How can we ensure our CI is sustainable?

My company has a well-established CI programme which we introduced four years ago. However, after a series of early wins, including a massive drop in product failures and a remarkably big increase in productivity, I am concerned that the programme is starting to lose focus and drift. There are several symptoms suggesting that this is happening. For example, the law of diminishing returns has taken hold with a vengeance. In the first year of lean manufacturing, our 'right first time' rate rose by 70%. On-time delivery was very poor before we brought in CI, but the percentage of time that we completed products on to schedule that we committed to customers went up by 30% after it was introduced. And, our manufacturing cycle time – the time it takes us to take a product from order to finished goods – halved. The trouble was we were unable to improve upon, or even sustain, these impressive improvements. The figures have worsened with each successive year and we are now back almost to the point we were at four years ago. On top of this, there have been murmurs of discontent on the shopfloor and these are growing into a clamour with some employees questioning the point of CI when it is clearly failing to produce the goods... quite literally. However, the biggest problem is a lack of responsibility. There is no clear champion for our CI programme and the metrics we use to measure its effectiveness are poor. What can we do about this? And what is the best way of driving accountability within the CI department in terms of deliverables. We have tried savings trackers, but there is an element of double counting and every time the CI team claim savings, the other departments suggest they were going to do it anyway. If the different departments have individual targets, harmonious teamwork between them is at risk, but if they have a joint target, the CI team will not be accountable. I'm stuck. Can you help? --CI Solution Chris Jones of Suiko gives the expert view-- The symptoms you describe are commonly felt, so you are certainly not alone in feeling frustrated. There are some positives to take from your experiences. You have implemented a CI programme over a four-year period and demonstrated its effect with some great results. In order to ensure sustainability your programme must be: -Included in the long-term strategic direction of the business. Companies which successfully implement a CI culture will create an improvement 'road map' within their business strategy. This must be led from the top, communicating the company vision to all employees, underlying the importance of improvement at all levels. The road map typically contains a number of 'workstreams' detailing the performance/cost levels required to achieve the strategy. You should discuss this with your senior team, develop the plan and communicate to all employees. -Adopted as the culture of the organisation. The aim must be that CI is part of "how we do things" within the organisation. We would look at the business 'foundations' and 'controls' – are they in place to identify and drive improvement? Only if all areas have clearly defined measures and targets can we be confident improvements made will be sustained. It sounds as though you may need to enhance these business levels. It would be worth reviewing each area for the basics, do they have the correct measures and targets, are they reviewed daily? Are actions taken? If not, focus here to build the platform (the fact that your improvements have not been sustained suggests work may be needed here). -Focus on improving key operational performance. Improvement activities should be identified through performance review structures. This will assist in buy-in at all levels as teams are themselves identifying the improvements needed. Review some recent improvement projects – will they impact on business profitability? -Be owned and driven by departments and cells. CI resource works best when viewed as a key support function to achieve results, ie, teams ask for assistance once they have identified where they need to make gains. Link improvements required to departmental and individual annual appraisals, ie, a department with clearly identified targets will be motivated to make improvements to achieve new performance levels. If your improvement team assists in this achievement, then momentum will build and further demands will be made. A good place to start would be to focus on those areas where performance has slipped recently. As your CI programme has already achieved success, it should not be too difficult to return to those levels. In conclusion, it's about creating and communicating the plan, generating the urgency and ensuring the business "foundations" and "control" are in place to create sustainability.