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CIP - continuous improvement process

CIP basics

CIP is the classical instrument for boosting operational efficiency. Initially this was above all applied in manufacturing companies in production and production-related areas, but since then CIP has also gained a foothold in the administrative field.

CIP involves constantly and systematically improving existing operating processes, products, methods, tools etc..

This is a major challenge for staff at all levels, because it means looking critically at existing conditions again and again, and never being satisfied with what has been achieved.

Accordingly CIP becomes a component of corporate development which is nourished from the inside and remains vital thanks to the committed and creative contributions of all employees.

The aim of CIP is not just to find ideas for improvement. It is also a matter of implementing these as quickly as possible. Only then will it be possible to achieve the overriding aim of all CIP efforts:

• increasing the company's competitiveness
• activating the full potential of all staff
• ensuring future success
• safeguarding jobs

At JP-Consulting & Training GmbH we have developed a tested and well-structured basic concept for the comprehensive introduction of CIP in one or more locations. This enables us support you fast and effectively in the roll-out of CIP across a number of locations!

There are two different forms of CIP. There are differences in implementation of CIP as

1. Expert, impulse or corporate CIP

• fundamental examination and improvement of all corporate processes
• implemented by executives and specialist personnel
• executed on specific grounds
• the aim: "major" effect

You will receive from us effective and methodical support in determining targets and the conception of impulse CIP. This covers the creation of process design, moderating and accompanying your impulse CIP teams, and the tools for process analysis and improvement are of course made available to you.

2. Workforce CIP

• constant improvement by all staff
• implementation as an integral component of daily working operations
• executed at the individual work station
• the aim: many "small" improvements

Workforce CIP is the search for many minor improvements at the work stations of the individual employees. This involves such things as tidiness and cleanliness, reducing interruptions, ideas on devices which could facilitate the working process as well as improvements in working processes, avoiding waste etc..

Basically no subject which helps to improve efficiency and avoid waste is taboo. You will receive all-round support in the roll-out of the concept, training the workforce and your executives and, if required, in its integration into your in-house suggestions scheme.

The introduction of CIP is a complex process which has to be adapted with precision to the needs, culture and structure of the company and its workforce if the launch is to succeed. Copying the success models of other companies is often a mistake, because the integration of CIP has to be understood as a change process which has an effect on the culture

At JP-Consulting & Training we have wide experience of applying CIP approaches, covering the development, implementation and accompaniment of the launch concept, the revitalisation of dormant initiatives, the integration of CIP and the in-house suggestions scheme.

3. CIP results

Here is some information from a survey (CIP survey by Agamus, 1996) which was carried out at over one hundred German companies:

• 80 % were able to achieve leaner production
• 71% were able to reduce scrap and corrective work
• 94% were able to cut processing times
• 94% assess the yield as higher than the cost
• 98 % were able to cut their costs
• 91% state that CIP improved motivation
• 62% registered greater identification with the company
• 44% believe that the cooperation between workforce and management was improved greatly.

A user survey by the Technical University of Cologne on Six Sigma in 2004 established that CIP /KAIZEN the most widespread method of QM concepts within companies which do not apply Six Sigma.

The majority of participating companies indicated that CIP helped them to achieve good to very good results with regard to:

• cutting costs
• improving productivity
• minimising scrap
• reducing processing time

There was particular application of the following:

• waste analysis
• process standards
• work station organisation (5A / 5S)