Continuous quality improvement in a manufacturing environment is a major challenge. The environment is in a constant state of ux (machines break down, a consumable is bought from a new vendor, new processes or machines are introduced, etc). In our domain we are exploring the automated learning of process information. Our approach is to attack this problem simultaneously from three distinct sub ...

Software process improvement (SPI) approaches have been designed to produce changes at many levels, i.e. in the strategies, culture and working practices, of software development. Studies have shown that nearly two thirds of all SPI efforts have failed or fallen short of expectations. SPI Software process improvement (SPI) today is based mainly on a perception of software processes as artifacts...

Software process improvement (SPI) today is based mainly on a perception of software processes as artifacts and this perception has led SPI efforts to focus on perfecting such artifacts as a means to improve the practices of the people supposed to execute these software processes. Such SPI efforts thus tend to view the design of software processes as separate from their use. In this approach pr...

Improving the operational efficiency of processes is an important goal of business process management (BPM). There exist many proposals with regard to process improvement patterns (PIPs) as practices that aim at supporting this task. Nevertheless, there is still a gap with respect to validating PIPs in terms of their actual business value for a specific organization. Based on empirical research...

For many small software companies, full-scale software process improvement (SPI) initiatives are often out of reach due to prohibitive costs and lack of SPI knowledge. However, to compete in the global market, software developers must improve their productivity, time to market and customer satisfaction. As part of an Australian National Industry Improvement Program, Software Engineering Austral...

To design potentially successful quality improvement (QI) interventions, it is crucial to make use of detailed breakdowns of the implementation processes of successful and unsuccessful interventions. Process evaluation can throw light on the mechanisms responsible for the result obtained in the intervention group. It enables researchers and implementers to (1). describe the intervention in deta...

30 Process improvements to streamline contracting processes are often not undertaken because of the misconception that federal and agency-specific acquisition regulations are impediments. That misconception results from a desire to maintain acquisition integrity through the application of sometimes stringent standards and detailed processes, even when regulations and directives provide guidance...

Reduction of energy consumption has played a significant role in industry. This paper describes a study on reducing energy consumption by machining process improvements. Methods of reducing energy consumption in a manufacturing line consisting of multiple machines are verified. First, to consolidate the processes, a series of horizontal machining centers are replaced with a 5axis machining cent...

This paper considers the migration of lean process improvement methods from hospital systems to outpatient clinics. We review the strengths and weaknesses of a series of lean projects that were conducted in a community mental health center over a four-year period. We consider the evolution of the organization’s lean approaches and project results to identify areas of continuing research that ap...

Traditionally, SPI has been approached from a problem-oriented perspective commonly using models such as the IDEAL and the DMAIC. In contrast, appreciative inquiry is a strength-based approach focusing on bringing forward the best in people and organizations to achieve successful change. While there is significant research on SPI initiatives and the use of problem-oriented approaches there is l...