New Book Explores the "Ingredients" Missing in Most Improvement Efforts

Sept. 28, 2010 - PRLog -- Despite performance improvement initiatives such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Supply-Chain Management, only a handful of companies actually break out of the pack to transform their enterprise. This problem is not unique to today's improvement methodologies; the same issues existed when organizations first adopted TQM, re-engineering, and other popular improvement methodologies. Providing helpful methods and metrics for effecting true change, this book highlights how to avoid common improvement traps that inhibit many organizations from rising above the rest.

Written by two experts who have dedicated their careers to quality improvement, Escape the Improvement Trap: Five Ingredients Missing in Most Improvement Recipes separates itself from other improvement books by looking at why most companies rarely achieve anything more than an average level of improvement maturity. They identify five critical ingredients required for successful improvement:

1. A meaningful business value proposition and strategy that drives key improvement actions
2. An engaging environment where people can do their best work
3. A focus on meaningful metrics while avoiding irrelevant details
4. Process improvement efforts that maximize cross-functional process performance and foster deeper process understanding, innovation, and execution of best work practices
5. An executive mindset that focuses on customer value, people development, process performance, and business improvement outcomes, not solely on savings

The authors consider a variety of situations at Independence Enterprise, a fictional company, based on their own very real experiences. They elaborate on the principles that should come into play, look at what Independence Enterprise is doing right and wrong, and suggest deployment actions to help you apply the principles to your own organization.

Endorsements

"Escape the Improvement Trap is a must read book for all senior executives seeking to change the culture of their organization and drive it to a level 4 or 5 on the Improvement Maturity Curve. We have all suffered from the difficulty of sustaining improvement, and this book lays the sustaining process in a simple common sense way that is easy to read.”
— Basem HishmehChairman, Sigma-Netics, Inc.

"We are entering into a Reset global economy, where a New Normal has clearly been established, filled with much peril and much opportunity, yet with an uncertain path forward for all. Now along comes a book focused on Improvement that can help … develop a path that avoids peril, takes advantage of opportunity, and drives 21st century success."
— Dan McDonnell, Vice President – Operational Excellence, Ingersoll Rand

About the Authors

Michael Bremer is President of The Cumberland Group – Chicago, an Adjunct Senior Engagement Manager for Motorola University, and lecturer for the University of Chicago and Loyola University.   He is a nationally recognized speaker on six sigma, process improvement, lean manufacturing, leadership, and leadership team effectiveness. He has over 25 years experience including director of the information systems group for a Fortune 25 company, Chief Financial Officer for the Association of Manufacturing Excellence and President of several new business start-ups. He is the lead author for Six Sigma Financial Tracking and Reporting published December, 2005 and a co-author for The Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook both published by McGraw Hill.  He serves on the national board of the Association Manufacturing Excellence and is a past board member of the Strategic Management Association and Board President of Old Town School of Folk Music.  Michael has a Bachelors of Science Degree in Business from the University of Missouri – St. Louis, he is CPA, a CMC, and a Motorola Certified “Six Sigma Black Belt.” He has published a number of articles on process improvement, corporate strategy and performance metrics.

Brian McKibben is a founding partner of The Cumberland Group - Chicago, and an adjunct senior consultant for Motorola University. He has thirty years experience in operations planning and management.   He has worked with many well-known clients, including Allied Signal (defense electronics systems), Champion / Gardner Denver (air compressors), Commonwealth Edison (Electric utility), General Dynamics (satellite launch vehicles), Gillette, Herman Miller (office equipment), Johnsonville Foods, and Master Lock.  Brian holds a B.S. in Business and Economics / Industrial Management from the Stuart School of Management and Finance at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. He is past president of the Chicago Chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, a speaker on operations planning and performance improvement to other professional organizations, and co-author of [Six Sigma Financial Tracking and Reporting (McGraw-Hill, 2005).

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