New products and processes are exciting, and good process development is critical to successful implementation. Equally important is continuous improvement in processes for existing products in order for a manufacturer to remain competitive and profitable at the same time. This paper will provide some practical tools for developing new, and continuously improving existing, products and processes. The daunting task of implementing improvement efforts and managing change will be discussed as well as techniques for leveraging lean process development and project management. These include process mapping techniques and their use in streamlining the transformation of an organization to benefit both internal and external business partners.

Author: Lisa Johnson