What can and cannot a Continuous Improvement Responsible do?

In organizations, the role of continuous improvement responsible has become increasingly present, whether it is called CI manager, Lean specialist or Operational excellence, the position has the same goal, to make processes more stable, more efficient and of higher quality. On "paper" it seems a clear role with a direct impact on production and administrative processes, but in reality things are more ambiguous.

Basically, he does not produce directly, but he can influence the way it is produced by analyzing processes and identifying losses (MUDA), by leading improvement workshops, training and coaching, by facilitating root cause analyses (5 Whys, PDCA, Ishikawa…), leading improvement projects (Lean, Six Sigma…), thus the role also becomes a liaison between departments. If the role is well defined, the real continuous improvement responsible will be able to:

• identify real problems, through data analysis and direct observations from production, to highlight waste that may have become a "normality
• introduce structured methods of solving problems through root cause analysis methodologies
• define work standards and workplace organization standards (for example through 5S)
• define the Continuous Improvement process in the organization, both at staff and management level through improvement projects, and by involving all employees using for example the Suggestion System, the Kaizen concept
• very important role in terms of developing training programs and employee training
• implement key performance indicators (KPI)

The position of improvement responsible often encounters challenges because he cannot:

• decide directly, but rather propose solutions, because he does not have direct authority over production, so the implementation and allocation of resources depends on the production manager
• change the continuous improvement culture himself, only with the support of management and the involvement of all responsible employees
• he is not the “owner of the process”, the responsibility remains with production, engineering, maintenance, quality…

Thus the Continuous Improvement Manager can identify, structure, support and accelerate change towards improvement but not alone.