Rainy Days Case Analysis

Introduction Pande et al. (2000) stated that the most challenging question organizations are facing now is not how to be successful but rather how to stay successful in the future. Many companies have been proactive to their environment by finding more strategic ways to improve their business operations. Because of this, many entities are now choosing to initiate process improvement initiatives to help improve the efficiency of their operations and optimize their core organizational processes. (Shafer, 2010) defines process improvement as the application of process design techniques to improve the flow and efficiency of production systems. Process improvements are often utilized by businesses to help control costs, increase their outputs and improve their profit margins. As written by Gershon (2007), “Improving the quality of processes and maintaining acceptable levels of performance quality are critical factors in the success of any organization.” As figure 4.1 (Shafer, 2006) demonstrates, you must follow the appropriate roadmap to pick the appropriate strategy. If the business process has fundamental flaws in nature, the appropriate process improvement to pick would be Business Process Design. If the fundamental process is not flawed or new but there is too much waste, the appropriate strategy would be a Lean approach. If the process is not flawed but there is too much variation in the process, a Six Sigma (DMAIC) approach would be the most appropriate. For purposes of this paper, the focus will be on Six Sigma and the variables that affect a Six Sigma process improvement initiative. Six Sigma is a business management strategy. Six Sigma is a focused, process oriented, statistically based approach to business improvement that companies such as Motorola and General Electric have used to produce millions of dollars in bottom-line improvements (Hoerl et al., 2004). Process improvements through Six Sigma originally started in the manufacturing

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