Continuous Improvement Plan for Latino Engineering: A Report

This report details a continuous improvement plan designed for Latino Engineering, a manufacturing company facing client issues post-takeover. It begins with an introduction to the company, its challenges, and the need for improvement. The report then outlines the continuous improvement plan, highlighting its benefits such as workflow streamlining and cost reduction. It emphasizes the PRINCE2 methodology, including its themes and application in quality management, quality control, and quality assurance. The core of the report identifies the root causes of the company's issues, such as design defects and poor customer service, and proposes resolutions. It then explains and applies the 7 QC tools, including flow charts, check sheets, control charts, Pareto diagrams, histograms, scatter plots, and cause-and-effect diagrams, along with the PDCA cycle, to address and resolve the issues. The report concludes with recommendations for implementing the continuous improvement plan, referencing relevant appendices and resources.

Project management

Table of Contents
1. Introduction...................................................................................................................................2
2. Continuous Improvement Plan......................................................................................................2
3. Benefits of Continuous Improvement Plan....................................................................................3
4. PRINCE2 Methodology.................................................................................................................3
Themes of PRINCE2 Method............................................................................................................3
5. Continuous Improvement using PRINCE2 methodology..............................................................4
Quality Management.........................................................................................................................4
Quality Control..................................................................................................................................5
Quality Assurance.............................................................................................................................5
6. Root Cause of the Issues in the Company......................................................................................5
7. Resolution for the issue.................................................................................................................6
8. 7 QC Tools....................................................................................................................................7
Flow Charts and Graphs....................................................................................................................7
Application of 7 QC Tools................................................................................................................8
PDCA Cycle......................................................................................................................................9
9. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................10
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1. Introduction
The Assessment is to design the continuous improvement plan for a manufacturing
company. Latino Engineering is a midsize company which consists of 300 employees in a
place called New South Wales which is located in Australia. Dominic Latino was the founder
of the Latino Engineering. The company provides services like the design, development and
the production of the engineering equipment for different industries like oil & gas, utilities,
construction and infrastructure industries. The company has impressed many investors who
wanted to become a stakeholder or even they are ready to take over the company entirely.
Dominic Latino wish is to sell the Latino Engineering only after his retirement. Dominic
spent 35 years in the company and at the age of 65 he sold his company to their investors.
After the takeover, some of the employees were retained but some other senior employees
left the company and went for other offers. The new owner’s main aim was to maintain the
name of the company. But after 12 months of the takeover, the company was unable to
maintain the name and they got many issues from the client side. The issues that arose from
the client side are going to be taken into account in the upcoming sections and the continuous
improvement plan is to be generated for resolving the root cause of the issues. The root cause
of the issue is to be identified and then the plan is to be developed to resolve the mentioned
issues of the clients. The Six Sigma approach is used for drawing the continuous
improvement plan for the Latino Engineering company. The PRINCE2 methodology is used
in this assessment for making the quality control. The tools and techniques of the PRINCE2
methodology is to be discussed in the body of the essay. The recommendations are given to
resolve the root cause of the encountered issue.
2. Continuous Improvement Plan
Continuous Improvement Plan is the method that is used to identify the offers for work
streamlining and the reduction in waste. This is a practice that is adopted by most of the
companies around the world. Many companies follow the Lean/Agile method in a formal way
but other companies did not follow the method formally, they enjoys the flexibility of the
continuous improvement plan. The cycle of the continuous improvement plan is represented
in the Appendix 1. Identify, Plan, Execute and Review are the steps that should be followed
in the continuous improvement plan (Morgan and Stewart, 2017).
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3. Benefits of Continuous Improvement Plan
Streamlining the Workflow
Continuous improvement is called as a rapid improvement technique that is used to help
in workflow streamlining. This in turn saves both time consumption and money (LeanKit,
2017).
Project Cost Reduction
The project cost and overages prevention can be achieved by the Project manager only
by using the forecasting software. Forecasting is the method that has the ability to improve
the effectiveness of the company (LeanKit, 2017).
Flexibility
Some companies follow the Continuous improvement formally but still some other
company enjoy the flexibility in it. Teams may take more time and space for their new
creations or innovative thinking (LeanKit, 2017).
4. PRINCE2 Methodology
PRINCE2 methodology is based on the process for managing the project. It provides an
easy and scalable method for managing all types of projects (Lianying, Jing and Xinxing,
2012).
Themes of PRINCE2 Method
The PRINCE2 method follows 7 themes to manage the project and to improve the
quality management strategy. All the themes are set at the starting stage of the project and
then its throughput is mentored continuously throughout the project cycle. The 7 themes are
explained below (PRINCE2 Blog, 2017).
Business Case
Business case provides the knowledge that whether the project is able to achieve the
destination.
Organization
The theme organization is related to the roles and responsibilities of the memebers in the
project team.
Quality
Quality is the most important theme which should be defined at the initial stage of the
project.
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Plan
Planning aims on the products, time consumption, cost estimation, quality assurance and
benefits of the projects.
Risk
Risk is the theme that arises in between the project cycle unexpectedly.
Change
The change theme is not to prevent the project from changes but to accept them before it
gets executed.
Progress
The Progress is monitoring the project and keep tracks in every stage. This mentoring is
performed by the project manager by conducting regular kick off meetings (PRINCE2 Blog,
2017).
5. Continuous Improvement using PRINCE2 methodology
The quality theme in the PRINCE2 method ensures the continuous improvement in the
projects. This theme
makes sure whether the products has satisfied the business expectations and enable the
benefits to be achieved in a subsequent way. The cost of the project and the time requirement
can be decided only after fixing the quality of the product. This theme is also used to define
the methods and responsibilities for the products. The quality theme is to address the
continuous improvement while doing the project (Whitelaw, n.d.). The PRINCE2 method for
quality control and assurance of the quality is represented in the Appendix 2. The continuous
improvement plan for the company is represented below in the Appendix 7.
Quality Management
Quality is the feature or characteristics of a product, service, process or a person. In the
PRINCE2 method, the product can be a process, service or product. Quality Management is
the entire set of quality, procedure, responsibilities and standards for the company. It is
important to have quality management system in every organization of its own
(Greycampus.com, 2017). The quality management strategy is performed during the project
initiation stage and this should be approved continuously by the Project Board. This strategy
offers a means by which the formal definition is to be applied in the quality control and
assurance (Simplilearn.com, 2017).
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Quality Control
Quality Control mainly focuses on the tools and techniques to satisfy the needs of the
quality and determine the ways of eradicating the courses that do the unsatisfactory
performance (Greycampus.com, 2017). Quality control review of the PRINCE2 method is
represented in the Appendix 3.
Quality Assurance
A team that do the project cannot do the quality assurance. There should be a separate
team in the organization to assure the quality of the product. But the project team have to
ensure that the quality is well checked before delivery (Greycampus.com, 2017).
6. Root Cause of the Issues in the Company
The issues that are found from the client side in the company after the take-over are as
follows.
 Defects are detected in the delivered equipment.
 Design is poor and the development follow up issue.
 Time consumption is more for solving the issue.
 There is an irresponsibility behaviour in the customer service team.
 In some of the cases, the deliverable is done wrongly to the clients.
Therefore the root cause for the issues is that the project team does not meet the
expectations of the customer. The customer expectations and the acceptance criteria is
explained below. By meeting the customer expectations, PRINCE2 methodology achieves the
quality in the project and resolves the issues.
Expectations of the Customer
The expectations of the customer should be met thoroughly so that there would be no
issue form the client side. For starting the project, it is required to create a Project Brief. This
project brief includes the expectations of the customer. The project brief is created in
consulting with the clients. After creating the project brief, it should be reviewed by the
clients to avoid if there is any deviation in the requirements or if any requirements is left.
Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance Criteria is the things that the customer accepts the project only if the
following are met.
 Accuracy
 Availability
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 Capability
 Cost of development
 Personnel level
 Security
 Reliability
 Timings and
 The dates of the targets
7. Resolution for the issue
The responsibility of the project manager is to plan and control the quality of the
deliverable. The quality assurance should be checked twice from outside the project. There
should be separate department or team or person in an organization to make sure the quality
of the product. The number of persons in the quality team depends on the size of the
company. The team should be outside the project. The project team itself cannot be a quality
checking team. The general responsibilities of the quality assurance is explained by the
PRINCE2 methodology (Rad, 2017). The responsibilities are as follows
 Make sure that the project management team are planning the quality and
implementing it properly in the project.
 Ensure that the organization's policies and programmes are applied in the project
(Rad, 2017).
Issue Log
PRINCE2 methodology uses an Issue Log. This issue log is used to capture any
problems that arise in quality and also the remedies for the issues is also stored, so that it can
be used in the future (Whitelaw, n.d.).
Quality Log
Quality log is created during the starting stage of the project. This log checks whether the
planned quality is met and the outcomes of the project. The errors that are detected and the
solution for the errors are also recorded in this log. Therefore, this tool is considered as the
best to monitor the progress of the project. So it is best to use quality log for all the projects
to avoid the issues (Whitelaw, n.d.).
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8. 7 QC Tools
If the organization wish to make the continuous improvement plan, then it is significant for
that organization to make use of the 7QC tools in an appropriate way. The 7QC tools are as
follows
1. Flow Chart
2. Check Sheet
3. Control Chart
4. Pareto Diagram
5. Histogram
6. Scatter plot and
7. Cause and Effect diagram
Flow Charts and Graphs
Graphs are used to represent the data in a picture view. Pictorial representation is used to
make the end user to understand the process clearly without any confusions. There are
various types of graphs based on the analysis and comparison.
Bar Graph - It is used the compare the size of the data.
Line Graph - It is used to represent the changes that are evolved in the data
Gantt Chart - It is used for planning and scheduling the project
Radar Chart - It is used for differentiating the data before and after applying changes.
Band Graph - Used for representing the data before applying changes and after
applying it (Magar1 and B. Shinde2, 2014).
Check Sheets
Check Sheets is the 7 QC tool that is used to collect the data. Data that are being
aggregated using the check sheet can be classified in a meaningful way. The classification
makes the clear view to find the relation between the data and dispersion of the data. This is
known as the stratification analysis (Magar1 and B. Shinde2, 2014).
Control Charts
Variability is found usually in all processes of the manufacturing. These variations are
found in the process because of the two different causes. One is the Chance causes and
another one is the Assignable Cause. The control charts can be divided into 4 types as p-
chart, np-chart, c-chart and u-chart. P-charts are used when the sample size is the constant
value and the np-charts are represented if the sample size is a variable. C charts and U charts
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are used to define the number of defects that are determined in the process (Magar1 and B.
Shinde2, 2014).
Pareto Diagram
Pareto Diagram is one of the 7 QC tools which is used to arrange the items in an well
organized order and this arrangement is made according to the magnitude of the items. This
tool is used in the Statistical Project Control and this improves the quality that is used for
finding the priority of the projects (Magar1 and B. Shinde2, 2014).
Histogram
Histogram is also known as the Frequency distribution diagram. It is the representation
using bars in the graph either vertically or horizontally. X and Y axis is specified in the
histogram, make sure that which elements are to be included in the x axis and that in the y
axis. Draw the bars either vertically or horizontally to represent the frequency. Two
arguments are taken. One is specified in the X-axis and another one is specified in the Y-axis
(Magar1 and B. Shinde2, 2014).
Scatter Plot
The relation between the variables should be determined for analysing any type of
problem. The relation may exist or it may not exist between the variables of the process. If it
exists, then it may be either positive or negative. It may be simple or complex. A best tool to
study the relation between the variables is the scatter plot. The points that are scattered in the
graph indicates whether the relation is strong or weak (Magar1 and B. Shinde2, 2014).
Cause and Effect Diagram
The cause and effect diagram is one of the 7 QC tool that is used to express the
relationship between the outcomes or the impacts and its possible reasons. This diagram is
also known as Ishikawa Diagram. It is one of the effective tools in 7 QC tools that is used to
generate the ideas systematically about the major causes of the problem and to represent
those causes in an uniform structured form. Here the methods, materials, methods and people
are considered in the cause and effective diagram. The main elements in the manufacturing
industry, it is considered as the elements in the cause and effective diagram. After
considering the main groups or element of the process, then it is very important to brainstorm
to determine the causes and subsidiary causes that are possible in the groups that are
identified (Magar1 and B. Shinde2, 2014).
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Application of 7 QC Tools
The effective tools called 7 QC tools are utilized as a "graphical method" for solving the
problem. These are the tools used for management in each and every process that is taken
place between the Design phase and the Delivery phase. The approach that is proposed by
J.G. Pimblott says that the Pareto diagram and cause & effect diagram are similar and these
diagrams are essential for the identification and the analysis purpose. The current approach
includes that the data acquisition consists of 3 tools Check Sheet, Histogram and the Control
chart. The Analysis process consists of other 4 tools. The diagram of the use of 7 QC tools
that is used in the identification and analysis process is represented in the Appendix 4 and
then the current approach is represented in the Appendix 5.
PDCA Cycle
In applying the quality control tools successfully, the implementation of the quality
management is the benefit. A quality management system of an organization depends upon
the integrity of all the resources that are used for the production and support of a certain
organization. Continuous improvement plan is considered as a fifth principle of Quality
Management System. This consists of four activities as a cycle. The four different activities
are Plan, Do, check and Assure. This is called as PDCA cycle. The cycle is represented in the
Appendix 6. The PDCA cycle is taken as the internal part in managing the process and it is
designed for the use of dynamic model. If one complete cycle is implemented, then it
indicates the complete step of improvement into one step. This cycle can be used for
coordinating the efforts of continuous improvement plan. This strategy is used for achieving
the improvements in different aspects like security, morale, cost, business objects that are
critical and the delivery. If one PDCA cycle gets completed then automatically second cycle
starts to begin (Soković et al., 2009). The four steps involved in the PDCA cycle is
represented as follows
Plan
Performing analysis on what are the things need to be improved should be taken into
account. Decisions should be made on what are to be modified (Soković et al., 2009).
Do
Implementing the changes that are planned in the previous step is called the Do process
(Soković et al., 2009).
Check
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Controlling and measuring the processes after implementing the planned changes and
this is done according to the policies, mission and requirements of the products (Soković et
al., 2009).
Act
Reacting to the implemented changes or starting the PDCA cycle again from the
beginning (Soković et al., 2009).
9. Conclusion
This aim of this assessment is to make an analysis on the manufacturing company named
as Latino Engineering which is located in New South Wales in the country of Australia. The
Company has been handed over to the investors after the retirement of the founder. The
issues arose from the client side after one year of the take-over. The root cause that is
responsible for the issues that arose in the Latino Engineering is found and then the
methodology called PRINCE2 is discussed to find and solve the root cause of the issue. The
themes that are involved in the PRINCE2 methodology is being discussed. Then the main
theme that is responsible for the issues known as Quality is discussed in elaborate. This
theme helps in the quality assurance which helps in the continuous improvement plan. The
recommendations to resolve the root cause is being discussed in the assessment. The 7
Quality Control tools which are used in the field of manufacturing traditionally is explained
in detail. According to the 7QC tools, some of the diagrams are drawn and represented in
Appendices. The two different approaches of the 7 QC tools are discussed in detail. The
company would have come across some idea about the issues that are involved in the delivery
of the product. PRINCE2 method is an effective method for developing the continuous
improvement plan for the Latino Engineering Company. If this project management strategy
is followed by the company, then it may not be difficult for them for finding the issues of the
process. The PDCA cycle that is used in the Application of 7 QC tools is discussed. The steps
involved in the PDCA cycle is explained in the PDCA cycle section. Thus the continuous
improvement plan is designed for the Latino Engineering company by using their issues and
target to be achieved.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
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Appendix 2
Appendix 3
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Appendix 4
Appendix 5
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Appendix 6
Appendix 7
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