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ETHIOPIAN RAILWAYS CORPORATION (ERC)

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May, 2018
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STANDARD OPERATING PRROCEDURE FOR CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIATEL.01114702058/702051

P. O . BOX 27558/1000 FAX 011-4702044

 ETHIOPIAN RAILWAYS CORPORATION

TITLE: SOP- CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT

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DOCUMENTED INFORMATION CONTROL SCHEDULE

Name of department: Quality management system improvement project

office

Documented information type: Standard Operating Procedure – CONTINUAL

IMPROVEMENT
Documented information ref: ERC_QMS_SOP_ CI _01

Prepared By: Hewan Getechew

Signature:
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Reviewed By: Quality Management System Improvement Project

Office
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Signature:
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Approved By: CEO

Signature

Approval Date

Controlledcopy: circulationauthorizedby the Quality management system improvement

project office

Company proprietary information

Prior to use, ensure this document is the most recent revision. To request change, submit a
document change request to the document control representative.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. GENERAL STATEMENT OF PURPOSE ............................................................................................... 3
2. SCOPE .............................................................................................................................................. 3
3. DISCIPLINE ....................................................................................................................................... 3
4. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS ............................................................................................................... 3
6. PROCIDURE ..................................................................................................................................... 4
7. SHEWHART CYCLE (ISHIKAWA CIRCLE) ........................................................................................... 7
8. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT REQUEST PROCEDURE ................................................................... 8
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 ETHIOPIAN RAILWAYS CORPORATION

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1. GENERAL STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to define the Continuous Improvement process and
communicate the process of identification, development, and implementation of
strategic and operational initiatives to achieve ERC’s vision and objectives.

2. SCOPE
The Continual improvement Process applies to all personnel.

Continuous improvement is more of philosophy than process or system. It requires

everyone as participant to adopt, as part of their normal work, a mint set of
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continuous looking for way to improve process and systems, i.e. to make them more
efficient and effective.
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3. DISCIPLINE
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Quality management system

4. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

1.1. Change continual improvement (CI) – Recurring activity to enhance
performance.

1.2. Continuous quality improvement – A philosophy and attitude for analyzing

capabilities and processes and improving them repeatedly to achieve customer
satisfaction.

1.3. Efficiency – the relationship between the result achieved and the resource
used.

1.4. Effectiveness – extent to which planned activities are realized and planned
results are achieved.
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1.5. Objective – result to be achieved.

1.6. Improvement – activities to enhance performance.
1.7. Process improvement –the application of the plan - do –check –act cycle to
processes to produce positive improvement and better meet the needs and
expectations of customers.

5. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

5.1. CEO- shall be responsible for communicating to the organization and maintaining
the effectiveness of the Continuous Improvement process at our Company.
5.2. QMSIPO - shall be responsible for preparing, enforcing and maintaining this
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procedure.
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5.3. All Functional Departments - are responsible for understanding and complying
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with the Continuous Improvement methods as stated in this document.

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6. PROCIDURE
6.1. General
6.1.1. CEO, QMSIPO Manager and other functional personnel continually
improve the effectiveness of the quality management system through the
use of the quality policy, quality objectives, audit results, analysis of data,
corrective and preventive actions and management review.
6.1.2. ERC Quality Policy statement should define the global quality focus of our
quality management system.
6.1.3. Specific company quality objectives are defined and refined as necessary
to establish measurements for which data is collected, analyzed and action
taken, as warranted, to allow continuous improvement to occur. The
functional department assigned responsibility for the quality objective
measure shall use this process to achieve improvement.
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6.1.4. Audit results, quality objective measures, analysis of data and corrective
and preventive actions information is reviewed per Management Review.
6.1.5. Issues requiring immediate action are assigned corrective action,
Corrective Action(s) System using a Corrective Action Request or Supplier
Corrective Action Request form. Normal continuous improvement projects
are documented using various means such as:
 Annual Budgets/Plans
 Management Review Reports
 Customer Concerns/Complaints
 Corrective Action Requests
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 Supplier Corrective Action Requests
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 Continuous Improvement Requests and

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 Other types of documented memos/emails/letters, etc.

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6.1.6. All personnel within the organization shall apply continuous improvement
methods including histograms, frequency distribution charts, statistical
process control and other means to analyze and improve business
performance as a normal way of doing business.
6.1.7. All personnel within the organization shall be trained in accordance with
this document, Training and Certification.

6.2. Overview of Continuous Improvement

6.2.1. A process-focused approach is used to achieve continuous, measurable
improvement in our workplace. Process-focused means that your primary
attention is on the process rather than the product.
6.2.2. The Shewhart Cycle (Ishikawa Circle) shown in Figure 1 - Continuous
Improvement Process depicts a process improvement model. It is a
systematic approach to achieving continuous improvements in quality. The
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approach is repetitive – that’s why it’s often shown graphically as a circle

or wheel.

How to use it:

 Plan. Before we take action, we must plan what to do, why and
how.
 Do. Implement the improvement effort you’ve planned.
 Study. Measure the results of the improvement effort. Analyze the
data you’ve collected. Study the results to see if the process was
improved. This quadrant gives you the chances to see if you met
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your target, and to understand why or why not.
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 Act. Now is the time to take action based upon what you found out
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in the study quadrant.

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Note: Repeat the cycle again on future activities.

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7. SHEWHART CYCLE (ISHIKAWA CIRCLE)

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Figure 1: Continuous Improvement Process

 ETHIOPIAN RAILWAYS CORPORATION

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8. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT REQUEST PROCEDURE

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT REQUEST PROCEDURE

RESPONSIBILITY KEY STEPS DESCRIPTION DOCUMENTS

1. Staff Member Identify a process to

be improved or
problem to be
rectified.

This may occur via:

 Internal or
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external audit
findings
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 Identification of a
problem during
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the normal daily

workflow
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 Results of
internal/external
survey
 Scheduled annual
reviews of a
process
 Company
Grievance
Process
 Client Feedback
Process
Any other
mechanism that
provides an
opportunity for
improvement

2. Staff Member Record suggestion Consult with Financial

for improvement. Control and Administrative
Officer if you are unsure
which form to use.
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3. Staff Member Submits suggestion

to Financial Control
and Administrative
Officer.

4. Financial Control Initiates appropriate The Report to be forwarded

and action to ensure onto management for
Administrative improvement action.
Officer
request is responded
to.

5. Company Action If the Continuous Document

Directors/ improvements. Improvement Report does Change/Addition.
officers. not impact on the policy,
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check the response and
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ensure that the solution is

appropriate and addresses
identified issues.
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If the Continuous
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Improvement report does

impact on the policy,
implement changes and
refer to the Version Control
Policy.

9. Reference

9.1. QMS Tier 2 Doc.: ATS-QAP-1003 QMS Procedure Rev.: A Date: 03 November 2014
Subject: Continuous Improvement Released By: Kristal Jewell

9.2. MDSAP QMS P0013.003 , MDSAP QMS Continual Improvement (CI) Procedure

9.3. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROCEDURE, Cape Tisbe Ltd (Approved by the

Board 23 June 2014)
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10. CHANGE HISTORY

SOP no. Effective Significant Changes Previous SOP

Date no.

ERC_QMS_SOP_ Initial version NA

CI _01
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