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Develop a 7-page process improvement plan for a provided scenario or a business and process of your choice, using data to support your recommendations.INTRODUCTIONThis portfolio work project, a process improvement plan, will help you demonstrate competencies in process documentation, process analysis, and process improvement.SCENARIOWild Dog Coffee Company, a locally owned company with a single coffee shop location, serves a wide selection of espresso products, small breakfast and lunch menu items, and a limited evening menu. The company is planning to expand the business by adding an additional location. While different menu items may be tested at the new location, the espresso beverage preparation process will remain exactly the same. The company wants to ensure that the espresso beverage preparation process is documented and refined before the move.

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REQUIREMENTSInclude the following in your process improvement plan:Assess the steps for a selected process.Develop a flowchart showing the process’ steps. You may include as many steps as are relevant for your selected scenario.If using Wild Dog Coffee Company, show the steps for preparing an espresso beverage (for example, latté, cappuccino); there are two steps that must be included: (1) order is submitted and (2) beverage is handed to the customer. Hint: You may want to visit a local coffee shop to observe the beverage preparation process.Prepare a procedure documenting the selected process. At a minimum, the procedure must document the following for your selected process:Metrics. Identify at least two metrics that will be useful in determining how well the new process is performing. Be sure to identify the target value of the metric and how you will measure it.For Wild Dog Coffee Company, it could be how well the beverage preparation process is performing. A third metric is already identified for you: order delivery time. (This is the time between when the order is submitted and the time the beverage is handed to the customer.)Procedure. This section describes each step of the process.For Wild Dog Coffee Company, your procedure should be titled, “Espresso Beverage Preparation Process.” Be sure to include order submittal and handing the beverage to the customer as part of the procedure.Purpose (of the procedure). This section describes what the procedure is intended to do.Analyze data for process changes for a selected process. Respond to the following questions:Is the process centered? Provide the results of your calculations and the rationale for your decision by thinking about the process capability.Is the process capable at 3-sigma? Provide the results of your calculations and the rationale for your decision by thinking about the process capability index.Is the process in statistical control? Provide the appropriate numbers and the rationale for your decision using a control chart for individuals.For Wild Dog Coffee Company, analyze the Beverage Service Times [XLSX] data. This data is for 50 beverage preparation events and was collected using their order processing system. Each individual order gets a time-stamp when it is placed and again when the beverage is handed to the customer. The senior barista thinks the beverage delivery times should range between 2 and 3 minutes. The known process standard deviation, which has been calculated on an on-going basis, is 0.5903 minutes.Analyze the cause and effect of process variances.Brainstorm possible sources of variation to create a cause-and-effect diagram to help analyze potential sources of variation in the espresso beverage preparation process at Wild Dog Coffee Company or for your selected business’ process. Your diagram must include at least four of the “6 Ms” (that is, management, manpower, method, measurement, machine, materials).Recommend quality and customer service improvements for a selected process.Detail the results of your analysis for Wild Dog Coffee Company or your selected business’ process to substantiate your recommendations.DELIVERABLE FORMATRequirements:The process improvement plan is to be a minimum of 7 pages, not including the title, reference, and appendix pages.Use a process improvement plan template of your choice.Related company standards:The process improvement plan is a professional document and should therefore follow the corresponding MBA Academic and Professional Document Guidelines (available in the MBA Program Resources), including single-spaced paragraphs.In addition to the title and reference pages, include the following in the appendix:Flowchart.Procedure.Detailed results of order delivery time analysis.Cause-and-effect diagram. Running head: PROCESS IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Process Improvement Plan
April Butler-Sullivan
Capella University
Jan. 2, 2020
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PROCESS IMPROVEMENT PLAN
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Process Improvement Plan
Watts Humphrey is quoted to have said that unplanned process improvement is wishful
thinking. Planning is very core when it comes to business or management. Any organizations,
company, corporation, firm be it small or big must engage in planning in order to ensure that
success is realized within a certain period of time. Planning is the process of thinking about and
organizing the activities required to achieve the desired objectives or goals over a given period of
time. It involves deciding in the present what to do in the future by bridging the gap between
where we are and where we are to go. It is after planning is when things are made possible to
occur which would otherwise not happen.
Process improvement plan is a process of identifying and analyzing the existing business
processes or activities with a goal of improving all of its operations (Trkman, 2013). It is a selfassessment technique which helps organizations evaluate itself and how they can come up with
better ways of operations and how they can generally improve on their services or goods they
provide. Process improvement helps to eradicate or combat the weak points that a business
encounters on a daily basis. By identifying the bottlenecks that business operations face, it will
help them among other things to reduce completion time, eradicate wasted efforts, reducing
conflicts or frictions that are encountered in business processes and it will improve process
efficiency and quality. Lastly, such a step will help organization, company, corporation or any
business entity meet regulatory compliance.
Business improvement process plan is a comprehensive blueprint which outlines an
organization’s overall business efforts and activities (Parmenter, 2015). It involves coming up
with specific objectives for marketing activities, determining and scheduling the steps necessary
to achieve such objectives and identification of resources available in order to realize such goals.
Such a roadmap of an organization for selecting a target market and satisfying the consumers is
very essential in the business world since it aids the organization or the company to accomplish
specific marketing objectives within a set time frame. A right business improvement process plan
identifies the target consumers, how to reach and retain them, to ensure that they continue buying
products from company
In our current dynamic world, any organization that has an ambition of achieving set
objectives and goals must ensure that its process improvement plans are initiated. It is a wellknown fact that developing process improvement plan is not an easy task for it takes a lot of time
and in most cases requires putting a lot of efforts to ensure that the plans identified can work
effectively to achieve the stated goals. Process improvement plans are usually confronted with a
number of challenges that if not solved in their initial stages their purpose to which it was formed
fails.
A scenario is given of the Wild Dog Coffee Company of which I am one of the owners.
Having the intellectual wherewithal on internal matters focusing on making the internal
customer-facing processes as efficient as possible then a process improvement is a prerequisite.
Having a business process improvement will help the Wild Dog Coffee Company to establish
another company with ease and continue making profits. The success of opening a similar
company in a different location is dependent on the analysis and recommendations given that
will help manage a core process improvement of the establishment of the same company.
When thinking of process improvement plan one must not exclude the issue of customer
satisfaction. Without customer satisfaction no business can claim to thrive. Wild Dog Coffee
Company must assess and interrogate its current services and products offered so as to know
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what measures are to be put in place to ensure total satisfaction of customers is achieved within
the company. Customers are a diverse people and dynamic and therefore the company or a
business need not to stick to its old way of offering services and products to the customers
(Tukker, 2015). A company must device new mechanisms, improve its existing standards and
implement new and better systems with a goal of satisfying the customers. It is very necessary
and crucial for a company to make appropriate changes in services and products offered by the
company. Improving customer satisfaction entails promoting sufficient delivery of services,
improving the quality of products, employing the best qualified employees with all the needed
skills and improving the level of all operations within the company. These changes are not easy
since in most cases it is hard to have effective changes because changes are always faced internal
resistance.
Process improvement plan is very crucial for Wild Dog Coffee Company. It is from
process improvement that business operations and success in the establishment of a similar
company in the second location can be a reality. If the process improvement is not adhered to
then establishment of the second will be just a dream. Without internal process improvement
then all other plans will be almost impossible.
There are several steps to process improvement. Business people usually have best ideas
on how to improve their business processes. The problem usually is when it comes to
implementation of the process. To actualize an idea usually requires a process improvement that
usually employs process improvement methodologies.
There are several process improvement methodologies which can be used by Wild Dog
Coffee Company to improve its business sales, operations and productivity with a goal of
making profits that will help in establishment of a similar company in a second location offering
the same services and goods. The first process improvement methodology is the Six Sigma. SixSigma methodology is an effective methodology in process improvement. It is a data-driven
approach that aims at reducing defects to improvement performance and operations of an
organization. Such an approach can be of very good use in the Wild Dog Coffee Company
scenario since a lot of decision will rely on data available by the company. The six-sigma
process improvement methodology approach helps measure defects and inconsistencies within a
company and it will also influence decision that will improve the quality of services and products
of the Wild Dog Coffee Company. The six-sigma process improvement methodology is aims at
improving the already existing processes and creating new effective new processes that will be
help for the Wild Dog Coffee Company.
Lean manufacturing is the second process improvement methodology. This process
improvement methodology is aimed at cutting costs and eliminating waste as much as it can. For
the success of establishment of a Wild Dog Coffee Company, lean manufacturing methodology
is very useful since it is an internal thing which aims at reducing waste and cutting cost. This will
help the company save a lot and direct the profits made into other business activities such as
establishment of other similar business operations. This process improvement methodology will
do try to minimize waste without sacrificing the productivity.
The third process improvement methodology is the lean six sigma methodology. As the
name suggests, the Lean Six Sigma approach is a combination of both six sigma methodology
and lean manufacturing methodology (Antony, 2014). This lean six sigma approach helps the
organization or a company to reduce or eliminate waste and reduce defects that are usually
evident with an organization. Such as an approach will be of great help to the Wild Dog Coffee
Company since it helps cut costs and reduce waste at the same time improving performance and
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operations of the company. Moreover, the lean six sigma will help improve quality, save time
and cut costs since it combines the strategies and tools from both lean manufacturing and six
sigma process improvement methodologies.
Total Quality Management process improvement methodology is also an effective
methodology used during process improvement. Total Quality Management (TQM) focuses on
customers. This approach believes that a success of a company or an organization depends on the
customers. Customer satisfaction is a prerequisite in any business approach according to Total
Quality Management (TQM) process improvement methodology. Total Quality Management
(TQM) believes that for any business to thrive or for any company to remain relevant, make
profits and not to succumb to competition from its rival companies the company therefore has no
option but to come up with sophisticated ways so as to ensure that customer satisfaction is met.
Many companies have in many times failed to satisfy its customers and this plays a negative role
in their existence in the market. Customer satisfaction is not a one day event but a process that
entails coming up with good customer services that will make them satisfied and want to seek
more services and products form the company. For the case of Wild Dog Coffee Company, we
must ensure that customer satisfaction is met in order to ensure that establishment of a similar
company in a second location is achievable.
The fifth process improvement methodology is Total System Production (TPS). Total
System Production (TPS) is also known as Just-in-time. This methodology argues on reducing
inventory costs and manufacturing the process only when they are needed in the market
(Bortolotti et al, 2013). It discourages massive production which may end up not receiving
acceptance by the customers. Such a step may result in losses and it will affect the organization
or the company negatively. This approach also proposes the saving of time during production.
This approach is guided by four principles. The first principle is the philosophy which it argues
that the company need to use long-term philosophy to guide in it decision making and general
operations and not short-term financial goals. Secondly is to invest in the people and partners
that can associate with the company’s philosophy which they can transfer to other people such as
new employees, stakeholders, partners and even customers. Problem solving is another total
system approach principle. This principle suggest that it is prudent to fully analyze the problem
before coming up with solutions. Adequate time must be taken to arrive at a logical conclusion
or a consensus which is of great help to the organization or the company. The last principle is the
process which involves identifying right processes that can lead to outstanding results of a
company or an on organization. This Total System Production (TPS) process improvement
methodology can be used by the Wild Dog Coffee Company to avoid losses and register a lot of
profits as much as it can.
The last process improvement methodology is the Theory of Constraints (TOC) (Mabin,
2015). It primary focus is to identify a constraint and try to eliminate it. It uses systematic
process to identify the biggest threat or challenge into achieving a set goal in order to ensure that
the constraint is addressed to no longer become a threat to achieving the set goals and targets of a
company. It is argued that to identify and eliminate a constraint, several processes need to be
adhered to. These processes include to identify a constraint, followed by decision on how to
exploit the constraint then subordinate and synchronize to the constraint. The fourth process of to
alleviate the constraint and lastly of to repeat the process as needed. Of such a process is adhered
to then the constraint will be eliminated completely and the company will be faced with no
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obstacles in her quest of realizing its aims and achieving its objectives which among them are the
making of profits and retention of the best qualified employees.
After mapping the process it is wise and necessary to analyze the process. You critically
look and study each step with a goal of identifying possible problems that occur on the way. It is
at this stage is when you will be able to know where the Wild Dog Coffee Company is taking a
lot of time, where a lot of resources are directed and also where a lot of money is pumped into.
The analysis process helps trace a problem and identify the possible causal factors and what are
the effects. After understanding this then it will be easy to solve the problem. After analysis
process, is to redesign the process. It is the redesign process is when to eliminate the problems
you have identified. Teamwork is mandatory at this stage in order to limit resistance. Teamwork
will allow other employees to brainstorm on the possible solutions to the problem. After
brainstorming, wisdom demands that a best solution need to be identified and the risk associated
with it.
The next stage is to assign resources. This involves allocating resources in order to ensure
that the change can happen and be actualized. This is very practical in the Wild Dog Coffee
Company. Resources will be allocated in order to actualize the establishment of a similar
company in a second location. It is necessary to include all employees through this process since
they are affected by the change. To avoid resistance, all employees must feel part of the change
and must be convinced that the change is necessary for the benefit not only for the organization
or the company but for individual development and growth. This will bring acceptance. After
resources have been reassigned, then then comes creation of an implementation plan with
colleagues identified who will champion the implementation of changes identified. Finally, you
identify communicate and execute. You communicate to avoid resistance from colleagues. At the
end you monitor the implementation and identify the problems and trying to come with a
solution as a team.
In conclusion, it is evident that employees of the organization can be an obstacle to the
changes to be effected. Internal resistance is always common in many organizations. If
incorporated correctly members can be very useful and be agents of change and ensure that there
is successful implementation of the change. The company need to ensure that those employees
who have embraced introduced process improvement changes are recognized by the
management and rewarded. This will make those who are skeptical of the changes to buy and
embrace the changes. Also those employees who are resisting the changes need to be identified
and be helped to see why the change is important in the organization.
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Flowchart
Select a process
Simplify the process
Implement change
Establish objective
Analyse data and
define a plan
Test change and
collect data
Understand current
process
Measure current state
Standardize the
process
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References
Antony, J. (2014). Readiness factors for the Lean Six Sigma journey in the higher education
sector. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 63(2), 257264.
Bortolotti, T., Danese, P., & Romano, P. (2013). Assessing the impact of just-in-time on
operational performance at varying degrees of repetitiveness. International Journal of
Production Research, 51(4), 1117-1130.
Mabin, V. (2015). Goldratt’s” Theory of Constraints” thinking processes: A systems
methodology linking soft with hard.
Parmenter, D. (2015). Key performance indicators: developing, implementing, and using
winning KPIs. John Wiley & Sons.
Trkman, P. (2013). Increasing process orientation with business process management: Critical
practices’. International journal of information management, 33(1), 48-60.
Tukker, A. (2015). Product services for a resource-efficient and circular economy–a
review. Journal of cleaner production, 97, 76-91.