Process Improvement

Overview

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In this course you will focus on process improvement. You will learn how to set organizational priorities for continuous process improvement, how to execute process improvement projects, and how to sustain the initiative for continuous improvements.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
• Understand the roles of process improvement
• Relate underlying principles to frameworks and techniques used for process improvement
• Synthesize information to make decisions for organizational initiatives and process improvement
• Apply analytical techniques for tactical decisions in a process improvement project

This course is part of the iMBA offered by the University of Illinois, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.

Syllabus

Module 1: Course Orientation & Fundamentals of Continuous Improvement
In this module, you will become familiar with the course, your instructor, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation also helps you obtain the technical skills required for the course. This module also connects process improvement to organizational learning and lays the groundwork for putting together an organizational initiative for continuous improvement. It introduces you to the principles and methodologies of Lean and Six Sigma as two initiatives for continuous improvement of processes.

Module 2: Managing the Continuous Improvement Initiative
Module 2 presents the organizational infrastructure needed for managing Lean and Six Sigma process improvement initiatives and describes techniques for aligning business strategy with continuous improvement. In this module, you will also learn about value stream maps and project charters as techniques for getting started with process improvement projects.

Module 3: Root Cause Analysis
Module 3 focuses on methods to study cause-effect relationships for process improvement. In this module, you will learn about the importance of assessing quality of measurements, followed by ways to synthesize knowledge of team members and methods to analyze numerical data. This module includes an overview of the Standard Normal Distribution and descriptions of statistical process control, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multiple linear regression.

Module 4: Achieving and Sustaining Improvements
Module 4 introduces techniques for making and sustaining changes in processes and illustrates the implementation of Lean as a process improvement initiative in a financial services company. As a closing of this course, you will be presented with an overarching theoretical perspective of knowledge creation that explains the continuing cycles of process improvement.