive case studies illustrating the use of the full methodology.

"The first half of the book presents an overall business process improvement model, with the ensuing chapters dealing with topics of understanding and modeling your current business processes, using performance measurement in improvement work, creating a business process improvement road map, and organizing for improvement work. The second half of the book presents the overall toolbox, followed by one chapter for each phase of the overall improvement model. For each of these phases, a selection of suitable tools is presented with background, steps for how to use them, and an example of their use. The final two chapters contain two more extensive case studies illustrating the use of the full methodology.

This best-seller is fully revised and updated! Its goal is still to give readers practical insight into how they can create a coherent business process improvement system. Author Bjørn Andersen works from the premise that consistently working on improving various aspects of how things are done, large and small, is the key to success for any organization.The first half presents an overall business process improvement model, with the ensuing chapters dealing with topics of understanding and modeling your current business processes, using performance measurement in improvement work, creating a business process improvement roadmap, and organizing for improvement work. The second half of the book presents the overall toolbox, followed by one chapter for each phase of the overall improvement model. For each of these phases, a selection of suitable tools is presented with background, steps to use them, and an example of their use. The final two chapters contain two more extensive case studies illustrating the use of the full methodology. And finally, a number of templates can be found at the very end of the book, templates that support most of the tools presented.This book is suitable for employees and managers at any organizational level in any type of industry, including service, manufacturing, and the public sector. It should also be useful as a textbook for students in courses relating to quality management and continuous improvement.

The Quality Toolbox is a comprehensive reference to a variety of methods and techniques: those most commonly used for quality improvement, many less commonly used, and some created by the author and not available elsewhere. The reader will find the widely used seven basic quality control tools (for example, fishbone diagram, and Pareto chart) as well as the newer management and planning tools. Tools are included for generating and organizing ideas, evaluating ideas, analyzing processes, determining root causes, planning, and basic data-handling and statistics. The book is written and organized to be as simple as possible to use so that anyone can find and learn new tools without a teacher. Above all, this is an instruction book. The reader can learn new tools or, for familiar tools, discover new variations or applications. It also is a reference book, organized so that a half-remembered tool can be found and reviewed easily, and the right tool to solve a particular problem or achieve a specific goal can be quickly identified. With this book close at hand, a quality improvement team becomes capable of more efficient and effective work with less assistance from a trained quality consultant. Quality and training professionals also will find it a handy reference and quick way to expand their repertoire of tools, techniques, applications, and tricks. For this second edition, Tague added 34 tools and 18 variations. The "Quality Improvement Stories" chapter has been expanded to include detailed case studies from three Baldrige Award winners. An entirely new chapter, "Mega-Tools: Quality Management Systems," puts the tools into two contexts: the historical evolution of quality improvement and the quality management systems within which the tools are used. This edition liberally uses icons with each tool description to reinforce for the reader what kind of tool it is and where it is used within the improvement process.

Operations managers: use project management (PM) tools and techniques to supercharge efficiency, free up resources, eliminate unnecessary meetings, and get more done faster! Long-time operations manager and PMP-certified project manager Randal Wilson shows how to apply PM to complete the crucial "smaller" tasks that can help your organization quickly achieve sizable performance improvements. Wilson guides you in utilizing PM-style processes, structure, communication techniques, and tools throughout operations, wherever they make sense and drive value. You'll learn how to plan, implement, and measure the success of high-impact changes, and organize key tasks so they actually get done. Wilson introduces specific PM-based techniques for eliminating waste in engineering, manufacturing, distribution, and inventory control, plus a full chapter of insights for improving virtually any supply chain. He shows how to use PM to improve the way you manage teams, schedules, budgets, and other resources, and helps you systematically predict, plan for, and mitigate operational risks. Using PM, you'll learn how to improve cooperation with other managers within operations, in other lines of business, and with senior executives. You'll discover better ways to "design in" efficiency right from the start, and learn how to choose and use tools that make you even more effective over time. The Operations Manager's Toolbox will be an invaluable resource for every current operations manager, everyone moving into operations, and every project manager seeking to apply their skills in new venues.

If you are baffled by why your company makes the same errors, would like to focus your employees' limited time on more valuable work, struggle to resolve an issue you know little about, or make sense of overwhelming new responsibilities-the answer to all of these common challenges, and many more, is business process improvement (BPI). The Power of Business Process Improvement: The Workbook complements the author's popular book, The Power of Business Process Improvement, published by the American Management Association (AMA). In The Workbook, Susan Page offers a streamlined approach to BPI by providing the templates and tools necessary to help you quickly move through the proven 10-step formula leading your business to become more effective, efficient, and adaptable. Arranged in a results-oriented progression, use The Workbook individually or in a group setting to identify and prioritize the processes that need fixing, eliminate redundancy and bureaucracy, control costs, reduce errors, delight customers, and give your organization an edge on continuous improvement.