Case Study: Continuous Improvement

Running head: Case Study: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
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Case Study: Continuous Improvement in Precision Engineering Works Private Limited (PEW)
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation

Case Study: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
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Case Study: Continuous Improvement in Precision Engineering Works Private Limited (PEW)
Introduction
Businesses face various challenges in their daily endeavour to make a profit, with
competition being an important challenge. Other challenges to business performance and
profitability include quality demands, maturing customer demands and advances in technology
(Liker, & Morgan, 2006). For a company like Precision Engineering Works Private Limited
(PEW) to succeed, there ought to be a concerted effort to ensure efficient and effective
management of the organization to enable it to weather the competition and adapt to the ever-
changing business environment. Effective project management has been touted as one of the
main ways that companies can make their processes efficient leading to an improvement in their
overall performance (O’Connor, 2008). According to PMBOK (2008), project management can
be conceptualized as the application of appropriate skills, knowledge, techniques and tools to the
activities of a project to the requirements of the project. However, most manufacturing firms are
not easily amenable to the traditional project management systems as they deal with the
continuous process (Kerzner, 2006). Project Management: For that fact, manufacturing
companies borrow project management processes and principles and apply them in the running
of the various departments such as finance, administration, sales, and production (Schonberger,
2007).
However, projects routinely fail to meet their objectives resulting in poor quality services
and low customer satisfaction. The main culprit in projects fail to meet targets are delayed
timelines and cost overruns. To solve the problems associated with ineffective project
implementation, management researchers have proposed lean management, which can deal with
projects involving ambiguity and task uncertainty (Staats et al., 2011).

Case Study: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
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Precision Engineering works Private Limited (PEW) is an engineering company that deals with
the manufacture of plastic mouldings parts used in the telecommunication industry. The
company has over 30 years’ experience in the industry serving the worlds most recognized
telecommunications firms (Checkland, & Poulter, 2010). However, due to its perceived
profitability, the industry has attracted many new entrants threatening PEW’s position in the
market and by extension its profitability. With increased competition, the company is having a
difficult time winning contracts as the erstwhile customers have more choices as some of the
competitors are offering similar services to the one offered by PEW. Also, some of the
company’s experienced workers are leaving and joining the competitors (Mehri, 2006).
This report aims at indicating the identifying the root causes of the problems in the
company after analyzing the firm using appropriate techniques and tools. Further, the report will
include a continuous improvement plan aimed at providing solutions for the identified problems.
The competencies from the employees and the management to effectively implement the
necessary changes (Kerzner, 2006).
Assumptions
We're assuming that your business will run better on the off chance that you formalize
your procedures, and you at that point screen, break down and adjust your procedures to be more
proficient. Also, we often assume the schedule, the effort, the resource pool, the budget, and the
cost constraints.
Identification of the Root Causes of the Problems
Before any attempt is made at finding solutions to the problems an organization faces, it
is prudent to first find the root causes of the problems. Without getting to the root causes of the
issues that are identified, the management treats symptoms which give short-term relief but

Case Study: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
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worsens the problems in the medium and long-term. Precision engineering works private limited
company (PEW) faces various challenges including increased competition, fall in sales and
market share, and hemorrhage of competent and experienced employees. There are problems in
the company which require urgent solutions before they threaten the survival of the company.
Lean manufacturing techniques might be the companies answer to identifying and addressing the
problems that the company faces.
Lean manufacturing involves the production of the biggest variety of highest quality
products using the least possible resources (Pettersen, 2009). Lean Manufacturing involves the
elimination of waste (Chen et al., 2010), Continuous improvement (Proctor et al., 2004),
ensuring zero defects, utilizes pull rather than push principles, uses multifunctional teams, has
decentralized responsibilities, and employs vertical information systems (Mehri, 2006).
Root Cause Analysis Tools
Once a company identifies a problem, it is important to get to the root causes of the problem
immediately before it festers and gets harder to treat. To get to the PEW’s problem, the team
used various tools and techniques. The common Root Cause Analysis Tools Include:
 Fishbone (Ishikawa)
 The five whys
 DMAIC roadmap
 Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
 Current Reality Tree
 Pareto Diagram
 Force Field Analysis
Fishbone (Ishikawa)/Cause and Effect Analysis