Continuous Improvement Plan: Strategies for Latino Engineering

This report presents a comprehensive continuous improvement plan (CIP) designed for Latino Engineering, addressing current operational challenges. The plan begins with an introduction that highlights the need for continuous improvement and its objectives, which include identifying root problems ...Read More

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Continuous Improvement Plan
Name
Affiliate Institution

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Objectives.....................................................................................................................................3
Strategies......................................................................................................................................3
Structure of Continuous Improvement Plan....................................................................................4
Textual Overview of Continuous Improvement Plan......................................................................5
Focus on PDCA approach............................................................................................................5
Plan...............................................................................................................................................5
Do.................................................................................................................................................5
Check...........................................................................................................................................6
Act................................................................................................................................................6
Five Stages of Change Management...............................................................................................7
Assessment...................................................................................................................................7
Acknowledgement.......................................................................................................................8
Accountability..............................................................................................................................9
Awareness..................................................................................................................................10
Action.........................................................................................................................................11
Procedural Documentation............................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference List................................................................................................................................13
ANNEX I: Implementation Plan...................................................................................................16

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Introduction
Continuous improvement needs the ability to know the operations that affect the goals of an
organization; to do changes to these operations and measure its efficiency and effectiveness
based on the facts, knowledge and information available.
Objectives
The objective of this continuous improvement plan is to explain the root of the problems
currently being experienced at Latino Engineering and propose long term solutions to address
this setback currently at stake. It also outlines approaches and steps that should be put in to
practice and possible challenges that may be experienced. Improvement techniques have been
described in details so as Latino Engineering can implement them. Currently there are several
ways and methods available in the market that can be implemented as a CIP but Latino should
develop their own custom-made CIP. The techniques utilized in this documentation are the basic
steps and practices common to several CIPs.
Strategies
The following basic strategies must be implemented for the continuous improvement to succeed:
Leadership of senior management which has been sustained must be offered with regards to
commitment, support and active attention.
Organizational objectives for the continuous improvement plan (CIP) must be clearly stated.
The CIP should be included as a part of the organizational business plan.
Improvement advantages must be compared with the cost of the CIP development and
implementation.
Targets and goals which are measurable and specific should be set.
Utilization of a simple methodology should be considered.
CIP should rely on facts available such as data and other resources as belief of challenging the
status quo.

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Structure of Continuous Improvement Plan
This part gives a summary of how an organization can implement a structured continuous
improvement plan. At many times individual improvement initiatives are more successful,
organization wide technique can be used to achieve greater success so as to achieve the set
objectives and standards. The diagram below gives a summary of the continuous improvement
plan. Elements of CIP include establishment of organization’s vision, identification of overall
goals, establishment of continual improvement objectives, creation of a learning culture,
selecting improvement projects, managing process improvements, review and improvement of
the program. (Anderson & Ackerman-Anderson, 2010).
Figure 1: Structured Approach to Continuous Improvement Plan

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Textual Overview of Continuous Improvement Plan
Focus on PDCA approach
PDCA is the basic acronym of Plan-Do-Check-Act. This approach was developed Dr. Deming in
the 1950s. the purpose of this approach was to try understand what causes products and services
to fail meeting consumer or customer’s needs. This is exactly what is happening at Latino
Engineering. Customers are starting to raise complains even though the same employees were
retained. What changed was only the management. Latino is currently facing these problems:
engineering equipment are failing, follow up strategies on clients have been poorly designed and
developed, issue resolution takes a very long time, customer service team is non responsive, and
sometimes packaging of tong equipment to clients. The question is what happened at Latino
Engineering services? What happened to the employees’ commitment? This approach will help
Latino understand wat went wrong where. (Carmen, Elisabeth, Ricardo, Javier, 2012)
According to Soliman (2016), PDCA is a repetitive four-phase technique of continuously
improving operations, services and products and problem resolutions. It entails categorical
assessment of results, testing of the most probable solutions and implementing the one with the
highest possibility of working. Let’s discuss the PDCA further:
The PDCA Cycle
This cycle will aid Latino Engineering to solve the setbacks at hand and put into practice the best
solution in a swift and technical way. The following steps should be be followed in order to
attain the best results:
Plan
The first step that Latino should do is to find out what the problem is, understand it/ them and
identify the opportunity that the company want to take advantage of. In addition, utilizing the
Simplex Process of six steps will aid in problem identification and guides when carrying out the
activities of fining information, defining the problem, generating and evaluating ideas coming up
with a plan and implementing it. The final product of this phase should be “expectations” if the
idea was a success and problem was solved. (Bourne & Bourne, 2016).

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Do
After a most probable solution has been identified and has been subjected to some pilot test; this
stage will aid in evaluating whether the proposes solution can attain the desired results, with
minimal interruptions to the rest of company’s processes. Latino can implement the solution in
one department to see the impact of the program solution, that is, does it solve the problem. If
not, then go back to step one and plan. Data and results should be collected to show if the change
has succeeded or not. (Goksoy, 2016).
Check
This stage basically deals with evaluation and analysis of the outcome of the test project
implementation and whether it meets the objectives set in step 1-panning. If it hasn’t meet the
desired outcome and objective, then go back to step one and if it has succeeded proceed to step 4.
The team may try to do some modifications and repeat Do-check processes. Latino should not
settle for not less than desirable results. (Hayes, 2014).
Act
This is the final stage where the solution is implemented. It should be noted that PDCA is an
iterative process and has not definite start and stop. This then suggests that the enhance solution
becomes the new standard as new solutions are continuously being evaluated for Latino
engineering. (Kneer, 2013).
In addition, PDCA is coupled with several advantages including:
This approach is a powerful yet simple process of solving recurring problems in a company or
business. Because it is a repetitive approach it enables the program team to evaluate several
solutions until they arrive at an ideal solution. It focuses on improvement continuously no matter
how small is it as long as it enhances efficiency, increases productivity and eradicates the risks of
implementing it in large scale. (Carleton, 2010).
However, utilizing this approach can be tedious and slows compared to straightforward
approach. Thus, it may this approach might not be the best choice for dealing with an issues that
requires urgent attention. It also need a lot of time and immense input form team members and
gives limited room for radical creativity. (Russell, 2010).

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Five Stages of Change Management
Assessment
This is the hardest change management stages. It requires true reflection in the market, leaders
and shareholders.it involves comparing the past and the present and deciding whether to redo
history or change the course. This stage is normally ignored or carried out wrongly by leaders,
organizations and individuals. (Page, 2010).
Some of the things done in this stage include;
Determining the problem- this is identifying the cause of issues involved in Latino organization
like why clients are complaining. The organization should avoid investing in modification
initiatives that are unburdening core root causes symptoms. When fundamental causes are
impactful and conspicuous, it becomes hard to find solution for problems and symptoms.
Avoid interrupting more things- In this stage actions that are likely to be taken in order to
improve something that requires to be better are evaluated. Latino organization should avoid
breaking things that are working along the way of implementing change. During assessment, it is
important to be accountable of people, technology and processes that are working and leave them
undisrupted. During the general plan of change management and mitigation, the components
should receive minimal effect. The organization should be careful when fixing what is planned
and avoid causing more damages. (Soliman, 2017)
Organizational Strategy- Latino firms should Conduct the comparisons of the key indicators of
performance to search for trends, all other variables held constant such as market conditions. The
focus point should be determined whether it is people, process, or technology. The focused
feedback should be developed, distributed, and analyzed at the major suspicious components of
organizational strategy that requires change. The organization should consider seeking advice
from outside. The evaluation and prove expectation should be clearly defined. The organization
should not be conservative. The change management plan should be given a priority during
budgeting and initiatives involving in-process change. If this plan is not ranked at the top that is
incorporated into the budget and cost facts, it will lead to the spike of both direct and indirect
expenses. (Jaca, Viles, Mateo & Santos, 2012).

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Leadership Strategy- the root cause of the needed change should be determined. Latino
organization should determine whether the conflict of the process is based on the performance of
cultural objectives. This is normally the main cause of a sector of change. If possible, the
organization should get response from a minimum of two layers. This could be carried out in
roundtables, surveys or direct contact as one can get an expression of the whole story. Due to
resistance, resources from outside are preferable in facilitating and organizing responses and
evaluating sessions to receive full and unbiased view of evolving gaps either in training, process
or organizational strategy. The organization should have a clear understanding on what they
researching at the start and be open and willing to modify course based on the findings. (Byrne,
2012)
Individual Strategy-this is an important change acknowledgement component. Latino
organization should slow down in building a strategic plan and robust. Mental, spiritual,
emotional and physical preparation need to be done. The organization should begin building a
team and support design. It is normal to experience ups and down in this stage but focus should
be maintained. Individuals in this organization should assist one another.
Acknowledgement
Some of the things performed in this stage include;
modifying the output of Another Change Management Plan- Latino organization should avoid
modifying the change management plan results. The situation can be comforting in the short
term but lead to significant risks in long term thus making the organization worse than it was
before trying to change it. This is the beginning of organizational problems. The issues are quiet
and slow at first and then the impacts become large and difficult to recognize. If the problem is
not controlled, it can cause destructive constant confusion. The organization should structure
change process keeping in mind of the possible issues while trying to perform well in the
organization. (Ahmed, 2013)
Organizational strategy- based on the assessments, unique areas of change, timelines and
measures should be determined. Budgeting process should be carried out either through board of
directors executive leadership.it should be backed up with evaluation results and objectives of

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change management. Continuous assessment of change environments should be performed and
whether the direction change should be interfered at any point. (Medinilla, 2014).
Leadership strategy- similarly as with organizational strategy, the organization should develop
the case and back it up with evaluation results. Identification of the key talent to aid in change
initiative and strategic staffing process should commence. The organization should begin
recognizing team members that are potential positive, negative or neutral. Most leaders
sometimes ignore the positive and neutral individuals and target much on the negative ones. The
most destructive team members are the neutral individuals. Ownership and general support is
very important to the success of change initiative. As in organizational strategy, the organization
should be aware of what they are looking for and be open and willing to change way based on
the results. Leaders should avoid starting programs that contradict or overrun other change
initiatives therefore causing increase in costs and efforts. Before the team progress with change
management plan, they should consult from their leaders whether there exist overlapping or
conflicting efforts. (Poirier & Houser, 2013).
Individual strategy- the organization should determine whether the change feeling is extrinsic or
intrinsic. If it is intrinsic, then some soul searching should be carried out. Comparison between
the present and past and evaluation on the possible results in the future should be performed. If
the response is extrinsic, preparation should be done before dividing in. once objective are
outlined, a broad evaluation conservation is performed and feedback is gathered. If it sounds
valid, share the same feedback with either colleagues, trusted family, or friends. Search and file
differences and commonalities in the comments. Focus should be maintained in all processes.
(Brassard & Ritter, 2010).
Accountability
The following things discuss accountability stage in details;
Role identification- every member should identify his or her role in what needs to be changed in
the organization
Reduced Repeated Failures- failure is experienced all over even at the level of organization.
Accountability however, helps minimize these failures. Progress is made if there is a clear
understanding from initiative and if lessons are learnt to avoid repetition. Success is built at the

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long run. Every individual in the organization should learn from mistakes and analyze what
failed to work. Sometimes external component or event that was not mitigated in the past may
have blocked the plan of change management. Through those mistakes mitigation can be carried
out for the past issue or similar threats in general change initiative. (Aartsengel, & Kurtoglu,
2013).
Protecting the best and leveraging it
Assess that which work well across business process, organizational strategy and training. It is
important to bring forward these components because they will form the basis for the new plan.
In the risk countermeasures that is being developed it if necessary to protect the good from the
bad. This is an important aspect that most of the time is deliberately overlooked. (Andersen,
2007).
Do Not Possess what you should Not
It is crucial to understand the limits of effects and influence and where that leads for both failure
and success in any improvement program, otherwise the company will find it sell having too
much to possess having changed nothing but bringing more damage than solution. (Page, 2010).
Awareness
Assess the Drive of Purpose
There comes a time when decisions driven by purpose are more reasonable, if reaction and fear
forms the baseline of the general change, then the organization is having bigger problem than
just change management. The organization is experiencing organizational strategy n=and cultural
setbacks. (Kreitner, 2009).
Align All the Levels in Your Change Management Plan
The behaviors and mindsets at this stage are aligned. At this juncture humanization and
demystification of change management plan takes effect and is no longer just an idea or concept.
The organization is starting to change and bringing out the best of it. All the layers, that is,
individual, organizational strategy and leadership are starting to gain confidence in the change
management. (Charantimath, 2012).

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Only the organization can own it.
It is important to promote the company’s change program. The most important sector that should
plan for in change management plan and transformation is at Intelivate. It is crucial to let people
know the change the company is looking for and bring it out. Thus, the accountability of
completing the change successfully will be reinforced. (Reiss, 2012).
Action
This is like the continuous cycle of change in the company. This stage doesn’t mean you are
done even upon completion of the plan. This stage acts as feedback to evaluation or assessment
stage. At this stage the team should think and figure out if they are performing the correct thing,
carrying it out the right purpose, if there is progress they are making in the change that is
required, or do they have to take more risks to achieve what the desire. Confidence and trust to
impact yourselves is built over time and this can happen even at company level. (Ramanathan,
2009).
Purpose and Objectives Should Always Be Remembered.
As an individual, leader or company, you should never forget the core objective and drive of
purpose during the challenging times of change. This will help you during the lows and highs
and make sure that company’s change program doesn’t fail or get postponed. Evolution of an
individual, that is, a leader, organization or a person, is highly complex but is mirrored
excellently by simplicity. (Anderson & Ackerman-Anderson, 2010).
Procedural Documentation
It is important for the company to come up with and implement procedures that will clearly
outline duties and roles for: getting improvement plans, prioritizing, assessing and implementing
improvement plans, reporting and keeping records. (Andersen, 2007).
Conclusion
Latino Engineering is in a competitive business thus in my personal opinion requires to utilize all
the manpower and other resources like expertise and knowledge it has to remain competitive in
the market and among its clients. I believe continuous improvement initiative at Latino will give

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procedures on how every employee and stakeholders can play so as to improve the business and
forge it forward. Working as a team to address the problems currently being experienced at
Latino is very crucial as it will enhance sharing of ideas and skills. According to me employee
skills can help grow the company and also facilitates people to take responsibility and increase
their personal satisfaction. Developing new products may bring about risks like investing money,
time and resources to new services, equipment and technologies.
I conclude by stating that continuous improvement initiative will help Latino Engineering meet
the needs of its clients and enhance their satisfaction and while addressing these requirements
and issues, more business opportunies will open up for the company.
Therefore, I recommend to Latino Engineering to implementing this continuous improvement
plan as a long-term initiative so help the company as a long-term strategy and in return win back
customer trust and outdo its competitors and expand its market share.

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Reference List
AARTSENGEL, A. V., & KURTOGLU, S. (2013). Handbook on continuous improvement
transformation: the lean Six Sigma framework and systematic methodology for implementation.
Berlin, Springer. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1106183.
AHMED, M.H. (2013) Lean Transformation Guidance: Why Organizations Fail to Achieve and
Sustain Excellence through Lean Improvement. International Journal of Lean Thinking, 4, 31-
40. http://thinkinglean.com/img/files/PAPER_4(2).pdf
ANDERSEN, B. (2007). Business process improvement toolbox. Milwaukee, Wis, ASQ Quality
Press.
ANDERSON, D., & ACKERMAN-ANDERSON, L. S. (2010). Beyond change management:
how to achieve breakthrough results through conscious change leadership. San Francisso,
Pfeiffer. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=41035.
BOURNE, M., & BOURNE, P. (2016). Change management in a week. London : John Murray
Learning.
BRASSARD, M., & RITTER, D. (2010). The memory jogger 2: tools for continuous
improvement and effective planning. Salem, N.H., GOAL/QPC.
BYRNE, A. (2012) The Lean Turnaround: How Business Leaders Use Lean Principles to
Create Value and Transform Their Company. McGraw-Hill, New York.
CARLETON, R. (2010). Implementation and management of performance improvement plans:
emphasizing group and organizational interventions. Amherst, Mass, HRD Press.
http://site.ebrary.com/id/10379769.
CARMEN, ELISABETH, RICARDO & JAVIER, (2012) "Components of sustainable
improvement systems: theory and practice", The TQM Journal, Vol. 24 Issue: 2, pp.142-
154, https://doi.org/10.1108/17542731211215080
CHARANTIMATH, P. M. (2012). Total quality management. Delhi, Pearson.

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GOKSOY, A. (2016). Organizational change management strategies in modern business.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1091683.
HAYES, J. (2014). Theory and Practice of Change Management. Palgrave Macmillan.
http://www.myilibrary.com?id=976459.
JACA, C., VILES, E., MATEO, R. AND SANTOS, J. (2012) Components of Sustainable
Improvement Systems: Theory and Practice. The TQM Journal, 24, 142-154.
https://doi.org/10.1108/17542731211215080
KNEER, C. (2013). Change management. [Place of publication not identified], Grin Verlag.
KREITNER, R. (2009). Management. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co.
MEDINILLA, A. (2014). Agile Kaizen: managing continuous improvement far beyond
retrospectives. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=76667.
PAGE, S. (2010). The power of business process improvement: 10 simple steps to increase
effectiveness, efficiency, and adaptability. New York, AMACOM.
http://site.ebrary.com/id/10370296.
POIRIER, C. C., & HOUSER, W. F. (2013). Business partnering for continuous improvement:
how to forge enduring alliances among employees, suppliers & customers. San Francisco,
Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
RAMANATHAN, T. R. (2009). The role of organisational change management in offshore
outsourcing of information technology services: qualitative case studies from a multinational
pharmaceutical company. Boca Raton, Fla, Dissertation.com.
REISS, M. (2012). Change management: a balanced and blended approach. Norderstedt, Books
on Demand.
RUSSELL, M. J. (2010). Continuous improvement in the mathematics classroom. Milwaukee,
Wis, ASQ Quality Press.

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Singh, R.M. and Gupta, M. (2014) Knowledge Management in Teams: Empirical Integration and
Development of a Scale. Journal of Knowledge Management, 18, 777-794.
https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-11-2013-0450
SOLIMAN, M. (2017) Why Continuous Improvement Programs Fail in the Egyptian
Manufacturing Organizations? A Research Study of the Evidence. American Journal of
Industrial and Business Management, 7, 202-222. doi: 10.4236/ajibm.2017.73016.
SOLIMAN, M.H.A. (2016) Hoshin Kanri: How Toyota Creates a Culture of Continuous
Improvement to Achieve Lean Goals. CreateSpace, South Carolina.

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ANNEX I: Implementation Plan
Figure 2: Latino engineering Implementation Plan