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Process Insights
Background
Global competition puts increasing pressure on manufacturing operations for
increasing output and quality, as well as reducing costs. Globalization, consumer
knowledge and consumer expectations have positioned supply chain
performance as a key source of competitive advantage…or disadvantage, and an
increasingly important element in cost, quality and delivery. The Pi Methodology
was developed in the early 1990s to address specific problems in chemical
manufacturing. The methodology proved so successful that its application was
expanded to include non-manufacturing and supply chain operations often
involving teams with representation from both customer and supplier.
The Pi Methodology gained rapid acceptance within the Manufacturing community
for a number of reasons:
Global competition puts increasing pressure on manufacturing operations for
increasing output and quality, as well as reducing costs. Globalization, consumer
knowledge and consumer expectations have positioned supply chain
performance as a key source of competitive advantage…or disadvantage, and an
increasingly important element in cost, quality and delivery. The Pi Methodology
was developed in the early 1990s to address specific problems in chemical
manufacturing. The methodology proved so successful that its application was
expanded to include non-manufacturing and supply chain operations often
involving teams with representation from both customer and supplier.
The Pi Methodology gained rapid acceptance within the Manufacturing community
for a number of reasons:
- Pi Methodology has an early focus on defining the problem in terms that
- are clear, compelling, measurable and meaningful.
- Pi was designed to provide rapid results…the typical Pi project takes 2 to
- 4 months with implementation to be completed in 3 to 6 months
(depending on the complexity and extent of the solution).
- The Pi Methodology focuses the ingenuity and experience of skilled
- professionals from within the enterprise (and, where appropriate, with
Customer and Supplier staff) to develop and implement pragmatic
solutions for significant process improvement.
- Pi employs techniques and technologies from other successful programs
- as appropriate for the problem; e.g.,
- GE’s Work Out for focus, speed and decision making
- Six Sigma for data collection and analysis
- Lean Manufacturing for waste identification and elimination
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