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Continuous Improvement

According to ARC research 80% of manufacturers are applying one or more Continuous Improvement methodologies seeing that the adoption of new technology to improve their CI programs can 'take their business to a higher level of financial performance'. And this is not just theory or research but reality - the success story below demonstrates how IVAX' policy of continuous improvement achieved improved throughput, reduced downtime and repeatable quality.

It is noticeable today that Continuous Improvement is a subject rather than an ethos. Companies have Continuous Improvement programmes that frequently sit alongside (or include) Lean Manufacturing, TPM, and Six Sigma. This is done as the search for improvement must never end, it being a fundamental approach to staying competitive.

We are aware that Continuous Improvement programmes, in whatever guise, have common characteristics. In broad terms there are three phases; the early day success, then the need for more information followed by the need for ongoing insight. The early day success is usually obtained by manual and common sense activities. These produce instant results but in fact are taking up the visible slack that was in the business from the start. This phase is relatively cheap to undertake (given lost production time through numerous group meetings), and produces results. However, the observed trend is that the benefits then stall and without diligent management can in fact decline, thus the savings obtained by improvement are at risk and in many cases are a one-time wonder rather than continuous. The usual cause of this is that to continue to improve tasks, issues become more complex and data driven, their root causes being in many cases unobservable ie. the need for more information. EmsPT knows where such data is to be found and can bring this to light for useful benefit. The third stage is where true ongoing insight is required, here functionally rich solutions are needed to maintain and sustain improvement.

EmsPT Business Intelligence solutions are needed and with EmsPT unique 'Thin Slice' approach CI champions can present the benefits that a CI program can yield promoting acceptance of change throughout the organisation!