By Greg Millinger and Alicia Bowers, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms By maintaining automated control over a process with Work Process Management, companies can have a much better chance of reducing waste for the longer term. Includes Lean Six Sigma glossary.
In a manual process, teams go through four phases, make improvements, and have visibility within the organization regarding the improvements. Eventually, however, projects can lose momentum, and the new processes or improvements can break down. By automating the control plan and control process, the project stays alive. Teams can have workflows that enforce consistent execution of the processes and have a system that generates reports related to the control plan. Improvements remain in place, focus stays on the benefits, and visibility and commitment stay high within the organization for continuing the initiative.