Case Study: Which Approach is Best?

1. What approach do you think is best for promoting continual improvement? Explain your answer.
- The best approach that can be applied for promoting continual improvement is the DMAIC
Approach because it refers to a data-driven quality strategy for improving processes. DMAIC
stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control in which the word Define
determine the problem of how to resolve it and improve their activities, having
opportunities of their goals on how to achieve them, also to define the customers’
requirements as well as understanding their feedbacks about the products and services that
offers if they are satisfied or not. Providing an overview about the entire process and
analyzing the requirements that meets the customer’s needs. Next is the word Measure, it is
where it records the activities during the process and the capability to assess the ability of
the process that meets the specification and measuring current performance of a company
through data collection. Acronym, this is where it determines the root cause of having a
poor performance in the process and by this, it’ll help identifying the possible improvement
of the products, services and resolving the process failure. Improve, is another process of
addressing and eliminating the root cause and to solve the problems and focusing on the
project goals using its ideas and to motivate the employees to do their work efficiently.
Control, it improves the current and future process base on its performance, also by
avoiding making errors which is detectable and in need to keep an improves process at a
proper level. This approach would be suitable for every company to improve their process
performance.

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches mentioned in the case
study?
- The advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches mentioned in the case study
are the following:
Six Sigma Approach
 Advantages
Proven a track record of adding value and ensuring quality to the output of a business in
the form of incremental improvements to a product or a service. It may also be used to
develop supply chain processes and increase customer satisfaction. The benefits of Six
Sigma were a simple problem-solving and consider the entire production process from
the raw materials to the finish product. It identifies and provides recommendations for
potential problems before the company incurs any form of loss. 
 Disadvantages
Six Sigma Approach inspects the business processes and generates large amounts of
data, leading to time consuming and complicated procedures. Also, because it is a
quality improvement process at often leads to an increase in the overall costs.
Sometimes when a company implements Six Sigma, problems arise as the company
focuses on Six Sigma endorsed policies only and forgets about its specific mission
statement or policies. For small businesses, it may force new ideas favoring creativity
and innovation, which require some risk-taking to implement. The companies must find
certified Six Sigma institutes to train their employees or conduct in-house training. 
DMAIC Approach
 Advantages
It is a structured approach that is useful in any situation where you need to improve a
complex process. Also, it aims to analyze a process before implementation, and this
reduces the chance of fixing the wrong issue. It helps to improve team and organization
communications. This leads to improved performance overall, and this can filter through
to positive customers. 
 Disadvantages
The disadvantage is that one size fits all approach will not suit to an organization that
relies on the creativity. Without awareness, during the implementation of DMAIC, it is
easy to become too focused on using the tool, rather than finding the right solution.

Kaizen Approach
 Advantages
One of the major kaizen advantages is improved teamwork. Kaizen is a quality
improvement tool driven by teamwork. It does not benefit only a selected few, but
everyone involved in the business process. As the kaizen team solves problems
together, they develop a bond and build team spirit. Thus, employees are able to work
with a fresh perspective, an unbiased mind and without prejudice.
 Disadvantages
One of the greatest kaizen disadvantages is that people are always reluctant to change.
Therefore, when businesses want to implement kaizen, they have to put up with a
certain resistance. Employees might not be ready to accept a different system from
what they have been used to. On the other hand, management might be reluctant to
implement kaizen because they feel it is expensive.