Operational Excellence: Journey to Creating Sustainable Value

CHAPTER 14PLAN OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT

At the beginning of the Plan phase of the Operational Excellence program, the program and program objectives capable of contributing maximum demonstrable value to the enterprise mission/business objectives have been defined. The Leadership Team(s) has identified and preliminarily value prioritized potential organizational, procedural, and material improvements that accomplish program objectives, link to, and contribute to enterprise mission/business objectives.

As high value improvement opportunities are identified, Improvement Action Teams are formed from the Leadership Team. Action Teams have full ownership, responsibility, and accountability for validating potential value, refining, developing, and implementing detailed action plans to achieve maximum gains. Action Teams are typically led by champions from the Leadership Team. Subject Matter Experts and others with requisite knowledge, experience, commitment, and ownership are added to complete the action teams.

Although the following descriptive narrative is linear, by necessity, the actual planning process is iterative and moves back and forth. The entire process must be considered while developing action plans. Estimates of time required and cost of implementation affect final value delivered and prioritization. Both must be reviewed throughout the planning process to assure planned actions minimize time to gain results and maximize probability of success—meeting objectives. ...