Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Incremental and Breakthrough Process Improvement: An Integrative Framework

Incremental and Breakthrough Process Improvement: An Integrative Framework The total quality management (TQM) revolution of the 1980s and recent emergence of business reengineering (RE) has shifted the focus of quality improvement efforts from individual products to processes which lead to the creation and supply of these products. The literature, however, lacks a comprehensive framework for process improvement. In this paper, we present a seven‐dimension framework of process quality. These dimensions are explained with illustrations of three important business processes: logistics, order fulfillment, and new product development. These dimensions are further used to develop a model for long‐term improvement in a business process. The model proposes a blend of breakthrough improvements (B‐I) achieved through RE and incremental improvements (I‐I) realized through TQM. Furthermore, it provides a framework for improving the quality of the process along the seven dimensions in the context of B‐I and I‐I. Finally, implications of this work for the theory and practice of business process improvements are discussed. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The International Journal of Logistics Management Emerald Publishing

Incremental and Breakthrough Process Improvement: An Integrative Framework

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/incremental-and-breakthrough-process-improvement-an-integrative-YjnN0GHjrK

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 MCB UP Ltd. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0957-4093
DOI
10.1108/09574099410805054
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The total quality management (TQM) revolution of the 1980s and recent emergence of business reengineering (RE) has shifted the focus of quality improvement efforts from individual products to processes which lead to the creation and supply of these products. The literature, however, lacks a comprehensive framework for process improvement. In this paper, we present a seven‐dimension framework of process quality. These dimensions are explained with illustrations of three important business processes: logistics, order fulfillment, and new product development. These dimensions are further used to develop a model for long‐term improvement in a business process. The model proposes a blend of breakthrough improvements (B‐I) achieved through RE and incremental improvements (I‐I) realized through TQM. Furthermore, it provides a framework for improving the quality of the process along the seven dimensions in the context of B‐I and I‐I. Finally, implications of this work for the theory and practice of business process improvements are discussed.

Journal

The International Journal of Logistics ManagementEmerald Publishing

Published: Jan 1, 1994

Keywords: Quality improvement; Process efficiency; Distribution management; Product development

There are no references for this article.