Building a Continuous Improvement Culture
The Client is a global innovator, manufacturer and distributor
of Applied Thermal equipment for a broad range of
Commercial and Industrial applications. This 90 year old
firm operates from a base of 34 plant locations.
Facing an increasingly competitive array of markets, and in
anticipation of new emission regulation for 2007, the client
was determined to maintain competitive advantage through
a four-pronged strategy, namely: Strategic Planning and
Business Development, New Products and Technologies,
Financial Stability, and Improved Profitability. While there
were many recognized opportunities to grow and prosper,
there was a significant concern about the ability to achieve
a “continuous improvement” culture.
• SPG’s Consulting Assignment
The client asked SPG, Inc. to:
 Develop an overall Business Case for CI by establishing a
cost/benefit model
 Develop and implement plans to communicate CI
throughout the organization
 Develop and implement a Global CI Delivery Plan
 Create a data bank of CI methods and best practices
 Develop a consistent, yet flexible method of managing CI
 Provide assistance to a new Continuous Improvement
Leader – Continuous Improvement Program Office
• SPG’s Business Discovery Findings
 The CI initiative must be implemented using a
“pull”strategy from all locations to be accepted
 There were no consistent methods to effectively develop
and deliver the CI initiative on this broad scale
 The CI initiative must be consistently applied to all areas,
direct manufacturing and indirect support alike
 The success of CI within the firm was a function of
consistent training, measuring & sustaining cost, quality,
service gains
 Management had misaligned CI expectations of immediate
“acceptance” with organizational realities of “skepticism”
 Significant communication gaps had to be filled to translate
the CI vision into a practical, culturally-embraced program
 There were inadequate methods, practices and processes in
place to effectively manage a global CI Program Office
• Results and Quantitative Benefits
SPG consultants partnered with client employees to jointly
design the comprehensive Continuous Improvement
Infrastructure and the integrated System for Managing. This
initial phase of the effort focused on delivering a flexible,
practical approach to embed Continuous Improvement into
the culture. Significant accomplishments included:
 A cohesive set of elements & processes that are the heart of
the implementation of Continuous Improvement; these
include elements for Planning, Doing and Reviewing; all
elements were designed as integrated within existing
frameworks, tenets, and endorsed quality standards
 A comprehensive toolkit of CI Training modules, CI
Presentation templates, and CI Mobilization approaches
 A CI organization structure that is aligned to support the
four stated strategic imperatives of the firm
 A disciplined, structured process for effectively
implementing CI - includes defining critical business needs,
planning and scheduling training, delivery of CI events,
monitoring effectiveness & results, communication
planning, and measuring hard benefit performance
improvement
 A new process to better define and prioritize all potential CI
Projects, so that best return of investments are realized
 An enhanced set of tools and skills to better archive and
share Continuous Improvement lessons learned, best
practices, and case studies from all areas of the company
 New tools to evaluate, trend and report out on performance
improvements that operate as “bottoms up pull” versus
“tops down push” protocols
 A revamped process for engaging all levels of management
leadership within the CI initiative; with active roles &
responsibilities defined for the Chairman through
Supervision at the department level
 Reward and recognition processes were designed to identify
outstanding achievement in implementing CI
 An assessment process was prototyped to identify the
“critical few” CI opportunities within every department
 A comprehensive Communications Campaign was designed
and initially implemented to bring all people to a common
understanding of CI goals and expected outcomes through
successful implementation
A System for Managing Continuous Improvement
• SPG – Project Approach
Schrudder Performance Group, LLC. Proprietary Information - 1004
SFM
CI Program
Office
Inputs
Requirements
SPG recommended that we build an integrated Continuous
Improvement Infrastructure for the company, using a small,
focused Joint Team effort. This was to include strategy,
processes, training content, organization, financial case, and
communications elements.We provided the team
management, content and process expertise, coupled with
the client’s newly appointed CI Program Leader.
Further, we recommended that the company, including a local
University, work with us to design and implement a
comprehensive System for Managing (SFM) continuous
improvement; also to develop over 20 Six Sigma-based
content training modules.
An integrated approach was developed and implemented over
a very aggressive timeframe to quickly get CI “up and
running” within the traditional business. Weekly reviews
were conducted with a group of local executives, serving as
a Governance team. They were responsible for eliminating
any internal barriers and constraints, reviewing content
recommendations, and making key decisions.
Plan
Do
Review
Business Goals
Assignments
Reporting
Plan -Budgets
Follow -up
Resources
Evaluation &
Trending
Data Gathering
Schedules
Work Plans
Group Training
Lessons
Learned
Sessions
Measurement
Requirements
• Background
To GM’s,
Divisions,
Dept’s,
Plants
Output
AASystem
for Managing can
bringinsures
a disciplined,
structured
work Management
System
availability
of resource,
approach to planning, executing and reporting CI Initiatives.
and predictability in meeting customer requirements
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