Three Reasons Why Auditing Is Important to Sustain Lean Process Improvements
I have been working (recently) with several new management teams who are beginning their Lean Six Sigma transformation journeys. At the end of each engagement, we discuss the power of auditing any process improvement initiative that they want to sustain. The reasons you may want to include auditing as a core lab leader competency are as follows:
1. It takes time to embed a new, better process into the work routine of your staff. Your visibility serves as positive reinforcement for the change in process.
2. Auditing provides you an opportunity to observe the changes in action and suggest further refinements to your staff-mentoring and coaching with "kaizen eyes."
3. Auditing provides you an opportunity to communicate regularly with the value-adding operators and solicit additional process improvement opportunities from them, i.e., tapping into your wealth of talent.
Audits should be performed on a random basis and not advertised in advance. They should be frequent at the beginning of all new process improvement initiatives. Results from all audits should be signed, dated, publicized on the area's process improvement board. Click on the following links for a few auditing templates we have either developed or collected over the years.
Standardized Work Audit Sheet.pdf, Generic Audit Sheet, and 5S Audit Form PCI Master, xls
To sustain a Lean Six Sigma transformation, remember the following saying: "You get what you expect, and you deserve what you tolerate."
