Reasons for developing a new “new product”

Planning new products plays an important role in the assortment and pricing policy. In addition, the product planning and development policy is an important direction in the production, marketing strategy and company strategy as a whole.

New product planning ensures the achievement of the goals:

Maintaining and increasing market share and sales volume;

Meeting new market needs;

Positioning of the company and its products in the market;

Increasing profit;

Factors that make it necessary to develop new products:

Constantly growing competition;

New customer needs;

The ever-decreasing competitiveness of the product;

Limits of the use of available technologies (assessed by the Gompertz S-curve).

Get New Product The company can use it in two ways:

Acquire the right to this product (by franchise or by buying a company with a finished product)

Develop a product (independently or with the help of expert firms)

World novelties: new products, the emergence of which leads to the formation of a special market (creation of a car)

New product lines: new products that allow the company to enter the target market for the first time (creation of a new class of car, such as a golf class)

Expansion of existing product lines: new products that are in addition to the existing product lines of the company (new packaging, fillers, configurations ...)

Improvement and modification of existing products: new products with improved performance or higher value for the consumer, replacing existing products (modifications of a car of the same make and model)

Repositioning: already existing products destined for new markets or market segments (use of a passenger car as an onboard small van)

Price Reduction: New products that have the same features as their predecessors, but at a lower price (gradual reduction in the price of a model already in production).

Only 10% of all new products are world novelties. Their development and organization of production require the greatest risk-related costs, since the goods are not familiar to either the company or the market. Therefore, most of the company's time is spent on improving existing products (at Sony, 80% of all time is from planning new products).

When developing a new product and its implementation, problems arise, as a result of which failures occur. Main reasons for failure:

Lobbying unsuccessful ideas;

Re-evaluation of the market size, despite a successful product idea;

Deficiencies in the design of the new product;

Product development costs were higher than planned;

Underestimation of the competitor's response move;

Reasons that slow down the process of developing a new product:

In some areas of production there is a lack of new revolutionary ideas;

Market fragmentation;

Social and government restrictions;

The high cost of the process of developing new products;

Lack of capital;

Time delay;

Reduction life cycle goods;

An analysis of the product policy matrix showed that an enterprise should develop new positions in its assortment both in the case of an attacking competition strategy and a defensive one. The degree of novelty of the product directly depends on the degree of activity of the company on the market. This means: the stronger the firm attacks on the market, the higher the degree of novelty of the product it develops.

The degree of novelty of the product planned for development and its place in the assortment is determined by the company itself in accordance with its product policy, which is presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Product policy versus relevant competition strategies

Thus, the planning and development of goods at the enterprise is the most important process for ensuring the competitiveness of the enterprise as a whole. In dynamically developing markets, more often used commodity policies offering new products and expanding the existing range. Moreover, in the market of means of production, products are most often manufactured under specific client or modified for it. The introduction of new types of manufactured products in the market of means of production is dictated by the level of technical progress and the economic situation in the country

What questions will you find answered in this article:

• Why To CEO need to listen to the workers?
• How to encourage staff to improve their work?
• What are practical tools to improve production efficiency?

You will also read:

• How did the working group solve the problem with marriage in the VSMPO-Avisma corporation?
• What has reduced the time of the total production cycle at the Kaluga Automobile Electrical Equipment Plant?
• Expert advice: how to implement kaizen in five days (comment by Michael Vader)?

Before assembling the engine, the engine armature is balanced to eliminate vibrations - pieces of paste are attached, which break off from the whole piece, like plasticine.

Periodic work is an activity that is not included in every cycle of manufacturing or processing a part: inspection, changing tools, oils, receiving parts, materials in the pantries, cleaning the workplace, etc.

In order for production to work efficiently, it is not enough to purchase equipment and establish production technology. The main part of the production process is the work of the staff. If you can not only teach people to perform daily routine work with high quality, but also interest them in constantly improving their performance, then your production will work smoothly and efficiently. It is important to choose the right control technology.

Methods of Western management recommend standardizing processes, describing them in regulations and bringing them to the attention of the staff strictly “from top to bottom”. But such techniques almost exclude the feedback of the leader with people. As a result, the General Director is not often in production and does not consider it necessary to listen to the opinion of the worker or technical staff. As a result, many production processes are inefficient, and it does not occur to the worker or specialist that he can change the situation. For example, the button of the machine is located under the right hand of the worker, and in order to perform the operation, he has to turn around, spending about a minute on the whole process. On the scale of the whole enterprise, this is a significant time investment. If the button is moved under the left hand, the procedure will take no more than 15 seconds. The problem is that such questions, as a rule, do not reach the level of top management.

A worker who feels like an engaged participant in the process would tell the manager how to speed up the production operations. And the time savings would be obvious.

How to get the CEO interested in the staff

The staff will treat the improvement of production processes in their area as a daily and necessary work if you create in the team an atmosphere of constant search for ways of development. How to do it? Try to convey the following thoughts to subordinates:

• I'm interested in the opinion of all employees of the company.
• Everyone is responsible for their own workflow and can suggest improvements. All will be heard.
• The decision to change production processes will be discussed in working groups and taken collectively.
• Initiative workers will be encouraged.

When employees see that you support change, that the entire enterprise management system is focused on them, they will actively look for ways to improve own work. It is equally important that employees be confident in the future. It is impossible to take responsibility for the work process and improve it if the threat of dismissal is in the air. For example, in our company, I promised people that while I was in charge of production, none of them would be fired. We are talking about a team of like-minded people, which I formed over the course of several years. For a company that is a participant in the alcohol market, where staff rotations occur frequently, such guarantees are very relevant.

Another incentive for development is the opportunity to acquire professional skills at the plant. When the production opened, there were few specialists. We took university graduates to the position of technologists and trained them from scratch. I spent up to 70-80% of the time in the shops, talking with managers and workers, advising how to solve systemic problems. This is how we do it to this day. In addition, we support employees in their pursuit of career growth. All this allows our people to believe that increasing the efficiency of production (improving quality, productivity, reducing time costs) depends on each of them.

How the working group reduced manufacturing defects

In the corporation "VSMPO-Avisma" in one of the shops there was a lot of marriage. To deal with the problem, we have created a working group.

1. What has been done:

• collected and analyzed data on the causes of nonconforming products;
• the main "problem" products (forged bars
• and rolled rings) and “problem” stages of production (forging and cleaning of bars, production of blanks for rings);
• a questionnaire survey of employees involved in the production of these products was conducted;
• an action plan was created to reduce the number of defects;
• amendments have been made to existing technological documents that clarify some important production points;
• recommendations were written for loading furnaces, allowing for high-quality forging and obtaining conditioned products;
• the forging procedure on the press was detailed and described;
• "forging maps" were created, in which the sequence of transitions and the time allotted for each transition are indicated;
• an instruction was written explaining how to improve the quality of metal forging by optimizing the cleaning process;
• the system of motivation for workers of the forge shop has been changed: now defects are analyzed at meetings of teams, this information is taken into account when making decisions on bonuses;
• training of operators, blacksmiths, foremen to new standards of work was carried out, certification was organized;
• masters were trained in the system lean manufacturing, which contributed to a change in views on production and a desire among employees to suggest improvements.

2. Bottom line. During the year, the number of defective products decreased by 46%. We did not come to this result immediately. At first, due to misunderstanding on the part of the shop workers, there were difficulties with the implementation of the project. But then, in the process of teamwork and training, the need and opportunity for change became obvious, and then the work went quickly and amicably.

Based on materials provided by Antonina Sokolova, business coach at CenterOrgProm

Expert opinion

Michael Vader
President and Lead Trainer of Leadership Excellence International Inc, Colorado Springs, USA; certified expert in the implementation of lean manufacturing

People should not be afraid to suggest improvements, on the contrary, they should be assured that their efforts will be rewarded. In order for employees to be interested in looking for optimization methods over a long period, it is necessary to gradually connect material motivation. For example, to pay at the end of the quarter (year) bonuses based on the results of savings due to the transformation of funds. It is important that all employees receive equal percentage bonuses and know about it. If a top manager receives, for example, an incentive bonus at the end of the year - 15% of the salary, then the worker should receive at least 15%.

Leadership Excellence International was founded in 1995. Renders consulting services on optimization of production and business processes, elimination of hidden losses in production, in organizations in the service sector. It has branches in India, Malaysia, Singapore, and is actively working in the Russian market.

How to implement lean manufacturing

The main task of the General Director is to be the initiator of the implementation of the lean manufacturing method and its active supporter. In practice, you can entrust the implementation to the production director.

There are management tools that encourage staff to take an interest in the work process, as well as constantly improve performance. All of them are aimed at introducing lean thinking into the enterprise. This means that each participant in the process should strive to do their work faster, better and with the least effort. In our factory, we use five tools:

1. Establishment of an autonomous problem-solving working group.

2. Visual management.

3. Rational use of the production site.

4. Change of activities of the staff.

5. Maintenance of equipment (workplace).

1. Establish an autonomous problem-solving working group

As a rule, information from a worker goes to the General Director along the following chain: worker - foreman - foreman - process engineer - head of department - head of workshop - production director - General Director. As a result, information may be distorted or received with a delay.

To speed up the exchange of information, I created working groups at the enterprise. They consist of representatives from all production departments. Groups meet about once a week. Employees are assigned daily, weekly, monthly tasks. Each group solves the issue at its own level, regulates it, and then comes to me with a decision. I'll give you an example. Preparation of activated carbon before loading into carbon columns was a laborious and messy process. At the initiative of the employees, a plant was developed and constructed that allows for lower labor costs and better quality to carry out this operation. Now coal preparation technology is the know-how of our company

What gives. As a result of this practice, in recent years, the loss of raw materials and auxiliary materials we have decreased several times.

CEO speaking

Alexey Baranov


In one Russian car assembly company, the work is built as follows. At a weekly meeting, the assembler team considers the operators' suggestions for process improvement. Then a decision is made on the implementation of one or more proposals. What would then happen in most companies? Weekly approval of rationalization proposals, visas in many offices. What's going on here? The team's decision is binding on management. And the head of the shop has one month to implement it. Did not meet - blame yourself. The team will meet again in a month and demand a report.

TsentrOrgProm LLC is a Russian provider of services for the development of Lean systems (lean manufacturing, kaizen, Toyota Production System). Clients - "Rusal", KamAZ, "VSMPO-Avisma", "AvtoVAZ", Uralmashzavod, confectionery factory "May 1", "Uralsvyazinform" and other companies in Russia and neighboring countries.

2. Visual management

Visual management tools can be different depending on the specifics of production. The development and application of visual management tools in production is usually the responsibility of the quality department. At our plant, there are bar charts in front of the workshops, and all employees can get acquainted with the state of the production line by shifts. Indicators below the norm are marked in red. Next comes the downtime analysis, all performers identify its causes. They can be organizational, supply-related, functional, etc. Quality department employees document the work of the bottling line per shift, the operation of machines, and analyze the reasons for stoppages. All this is noted on the primary sheets of accounting, compiled and then analyzed at meetings with the head of the shop. Another useful tool for visual management in production is the distinctive color of the work clothes of QCD employees. In our production, the specialists of this department are dressed in bright clothes so that each employee, if a problem or question arises, can quickly seek advice.

What gives. Saving time and labor costs.

CEO speaking

Alexey Baranov
General Director of CenterOrgProm LLC, Yekaterinburg

Along with histograms, you can use the andon board system - a device for visual control of the production process. It can be a scoreboard that shows what is happening at the enterprise, or several light bulbs that light up, notifying about certain processes. For example, a red light indicates that the equipment has stopped for some reason, a light of a different color is on if the equipment needs to be loaded, that is, the materials have run out or the intervention of workers is needed.

3. Rational use of the production site

Rationally organized workplaces meet the following requirements: free space around the worker, no obstacles (nothing should interfere with his movements), passages between machines and workshops are designed so that workers do not have to spend a lot of time moving.

What gives. Increasing the utilization rate of equipment, saving time and labor costs, freeing up production space, reducing losses during transportation and movement.

Practitioner tells

Marina Antyufeeva
Director for Development, Production Optimization and Quality Management System, Autocomponents Division, Avtokom OJSC, Kaluga

In 2005, at the Kaluga Automobile Electrical Equipment Plant (KZAE), I headed the production development center. We started to implement improvements in the assembly areas, as there were equipment that was easy to move, and short-term operations were carried out. At all plants in Russia, there is now a shortage of personnel; there was a shortage of balancers at the assembly sites of this enterprise. When observing the work of the operator, it turned out that the balancer receives the paste in the workshop warehouse four to five times per shift (which is 1.66 seconds per part). If the balancing paste is delivered to workplace, this will give a reduction in periodic work of 35 hours.

Another example. Analyzing the work of the unit assembly site, it was revealed that the equipment was placed not according to the technological chain, but according to the principle “where there was free space”. We made a new layout, arranged the equipment in series - in accordance with technological process. Now the part moved from machine to machine and passed from hand to hand. There was no need for a large number of containers and a supply of parts, 90 square meters were released. m of space, the time of the total production cycle decreased from 420.11 sec. up to 331.86 sec. It raised throughput plot by 20%. And most importantly, operators, mostly women, no longer carry burdens from one workplace to another.

JSC "Autocom"- one of the AvtoVAZ suppliers, manages the Kaluga Autoelectronics Plant, the Avtopribor Plant (Kaluga), the Kozelsky Mechanical Plant (Kaluga Region), the Lyskovsky Electrotechnical Plant (Nizhny Novgorod Region), the Serpukhov Automobile Plant, owns a 50% share of the Kinelagroplast plant (Samara Region). The company was founded in 2000. The number of employees is 16.5 thousand. Annual turnover- 300 million US dollars.

4. Change of activities (staff rotation)

After you have explained to people that it is possible and necessary to offer improvements, it is necessary that this be done not from time to time, but systematically. It is important that employees understand what depends on the outcome of their work. production site so that they become familiar with related processes. If an employee produces low-quality products and it gets to the next shop, the workers of this shop will have no time to think about whether to improve the process - it will be necessary to eliminate the marriage. You can solve this problem by rotating staff. Recommend to the production director to move specialists from one shop to another several times a year.

At our plant, specialists from one workshop periodically move to another and work there for some time. For example, technologists from the blending shop move to the bottling shop, where more questions associated with the organization of labor, assembly. So far, this practice is common only in production, but over time, I hope it will be applied throughout the company.

What gives. Employees become familiar with related processes, communicate, work together to solve cross-functional problems, and then standardize the procedure to prevent future recurrence of these problems. In addition, this approach disciplines the staff, allows you to understand what exactly slows down the work at the enterprise, which specialists duplicate or redo each other's work.

5. Maintenance of equipment (workplace)

Work at the enterprise should be convenient. To do this, it is necessary that the condition of the equipment be impeccable, that everything necessary (tools, workpieces) be at hand, and all unnecessary be removed from the desktop. Our company has an equipment care system that requires the participation of not only employees technical department, but also machine operators at their workplaces. It includes scheduled preventive maintenance and preventive inspections.

What gives. Changeover time is reduced, the risks of emergency shutdown of equipment are reduced, and production safety is increased. As a result of careful attitude to the equipment in our company, we have achieved the maximum utilization rate of bottling lines - 0.88–0.90 (whereas normally it is 0.80–0.85) using domestic equipment. Some companies cannot achieve this on advanced German and Italian equipment.

Boeing visual control system

The visual production management system at the Boeing Moscow Design Center is arranged as follows. The designers are in a large hall, each has his own workplace, which is fenced off from the rest by small partitions. Each person works at his own computer and is not distracted by anything, but if he gets up, he can see the whole hall. The manager's workplace is on some elevation, and he sees the whole hall. The center adopted such a visual system: if the designer has completed the task, he raises a green flag. The manager sees that the employee is free and can perform the next task. If the performer has problems that do not require immediate attention, then he raises the yellow flag. And the leader knows that when he has free time, he must approach this person. If the problem is serious (the designer cannot complete even half of his task), the employee raises a red flag - this is already a signal not only for the manager, but for the entire team of employees assigned in advance. Team members see a red flag and immediately go to a colleague in need of help, figure out what's wrong, and fix the problem together.

Based on materials provided by TsentrOrgProm LLC

CEO speaking

Alexey Baranov
General Director of CenterOrgProm LLC, Yekaterinburg

At one of the enterprises light industry, located on the Volga, in the brigade of fitters, there was the following situation: each on-duty fitter had his own box, in which there were all tools, fixtures, components, including absolutely unnecessary ones. It took a lot of time to find the tool necessary for the job - more than five minutes. When the enterprise began to organize workplaces, the working group, together with the adjusters, analyzed the contents of their boxes. They removed everything rarely used and unnecessary and came to the conclusion that instead of boxes for each adjuster, you can get one for the whole team. So instead of twelve toolboxes, there were only four. Since the number of tools and fixtures has decreased, the time to search necessary tool now it takes less - just a few seconds.

How to Implement Kaizen in Five Days

Michael Vader
President and Lead Trainer of Leadership Excellence International Inc, Colorado Springs, USA; certified expert in the implementation of lean manufacturing.

You can start the implementation of kaizen in the enterprise with a five-day assault-breakthrough. The General Director can participate in the process personally, entrust control over the process to the production director (if we are talking about manufacturing plant) or engage an external consultant.

1st day. The CEO should give employees a specific goal to achieve after the five day period (eliminate wastage by so many percent, increase productivity by so many percent, reduce cycle time, etc.). It is especially important to show that you will listen to the opinion of not only the top manager, but also the worker.

The next step is to create a working group. It should include no more than six to eight people. Each member of the group has one vote, everyone has the right to express their own opinion. Approximate composition of the group:

• two operators (performing mechanical work);
• engineer or supervisor (manager responsible for a specific area where improvements are required);
• the head of the quality service (if we are talking about processes on which quality depends) or the repairman (if these are production processes);
• two people from other departments (accounting, purchasing or acceptance-shipment department, representative of the supplier or customer); these people, who are not privy to the process, will ask questions, perhaps silly, from the point of view of specialists, but necessary for the emergence of new, breakthrough ideas.

The team goes to the shop floor and collects data on the performance of current operations as of one day (production volume, scrap rate, quality issues, hidden losses due to movement through the warehouse, machine downtime, etc.). Then the problems that arise in the process of achieving the goal set by the Director General are described. The task of the first day of the group is to understand the goal and collect data about the process.

2nd day. The person in charge (CEO, COO, external consultant) should take the lead in reviewing the team's list of issues that need to be addressed on the way to the goal. All participants are involved in the discussion. Combine similar ideas and try to focus on two or three possible solutions. The proposed improvements need to be measurable.

3rd day. The working group discusses the possibility of implementing the ideas. Let the team agree that small trial improvements will be implemented in which all employees can participate. Someone on the team should start documenting the new procedures. It should be noted that the group submits a report on the transformations to the General Director no later than the fifth day.

4th day. The group continues to implement the changes and begins to work on measuring the effectiveness of the new process. To tell management what improvements the team has made, it will need to compare performance before and after the change.

5th day. The group finalizes the documentation of the new operating procedures and reports to the CEO (if he did not participate in the brainstorming) what improvements were made.

A course for continuous improvement

One of the fundamental principles of lean manufacturing is “kaizen” (or “kaizen”), which can be translated from Japanese as “change for the better”, “improvement”. It is a philosophy and management mechanisms that encourage employees to propose improvements and implement them on-line. “In the traditional approach to management, the tasks of enterprise development are divided into two levels: the first is innovation, incremental improvements (the function of top management), the second is the maintenance of existing processes and implemented improvements (the function of employees). New Approach involves the use of an improvement mechanism at the enterprise, in which both managers and employees are engaged in continuous improvement,” explains Nikolai Kanareikin, Managing Director of KAIZEN Institute Russia.

The starting point for improvements, according to Nikolai, is to determine the needs of the client, what he is willing to pay for. Customers include both external customers and divisions of the company itself. All operations that are justified from the point of view of the client add value to the product, the rest is waste. According to KAIZEN Institute Russia, on average Russian enterprise 95% of the time in any process is waste: only 5% of the time the product is processed by operations, the rest is waiting periods for the next stage, which leads to an increase in inventory, an increase in lead times and distraction working capital. From the point of view of employee productivity, companies also have a huge room for improvement: on average, they spend 50–70% of their working time on value-adding operations, the rest is spent on searching for materials, documents, downtime, and reworking marriage.

“Research conducted by us for more than 20 enterprises various industries, revealed the following pattern: 70% of employees know how to reduce the time of operations, 50% - how to reduce resource consumption, more than 70% - how to improve labor safety, more than 50% - how to improve quality. This is a huge reserve hidden in people, and in order to use the potential of employees, it is necessary to transform the corporate culture,” says Nikolai Kanareikin.

To understand what changes will be required, it is necessary to assess staff satisfaction through a special questionnaire, during which the main aspects of corporate culture are determined: the relationship of employees, their attitude to the company, management, changes and existing ways motivation and stimulation. Nikolai believes that the task of all units ( personnel service in particular) - not coercion, but the creation of “kaizen” competence among employees: “The staff will certainly be active through an understanding of the “kaizen” philosophy, provided that they are sufficiently aware of the goals and directions of improvements and the presence of incentives understandable to everyone. Nikolay sees the priority task of personnel management in personnel motivation, but he warns against monetary incentives that can "bury" the idea of ​​using people's reserves.

Among the methods of motivation recommended by KAIZEN Institute Russia are informing employees about what is happening in the company, attention from the immediate supervisor, group work, delegation of authority within the competence of a person (he must be able to improve at least his workplace), as much as possible fast Feedback suggestions for improvement, as well as staff training. “When I am asked how to motivate leaders to participate in the process of continuous improvement, I am genuinely surprised. After all, this is not a right, but a duty of every manager. “We don’t have time, we settle problems,” they object to me. Putting out fires in a manager's job is waste. The manager adds value when he organizes the improvement of processes, namely: reducing defects, non-production costs, time for performing operations,” Nikolai Kanareikin explains the features of the principle of continuous improvement in the work of managers.

The main mechanism for implementing the principles of continuous improvement is the working group, which is created to achieve specific improvement goals or to continuously search for ways to improve a certain process in the enterprise.

As a rule, most of the problems in the company are not a secret for the staff. However, their elimination is often considered by each division in relation to its indicators. To eliminate cross-functional difficulties, representatives of all departments, one way or another related to the problem, should be involved. To solve it, according to Nikolai Kanareikin, it is necessary "based on the metrics set by the external or internal client of the process."

The effectiveness of group work in the “coordinate system” established by the client lies in the fact that people in the team are united common goal, constant interaction strengthens horizontal ties, there is an exchange of views that prevents the emergence of confrontation. “Unfortunately, the struggle for resources takes place in the typical format of the work of companies, representatives of departments try to acquire powers and at the same time reduce their responsibility,” says Nikolai. – Decisions of the interfunctional group already in the process of discussion are coordinated positions, so the implementation of changes is faster. The introduction of a culture of universal cross-functional interaction contributes to the transition to a process approach to management and makes it possible to reduce hierarchy levels, providing organization flexibility. Thus, a single point of view "from the client" acts as a kind of arbiter in disputes between representatives of different departments.

One of the principles of modern quality management is the continuous improvement of the organization's performance. This principle means that the results of an organization become optimal if its work is carried out on the basis of knowledge management in the conditions of an established culture of continuous learning, innovation and improvement.

GOST R ISO 9000: 2001 “Quality management systems. Fundamentals and vocabulary" contains the following definitions, reflecting the essence of continuous improvement of the organization's activities.

Quality improvement- part of quality management aimed at increasing the ability to fulfill quality requirements.

Continuous Improvement- recurring activities to increase the facility's ability to meet requirements.

The process of setting goals and looking for opportunities for improvement should be an ongoing process, using

audit observations (checks) and conclusions on its results, data analysis, management analysis and other means. This process usually leads to corrective or preventive action.

The above definitions underlie the concept of continuous improvement of the organization's activities, the ideas of which have been actively developed since the 1950s. many experts in this field: A. Feigenbaum, J. Juran, F. Crosby, W.E. Deming, K. Ishikawa, G. Taryra, J. Harrington and others. One of the most common illustrations of continuous improvement ideas is the Deming cycle (PDCA cycle). In the introduction to the standard GOST R ISO 9001: 2001 “Quality management systems. Requirements” clearly defines the need to implement the Deming cycle both at the level of the management system as a whole and in managing each process.

The goal of continual improvement of an organization's performance is to increase the ability to improve the satisfaction of customers and other interested parties. In accordance with GOST R 9000: 2001, improvement actions should include:

a) analysis and assessment of the current situation in order to identify areas for improvement;

b) setting improvement goals;

c) search for possible solutions to achieve these goals;

d) evaluation and selection of solutions;

e) implementation of the chosen decisions;

e) measuring, checking, analyzing and evaluating performance to determine whether goals have been achieved;

g) registration of changes.

The results obtained in the course of these actions are analyzed in order to identify further opportunities for improvement. Thus, improvement is a continuous activity of the organization. However, even within its individual divisions, it is impossible to improve everything all the time. Each time there will be a task of choosing priorities and allocating resources, which are always limited, therefore right choice Improvements will largely determine cost effectiveness and will allow you to calculate what the return on investment will be, what results will be achieved, and also determine whether these results will lead to the intended goals.

1. To improve something, proceeding from the fact that improved is always better than unimproved. An organization goes this way when it has vague, unmeasurable goals. At the same time, any proposals for improvement are considered, the economic effect of their implementation is calculated. Proposals that have a greater effect are introduced into the practice of the organization. However, when using this approach, there is such a danger as sub-optimization. Without applying a process approach to evaluating proposals, without focusing on the goals of the organization, one can get an economic effect in one process and large losses due to this improvement in another, adjacent one. If we improve a process without caring about adjacent processes, the results of the macro process, and the organization as a whole, the net effect can be negative. This happens especially often during organizational changes, i.e. changing the structure of departments, the sequence of work, the redistribution of responsibility, etc.

2. Achieve compliance with the “zero defects” position, work to eliminate the causes of nonconformities. In this case, much depends on what philosophy the organization adheres to in its activities. If an organization is guided by the principle “nonconformities in products and processes are our calculable losses today and huge, difficult to assess losses tomorrow”, then it wins when using this approach. But there is another common approach - "every discrepancy has its price." In this case, they begin to consider what the nonconformity costs today (in this case, most often they consider the direct costs of eliminating the nonconformity multiplied by the number of nonconformities over a certain period), determine what the costs of eliminating the cause of its occurrence (corrective actions) and how soon they will pay off . If the direct costs are too high, or if the corrective actions do not justify the direct costs, then the idea of ​​correcting this kind of inconsistency is likely to be rejected. There is an opinion about determining the optimal level of inconsistencies (acceptable level of defects, etc.). Indeed, existing losses are easy to calculate, but a mismatch in the future can lead to tenfold losses. A number of examples can be given when momentary savings led to huge losses in the future - this is also a loss of prestige trademark, and the loss of the main consumers, and the undermining of the image of the organization, and the demotivation of employees. All these losses are difficult to calculate in advance, but the art of management lies in being able to foresee.

3. Increase the efficiency of activities. One of the differences between GOST R ISO 9004: 2001 and GOST R ISO 9001: 2001 is the emphasis not only on performance, but also on performance. And since the concept of "efficiency" has two components - the result and the costs associated with obtaining it, then there are two ways to increase efficiency: improve the result at the same cost or obtain the same result at a lower cost. A more complex situation arises when savings are achieved by reducing resources or reducing their cost. So, the purchase of cheaper raw materials and materials can lead to a decrease in the cost of production, but does its quality remain at the same level, i.e. result? Will such an “improvement” bring long-term economic benefits? Very often, behind such an imaginary increase in efficiency is a deterioration in the result of work (deterioration of product and process characteristics, decrease in product reliability, etc.).

4. Compare the performance of the organization with any model and identify weaknesses. The simplest solution is to conduct an internal or external audit according to the requirements of the GOST R ISO 9001: 2001 standard. The result will be a list of identified nonconformities, the correction of which will allow maintaining a certain level of processes, but this will do little to improve their performance. Even though auditors will review the improvement process, their focus will be more on how it is being done (is the improvement plan being implemented, are corrective and preventive actions taken, etc.) rather than what it is. and to what extent it improves.

Comparison of the organization's activities with the GOST R ISO 9004: 2001 model or models of business excellence gives great opportunities. But in this case, one cannot do without self-assessment of activity. Models are advisory, they do not contain requirements, which means that by comparing your organization with the model, you can only determine strengths activities and areas where, in terms of the chosen model, improvements should be introduced. The specialists of the organization, having identified such areas, will know what needs to be improved in its activities.

5. Invite consultants and fully rely on their opinion and recommendations for improvement. In fact, this approach is reduced to one of the above. The difference is that the solution of many issues (including the question of areas for improvement) is shifted to the consultant, which adds the risk of error that may arise due to his inexperience, poor knowledge of the organization, the inapplicability of the proposed principles and strategy, etc.

However, no matter which improvement approach is chosen, importance has the creation in the organization of a favorable environment conducive to the involvement of personnel in active search opportunities to improve the performance of processes, activities and product characteristics.

American specialist J. Harrington identifies 10 conditions that contribute to the successful implementation of the process of improving performance.

1. Attitude towards the consumer as the most important component of this process.

2. Acceptance by management of long-term commitment to the implementation of the improvement process as an integral part of the company's management system.

3. Belief that there is no limit to improvement.

4. Confidence that preventing problems is better than responding to them when they arise.

5. Interest, leadership and direct participation of managers.

6. Standard of work, expressed in the form of "zero errors".

7. Participation of all employees of the company, both collective and individual.

8. Focus on improving processes, not people.

9. Belief that suppliers will become your partners if they understand your tasks.

10. Recognition of the merits of the staff.

GOST R AND SO 9004: 2001 contains brief description strategies of continuous improvement that have been established in the world practice. Two main approaches are currently being implemented:

1) breakthrough projects leading to the revision and improvement of existing processes or the introduction of new ones (as a rule, they are carried out by specially created multidisciplinary teams outside of normal activities);

2) step-by-step continuous improvement activities carried out by employees within existing processes.

Breakthrough projects typically involve redesigning existing processes and include:

■ setting goals and short description improvement project;

■ analysis existing process and opportunities to implement changes;

■ identifying and planning for process improvement;

■ verification and validation of process improvement;

■ an assessment of the level achieved, including lessons learned.

In current organizational practice, the first approach is called reengineering. M. Hammer defined it as a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve sharp, leap-like improvements in decisive, modern company performance indicators, such as cost, quality, service and pace. Reengineering is characterized by the fact that it is usually carried out not due to existing system, and contrary to the latter and, therefore, is usually initiated and carried out by the top executives of the company, whose leadership is key factor reengineering success, under their direct control.

The second approach originated in Japan after the Second World War and was called "kaizen". In recent years, it has become more and more widespread in Western countries. The philosophy of this approach suggests that a person's way of life, whether it be work, social or family life, deserves constant improvement, and the central idea is that not a day should pass without improvement in an organization. Kaizen includes most of the unique Japanese approaches that are now world famous (Figure 6.5).

Kaizen is a continuous process in which all employees of the organization participate, therefore, managers at any level are engaged in improvements (Fig. 6.6).

There are various areas for improvement in an organization. They can be: products; processes; QMS; business and organization as a whole; Environment.

Key areas for product improvement include:

1) improvement of the product itself, i.e. improvement of its characteristics, most often in response to consumer requirements. The subject of improvements here are the measurable characteristics of the products, which are benchmarked (benchmarking is the activity of targeted search, evaluation, training and use the best experience organization and production of products or provision of services at the industry, national and international levels) with the products of competitors;

2) product innovation, i.e. the creation of its new types or the introduction of significant improvements into already manufactured products that add new capabilities to it during operation or use. Innovations have a positive effect on the image of the organization, can significantly increase the competitiveness of products, interest in it from the consumer and his desire to purchase products in this particular organization.

Product improvements can be achieved by constantly innovating in quality based on careful study and anticipation of future needs of existing and potential clients. Product improvement is more about creating new needs than simply improving the characteristics and properties familiar to the consumer. Reducing the level of defectiveness is associated with the improvement of processes, not products.

Processes are the next object of continuous improvement in an organization. Process improvement is about process improvement and innovation. Under improvement is understood as the improvement of their characteristics: the cost of time and money for their implementation, the percentage of yield of good products (the share of errors), the time of the process, completeness, productivity, stability. Process improvement not only provides immediate economic benefits, but also creates the basis for further improvements and product innovations. It is very important to take into account both of these factors when evaluating a process improvement proposal, since most of the improvements made to processes do not lead to an immediate economic effect, but are aimed at the long term.

Innovation in processes is the development of completely new processes, the mastery of new approaches, methods, technologies. Most often, such projects are related to innovations in products or relationships with consumers. For example, the use of new laser or inkjet printing technologies in fax machines has made it possible to print messages on plain paper. Or another example: new Internet technologies have made it possible to create virtual online stores and it has become possible to conduct consumer surveys through the websites of organizations.

Process improvement is typically achieved through:

■ changes in technology (technical innovations);

■ timely repair or replacement of equipment;

■ changes in management practices, such as the introduction of statistical process control;

■ improving working practices;

■ improving technological discipline;

■ management, stabilization and improvement working conditions;

■ reengineering.

The goal of process improvement is to reduce the variability (variability) of quality characteristics and to eliminate or reduce the degree of influence of the causes that give rise to it, and not to combat the level of defectiveness. A decrease in defectiveness is usually the result of a decrease in variability.

Improvement of the QMS in accordance with MS ISO 9000: 2000 is one of its functions. On the one hand, this is certainly a step forward compared to previous version, on the other hand, this is to a certain extent a problem, since each system is, by definition, conservative. Any change initiatives, even for the purposes of improvement, will meet some resistance from the elements of the system itself, primarily from managers who are accustomed to established rules. The improvement of the QMS should be understood as an increase in its ability to meet the requirements. The elimination of non-conformities based on the results of audits is rather only bringing the real ability to fulfill the requirements to the planned level.

Improving the QMS requires not only systematic actions, but also the conscious, strong-willed personal participation of the top managers of the company, which can be implemented by analyzing the effectiveness and efficiency of the system based on internal audit reports. Auditing, internal or external, against the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 or an agreed pair of ISO 9001:2001 and ISO 9004:2000 remains the dominant method for system improvements, although the latter standard encourages organizations to apply the self-assessment method as well.

Improving the performance of the organization and its business as a whole is the most important goal of any company. The European Community has developed a recognized model of excellence that is used in the European Quality Award competition and a number of national competitions. This model takes into account in its criteria the interests of all parties interested in the existence of the organization, namely consumers, employees, owners, suppliers and society. However, in excellence models, more attention is paid to the achievement of the organization's stability of improvement over several years in key performance indicators, including also the comparison of the organization with competitors and “best in class” organizations.

The QMS model, reflected in MS ISO 9000: 2000 series, is built on functional duties organizations. The Business Excellence Model contains only a list of aspects of activity in which the company must be successful and apply modern approaches. This is the essential difference between these models.

The most important conditions for ensuring support for the improvements of the listed objects in the organization include:

■ setting clear goals for improvement in the organization;

■ communicating to staff the need for and goals of ongoing changes;

■ top management support;

■ involvement and motivation of all staff.

However, even when these conditions are met, organizations tend to encounter overt or covert resistance to upcoming or ongoing change. The main reasons for this are the following.

Uncertainty. Employees often resist change because they have no idea how it will affect their future. They may worry about the possibility of losing their jobs, because of the inability to adapt to the new rules. Big role here may

play the fear of the unknown. Usually people do not like to live in the unknown and may prefer the imperfect today to the unknown future.

Lack of understanding and trust. Some employees resist change because they don't understand the need for it. In addition, they may not trust change initiators for fear that they are being "manipulated" or that the real reasons for change are not being made public. If the staff is poorly informed and the purpose of the change is not explained to them, they will perceive the current situation as satisfactory, and the change effort will not bring the expected results. Often employees are suspicious of changes proposed by managers they don't trust or respect. This is also true for a situation where changes are proposed by an external consultant whose competence and motives are unknown and incomprehensible.

own interests. Both managers and employees may resist change if they believe it will negatively affect them. Changes in structure, technology, or processes can often result in the loss of financial benefits, power, and prestige to individual employees or managers.

Reluctance to change. Most employees do not like being treated as passive objects. They reject changes that are made by order and about which they cannot express their own opinion.

Fear of failure. Many employees are worried about their ability to adapt to change, improve performance in a new working situation. Some may feel insecure and question their ability to make special efforts to learn new skills and adopt new ways of working.

Disrupted work practices, habits and relationships. During the organizational change well-functioning and tried-and-tested practices and habits can become obsolete, relationships can break down or break down completely. This can lead to serious employee frustration with the overall organizational change agenda.

Different opinions about the results. Managers involved in the process of change often have different opinions about expected outcomes, which often leads to resistance to change.

The main measures to ensure support for improvements in the organization are presented in Table. 6.5.

As can be seen from Table. 6.5, each approach to providing support for improvements in the organization has certain prerequisites for application, at the same time, each of them has both advantages and disadvantages. The most effective measures in the face of lack of information, uncertainty of the situation, as well as the difficulty of adapting personnel to ongoing changes are training and provision of information, involvement in the project, as well as stimulation and support.