3. Improving processes

The ISO 9001 version popularized the notion of processes and indicators. The practice often observed is to follow organizational "macro-processes", which greatly limits the approach, because in reality, almost everything is a process! All it takes to identify a process is a sequence of operations that transform one element into another. Measure the speed of execution, the number of non-conformities, the frequency of process activation, the resources consumed, and you already have some indicators.

The first way to improve processes is to use Shewhart's theory of variation, popularized by Deming. Process behavior graphs can be used to distinguish abnormal variations (signals) from normal variations (noise). The first step is to eradicate the causes of abnormal variations. If the process behavior is not satisfactory in relation to the target (either in terms of the...