CIP is an approach based on the active involvement of teams and is aimed at increasing customer satisfaction, improving product quality, and improving employee performance, company productivity and profitability. One of the key components in a CIP is identifying a clear system for problem solving.
There are two types of skills required...technical and problem solving skills.
Members must know team building skills, be familiar with the process being looked at and understand problemsolving strategies.
Hmmmmm...
There once was a beautiful hotel. It was new and comfortable. But there were many complaints about the elevator service. People said they had to wait for it and the waiting time was too long. The hotel found out that to put in high speed elevators would cost too much money. So they hired someone to listen to customers and spend time waiting for and riding the elevators. He suggested that the hotel put mirrors in the elevators and in the area around the elevators. The hotel did this and there were no more complaints. People were bored when they waited or rode the elevators. Now they had someone to look at! This person followed each of the problem solving steps.
Reflection
What kind of strategies do you use to solve your problems? What kind of problems need solving in the classroom.? Could teams be set up to agree on and define the problem, then come up with solutions? Use the Problem Solving Strategies on the previous page to work through a problem. Try it alone and as part of a team. Did you like working alone or with a team? What was harder and what was easier?
| Problem | Strategy | Solution | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team 1 | |||
| Team 2 |
Remember that CIP wants to identify and reduce waste and inefficiencies.
I stopped at a deli for a bagel and cream cheese. It was very busy and I had to stand in line for a long time. I noticed that the bagels were at one end of the counter and the cream cheese was at the other end. It was a very long counter! Many people were ordering bagels and cream cheese. There were two people working. They would pick up a bagel then walk to the other end of the counter. Sometimes they bumped into each other.
As a member of a CIP team, what do you think the problem is? How would your team solve it?