Comments on: The Power of Process Measurement http://www.dailykaizen.org/archives/24 A blog about improvement in health care Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:23:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Lee Fried http://www.dailykaizen.org/archives/24#comment-4 Lee Fried Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:09:23 +0000 http://www.dailykaizen.org/archives/24#comment-4 In the process we currently track performance by time, cost and # of defects. So for example I can tell you that during the week of March 27th we completed 67,300 units of work, with an average cycle time of 7.6 days and the average cost was $8.01 per unit. I can also tell you that these outcome measures are all higher then target. What I cannot tell you is why this has occured. I also was not able to get this information in a timely manner, so once it was reported the shortfall had already happened. This is because we do not track process measures. If a process measurement system were in place we might have discovered on Monday that a huge batch was going to be dropped on the process on Tuesday the 28th, which would have allowed us to shift resources to avoid a huge backlog at the QA step. A good process measurement system provides the why while the outcome system provides the what. Good process measurement systems typcially focus primarly on time, but also volume and quality. These system should provide real time measures that are visible to all, so that employees are able to make adjustments in real time to the process before a problem grows in scope and impact. The good news is that LEAN provides many tools and skills that allow us to set these systems up fairly easily. In the process we currently track performance by time, cost and # of defects. So for example I can tell you that during the week of March 27th we completed 67,300 units of work, with an average cycle time of 7.6 days and the average cost was $8.01 per unit. I can also tell you that these outcome measures are all higher then target. What I cannot tell you is why this has occured. I also was not able to get this information in a timely manner, so once it was reported the shortfall had already happened. This is because we do not track process measures.

If a process measurement system were in place we might have discovered on Monday that a huge batch was going to be dropped on the process on Tuesday the 28th, which would have allowed us to shift resources to avoid a huge backlog at the QA step. A good process measurement system provides the why while the outcome system provides the what. Good process measurement systems typcially focus primarly on time, but also volume and quality. These system should provide real time measures that are visible to all, so that employees are able to make adjustments in real time to the process before a problem grows in scope and impact. The good news is that LEAN provides many tools and skills that allow us to set these systems up fairly easily.

]]> By: Ted Eytan http://www.dailykaizen.org/archives/24#comment-3 Ted Eytan Mon, 24 Apr 2006 17:53:26 +0000 http://www.dailykaizen.org/archives/24#comment-3 What's an example of how you tell how you performed? What does a process measurement system look like? What’s an example of how you tell how you performed? What does a process measurement system look like?

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