Continuous Improvement Automation

𝗔𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁'𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗰���𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱 When Carolina Dybeck Happe became Microsoft's COO, the complaints started rolling in almost immediately. Not angry emails. Quiet frustration from customers who genuinely wanted to work with Microsoft but found themselves trapped in what felt like administrative quicksand in onboarding of new customers. Here's what happened next. Carolina and her team did something many executives avoid: they went to the Gemba. They actually mapped the entire onboarding journey - every form, every handoff, every "please wait 3-5 business days." Here's what the team found out: 𝟮𝟯𝟬 steps to onboard a customer. What they discovered wasn't laziness or incompetence: • It was layer upon layer of good intentions that had grown into complexity. • Many functions were involved: Sales, Marketing, Product, Finance. • Nobody owned the whole process. Everyone owned a piece. So they did the work. They challenged every single step: 𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟? 𝑊𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠? 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟮𝟯𝟬 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝟯𝟳. Only 37 steps added value for the customer, i.e. 16%. So the team revised the process to focus on these 37 value-adding steps. This is where AI comes in: Once they'd simplified the process, 75% of those remaining steps were automated using AI agents. Not the bloated original process. The streamlined one. This is why I bang on about process improvement before technology. You can't automate your way out of a poorly designed system. You'll just create expensive chaos faster. The sequence matters: 1. 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 – What's actually happening? 2. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 – Why does each step exist? 3. 𝗘𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲 – What adds no value? 4. 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 – How do we connect what remains? 5. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 – Where can technology multiply the improvement? Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's Technology Council Summit, Carolina summed it up perfectly: 𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑠. (Video link in the comments below). That's the point of continuous improvement. It's not about hitting arbitrary reduction targets or creating pretty charts. It's about making work actually work - for customers and for your people. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 ��𝗜. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝘀 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘁. If you want to simplify workflows before you automate them, follow me continuous improvement insights.

Technology is changing. So should your approach to continuous improvement. Lean was born in the mid-20th century as a response to manufacturing inefficiencies. There’s been a technological revolution since then. Back then: - time studies were done with stopwatches, pen and paper - charts were drawn by hand - data collection was done manually The old methods are tried and true, but we can do better. Continuous Improvement leaders cannot afford to be Luddites. Here are 4 ways to embrace 21st-century technology in your CI strategy: ✅ Robotic Process Automation (RPA) → Extremely useful for computer-based admin tasks. → Automate repetitive tasks to free up time for value-added activities. → RPA enhances efficiency, reduces human error, and accelerates process cycles. ✅ Agile Framework + Project Management Software → Helps adapt quickly to change. → The best practice for most projects. → Track progress, collaborate seamlessly, and deliver improvements faster. ✅ Real-Time Process Monitoring → provides immediate feedback → allows for faster decision-making and quicker issue resolution. → Use sensors, IoT devices, and data analytics to monitor processes in real-time. ✅Vision Systems → AI-driven vision systems for enhanced quality control and defect detection. → analyze production lines in real-time, improving consistency and reducing waste. Technology is not a threat to CI — it’s the key to unlocking its full potential. How are you embracing 21st-century technology in your Continuous Improvement initiatives? #ContinuousImprovement #Lean #Technology #Innovation #ProcessImprovement #Automation #Agile #RPA #QualityControl #Manufacturing *** 👋 Hi, I'm Michael! 🙏 Thanks for reading my post 📣 Please like, comment, and share 🔔 Turn on notifications & follow so you don't miss a post

Optimizing business processes and enhancing customer experiences through #Automation and technology requires a systematic approach. Begin by conducting a comprehensive process mapping and analysis to identify bottlenecks, redundancies, and opportunities for #DX. Employing tools like BPMN or DMN can streamline this process. Next, prioritize areas for automation based on factors such as cost-benefit analysis, potential ROI, and alignment with overall business objectives. Consider technologies like RPA, AI, and machine learning for automating repetitive tasks, improving decision-making, and enhancing customer interactions. A crucial aspect is data management. Ensure data quality, accessibility, and security to support informed decision-making. Implement data governance frameworks and leverage data analytics tools to extract valuable insights. Finally, adopt a user-centric design approach to create seamless and intuitive experiences. Employing UX/UI design principles and leveraging technologies like chatbots and virtual assistants can significantly enhance customer satisfaction. Remember, successful AT/tech implementation requires change management, employee training, and continuous evaluation. By following a structured approach and embracing emerging technologies, organizations can achieve substantial improvements in efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Big update and one I’m incredibly excited about! Today we’re introducing something we’ve been quietly building for months: AI that learns from every document you process. Most AI products claim to improve over time. Very few actually do. We have built a real continuous-learning system that improves accuracy, coverage, and reliability with every single file you upload: in real production, on your real data. Here’s how it works: 1. Every use case starts with a clear schema: This becomes the backbone of how data is extracted, validated, and improved. 2. Every document becomes a learning signal: If an output is corrected or flagged, that feedback automatically feeds back into the system. 3. KPIs track progress in real time: Accuracy, coverage, latency, you see exactly how the model is performing and where it’s improving. 4. Improvements are applied instantly: Your workflows keep running. 5. All learning is fully isolated and secure: Each customer’s datasets, feedback, KPIs, and improvements stay separate, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA compliant. The result is simple: Every document makes the system smarter. If you want an AI system that gets better because you use it, this is a big step forward. See how accuracy improves with every document: https://lnkd.in/dynq7qcj

If you're a CI director trying to build a kaizen culture without CEO-level authority, you need to stop doing everything manually. Here's why: You can personally deliver maybe 6-12 kaizens per year. That's respectable work. But lemme explain the real opportunity... In a 1,000-person company, if you can get every single person to complete just ONE kaizen per year, you're suddenly at 1,000 kaizens annually. That's not 10% better than doing it yourself. That's 100x better. An order of magnitude shift in impact. But here's the problem: You don't have the CEO's power to mandate participation. You can't hire, fire, or control compensation. You're essentially trying to drive cultural transformation without the traditional levers of organizational authority. So what's the answer? This other economic superpower in business. Technology. Think about all the time-consuming but necessary activities that support every CI initiative: training new people, following up on action items, escalating stalled projects, generating reports, recognizing wins, knowledge management, coaching teams through problems... These are integral to success, but they're also the reason manual Lean Management doesn't scale. When you automate these non-value-added (but necessary) activities, you dramatically reduce the "cost of improvement" for everyone. You make it easier for people to participate. You free yourself up to focus on strategic improvement work instead of administrative overhead. The CI directors who succeed without CEO-level authority aren't the ones trying to do more kaizens themselves. They're the ones who deploy technology to make CI accessible, sustainable, and scalable across the entire organization 🚀 Have you seen CI programs transform by leveraging technology? What approaches made the biggest difference? #continuousimprovement #operationalexcellence #lean #kaizen