Find links and research for continuous improvement of a South Carolina business process: Charleston, Florence , Greenville, Columbia, the Lowcountry, the Midlands, and the Upstate. Stephen Deas gives five steps for continuous improvement of a wide range of South Carolina processes: manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare, education, and municipal government. Stephen Deas is the President of Quality Minds Inc based out of Charleston, SC He is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt with twenty plus years experience in production, engineering, purchasing, and quality. Stephen Deas was certified as a Quality Engineer in 1991 and has a Bachelors of Industrial Engineering (Georgia Tech) and a Masters of Industrial Statistics (University of South Carolina)

1. Five Simple Steps for Continuous
Improvement of South Carolina
Business Processes
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

2. South Carolina Business
Processes
• A process is a collection of activities that convert
inputs into outputs. Each output has a customer
and every input has a supplier.
• Arguably, every South Carolina organization
uses processes to produce and deliver products
and services to customers.
• The South Carolina industries where continuous
improvement of business processes is needed
include manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality,
municipal government, and education.
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

3. Step One: Define the South Carolina
Business Opportunity for Improvement
• What are your customers saying about your product or service?
• Complete a Project Charter:
– Project information: Pick a team leader, a team mentor, and a start and end date
for the project
– Team Members: Pick five to six team members making sure the membership is
cross functional
– Process Start/Stop: Where does the business process (to be improved) start and
stop?
– Process Importance: Why is this business process important to your business?
– Process Improvement Opportunities: What needs to improve? This may come
from your customer or from within your organization
– Process Goals: What are your goals for this business process? What do you
want to achieve in the project?
– Process Measurements: How will you know if you reached the goals? How will
you track progress?
– Project time frame: List the key steps of your project with dates. Make sure the
dates fit within the start and end dates for the project.
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

4. Project:
Project Information Process Importance
Leader:
Mentor:
Project Start:
Project End:
Cost of Poor Quality:
Team Members Process Improvement Opportunities
Mentor:
Leader:
Team Members:
Project Goals
Process Start/Stop
Start Point: Process Measurements
Stop Point:
Project Time-Frame
Milestone:
Date: (C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

5. Step Two: Measure the South
Carolina Business Process
• Understand the process as it exists today. You are painting a “before
picture”
• Basic Techniques for Measuring a Process:
– Time the business process at work
– Videotape the business process at work
– Talk to the people that work within the business process
• Create a SIPOC Diagram of the Process:
– S (Suppliers): Who supplies each input?
– I (Inputs): What are the key inputs for this process? These are the ingredients
needed to make the process happen.
– P(Process): Write out the general steps of the process. Look at the process
from a satellite view. This is the recipe for the output
– O (Output): What are the key outputs of the process? These are what the
customer is paying for
– C (Customer): List your customers. You have external customers (those that
pay you for your product and/or service) and internal customers (internal
departments that receive output from this process)
• Collect performance data for the different areas of the SIPOC diagram:
Supplier, Inputs, Process, Output, Customers
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

6. SIPOC Diagram of Process and Information
to Collect in the Measure Phase
Supplier Inputs Process Output Customer
Supplier Quality Incoming Inspection Process Audits SPC Customer
Supplier Delivery Process Audits Scrap Inspection and Satisfaction
Quality System Audit First Time Quality Testing Customer
Process Audits Changeover Process Capability Complaints
Returned product
Cycle Time
Metrics
On time delivery
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

7. Step Three: Analyze the South
Carolina Business Process
• Once you have measured the process and
understand how it is performing, analyze the
process to understand the specific areas that
need to be improved
• Basic Techniques for Analyzing a Process:
– Fishbone Diagram
– Brainstorming
– Nominal Technique
• Issue a root cause statement for the process
opportunity for improvement
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

8. Root Cause Statement for the Process
Opportunity for Improvement
• Be specific on what must improve in the
process
• The statement of improvement should be
simple and concise but worded such that
the call to improvement is obvious.
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

9. Step Four: Improve the South
Carolina Business Process
• Using the root cause statement and the results
of the analysis, take actions to improve the
process
• Use the plan/do/check/act approach to
implement improvement actions for the process:
– PLAN Plan the action: List the action along with a
responsibility and due date
– DO Carry out or do the action
– CHECK Verify or check that the action worked
– ACT Take action based on what you learned from
your check
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

10. Change in the Process
Before After
What was the state of the What is the state of the
process before the process after the
improvement? improvement?
Try to make an objective Try to make an objective
statement statement
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

11. Step Five: Control the South
Carolina Business Process
• Implement controls to sustain the process
improvement
• Develop a control plan to document the process
controls
• Basic Techniques for Controlling a Process:
– Statistical Process Control
– Process Audits
– 5s Audits
– Standard Operating Procedures
– Work Instructions
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009

12. Contact Quality Minds Inc for a Free
Initial Consultation for South Carolina
Business Process Improvement
• Stephen Deas President Quality Minds Inc
Charleston SC
– Stephen is a certified six sigma black belt with a
Bachelors of Industrial Engineering (Georgia Tech)
and a Masters of Industrial Statistics (University of
South Carolina)
• sd@qualitymindsinc.com
– Business email
• (843) 814 3864
– My cell phone
• www.qualitymindsinc.com
– Overview of Quality Minds Inc.
(C) Quality Minds Inc. July 2009