What is FOCUSED IMPROVEMENT?
Focused improvement includes all activities that maximize the overall effectiveness of equipment (OEE), processes and plants through uncompromising elimination of losses and improvement of performance.
![](https://improvement.company/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/House-of-TPM-Focused-Improvement-1024x744.png)
Focused Improvement Funnel
Ideas
![](https://improvement.company/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Focused-Improvement-Funnel-1024x625.png)
Viable
![](https://improvement.company/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/FI-Pillar-Champions-Maintain-the-Viable-Project-List-1024x871.png)
Focused Improvement Methodology
- Select a Topic
- Select and register a topic.
- Form a team.
- Plan activities.
- Understand Situation
- Identify bottlenecks, losses, failures and/or defects.
- Set targets for improvement.
- Expose and Eliminate Abnormalities
- Expose all abnormalities.
- Eliminate deterioration and correct minor flaws.
- Establish basic equipment conditions.
- Analyze Causes
- Analyze losses.
- Apply analytical techniques to determine the root cause.
- Plan Improvement
- Draft improvement proposals.
- Compare the cost-effectiveness of proposals.
- Consider all effects of a proposal on total site performance.
- Implement Improvement
- Determine if improvement works.
- Provide instruction on improved equipment or operating methods.
- Check
- Evaluate results over time.
- Check against targets set.
- If not, return to step 3 (analysis) and repeat.
- Consolidate Gains
- Develop and document control and work standards.
- Feed information back to the maintenance prevention program.
- Extend improvement to other unit operations.
Focus Improvement Board Layout
![](https://improvement.company/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Focus-Improvement-Board-Layout-1024x674.png)
The Focused Improvement Cycle Template can be downloaded here
Other Analytical Techniques for Improvement
Some other analytical methods useful in focused improvement include:
- P-M analysis (phenomena are analyzed in terms of their physical principles)
- Know-why analysis (also called “why-why analysis”)
- Fault-tree analysis (FTA)
- Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA)
- Industrial Engineering (IE)
- Value analysis (VA)
- Just-in-time production (JIT) or Toyota production system (TPS)
- The original seven QC tools and the seven new QC tools (also called the seven management tools)
How do I possibly know what happened? I wasn’t even here then … last shift/week/hour/ever?