A Student's Implementation of CPI

One of the key initial understandings of Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) is that improvement is a journey not a destination. My personal journey with CPI has been extremely rewarding and has substantially enriched my current state of life.

I was first introduced to CPI philosophy by my father. Some of my early lessons include my dad executing a list of five words beginning with the letter "s" — sort, store, shine, standardize and sustain.These early lessons sparked my interest and started me on a journey of discovery that has impacted my current state more than I could have ever imagined.

Up to this stage in my process as a student I have been given several internship opportunities. I have been able to network with numerous professional practitioners of CPI. Many career building doors have opened because of my knowledge of CPI. During each of these professional opportunities I have been fortunate enough to add value to my employer by applying CPI principles that has impacted the natural work group.

Even though I have been fortunate enough to have great career building opportunities because of CPI, the greatest impact CPI has had on my current state is my ability to be a successful student. Being a student is a process and as such, improvement principles must be applied in order to reach an ideal future state. The ideal future state as a student could be graduation or being accepted to graduate school. CPI allows me to apply principles to bridge the gap between my current state as an undergraduate and my ideal future as a Utah State University graduate. I am constantly looking to recognize and eliminate waste, unevenness, and overburden in the way I accomplish my responsibilities as a student. I look for ways to Plan Do Check and Adjust the process of gaining necessary knowledge to succeed in my classes. I implement the "five S's" my father gave me in my study area, backpack and notebooks to be more efficient, and I consistently track daily goals that will allow me to move closer to my ideal future state. I allow myself to pull information from my classes which allows for my experience to be much more enjoyable. All of these CPI principles are unavoidable side-effects of a sincere passion for improvement given to me by my father, and the continuous improvement philosophy. I will never be the most effective student at this university but due to the continuous process improvement philosophy I will always be trying to improve.

CPI is an amazing philosophy that can give opportunities to anyone who is willing to learn it. CPI can positively impact any industry. I would invite anyone to take the journey of discovery of continuous improvement.   

— Ryan Willis
     Lean Leaders Club

Continuous Improvement: A Way of Life

Typically the phrase "continuous process improvement" swirls around in a pool with other jargon terms such as lean, kaizen, and operational excellence. These terms have had stigmas of being cost-cutting tools mostly applicable in a manufacturing type setting. 

Continuous process improvement can be applied in all industries as well as in your own personal life. It is a matter of determining what true value is and seeing the wastes intertwined in the current process and then actively making small improvements. The top lean leaders and change agents in business today consider continuous process improvement to be a way of life that all employees are involved in no matter the industry or area of profession.

When I was first introduced to this principle at the Shingo Prize, I was under the impression that lean and continuous improvement was a cost-cutting tool used in manufacturing. Upon walking through the Shingo doors my mind was opened to a whole new world of possibilities. Often times in life we get used to the regular mundane way of doing things. Some of us have come to a point where we accept things the way they are because that’s the way they have always been. Some people have wild hair that drives them to think about something and then change it for the better, in turn, making life a little easier for many others. The concept of continuous improvement suggests making continual and incremental positive changes to make something better. It applies to life in that it encompasses anything and everything from work, and school, to your personal life. It could be a process on the production floor that you could make easier, faster, or safer. It could be the way you do paperwork in your office — you realize a small change that will save you time and cut out needless busy work. At home it could be as simple as where you store the toilet paper for quick and purposeful action! 

The truth is, that as we start to focus on this concept and apply it, it becomes easier to catch a positive fever driving you to be better and accomplish things you never thought possible. This fever is often times contagious and begins to create an ever-valuable culture desperately needed to be successful in business today. There is no end to the journey and as we learn principles of continuous process improvement and operational excellence, we start to see the endless possibilities.

If you think about your life, job, or school, what things have you accepted as the norm because that’s the way it’s always been?

— Justin Corbridge

Lean Leaders Vice President

Discovering Knowledge

Learning is typically seen as the dissemination of knowledge and understanding. This statement is inaccurate! Learning in most environments is not knowledge development. We listen to the instructor and obtain, what the instructor deems as knowledge, long enough to pass an exam or other related exercise. Once that event has passed, we tend to forget the related learning. Understanding and knowledge are only obtained when actively sought and discovered!

Discovering knowledge is the pull method of learning. To push is to force something, a product or information, toward the end, while to pull is the demand of a product or information from the end. Push and pull are evident in every classroom. The pupils who discover/pull knowledge will find success. The students who only attend with a desire to pass the class and exams are the individuals creating the environment of pushing knowledge.

How do individuals, instructors and students, develop what is necessary to discover knowledge?

Unfortunately, I cannot give you an answer to the above question. If I did so, then I would deprive you of the beauty that is “discovery.”  But here is a hint. When you are passionate about something, you actively seek information about that item. You are always looking for “the next big thing.” Find what drives you and actively look for it in everything! Pull the information and learning you need in order to succeed.

Business Leaders (past, present and future) how do you coach and mentor individuals to pull and discover knowledge?

— George C Johnson

     Lean Leaders Club – President

     The Shingo Prize – Education Coordinator

Club Involvement Can Boost Career Acceleration

Every student at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business has an end goal in mind — to land a great job! How do students set out to do this? By attending classes and studying to pass tests and get good grades. However, it is a common misunderstanding that good grades are all you need to obtain that great career.

Students need opportunities to apply classroom learning in a very real and practical way. Employers want to see how students developed a skill, not only that you heard about it in a class or read it in a textbook. While group projects are assigned by professors seeking to help students apply learning, they are limited in what they can do.

Student organizations and clubs have been created as a means to grant practical opportunities to apply learning. Clubs have been implemented to support students in their career acceleration efforts. As stated in The Jon M. Huntsman School of Business’ purpose, clubs are there “to be a career accelerator for our students and an engine of growth for our communities, the state, the nation and the world.”

How is career acceleration measured? By counting the number of club members that have job offers upon graduation. Career acceleration is not achieved unless every club member has a job offer, which they are willing to accept, when they graduate. Currently we are able to place all members who are highly involved so, we need to get more members highly involved and pass on the benefits to the members with time constraints.

Student organizations present many opportunities for career acceleration so students, take advantage of all that you can. Join multiple organizations. Attend club meetings and find the club that has a purpose aligned with your desires and needs. Doing so will increase your chances of being hired. 

Find out more about your clubs and student organizations here:  http://myhuntsman.usu.edu/htm/student-experiences/clubs.

We are here to support career acceleration!

— George Johnson

Lean Leaders Club 

The Lean Leaders Club is an organization that is dedicated to providing opportunities for students to become future employees for operational excellence.