October2018 ISE magazine

PERSPECTIVES

Performance by Kevin McManus

We need more RTF
Have you looked at the different measurement systems being used around you? How many measures can you find that look at high-level, systems outcomes? How many measures reflect process-based, real-time performance? All too often, we need more real-time feedback (RTF) to understand what is going on at the process level, but too few such measures are in place.

Management by Paul Engle

How to thrive in a business transformation
Our experience indicates that while change is good, transitions, or in this case, transformations, are challenging. Most employees feel safe doing things in the same way. Change threatens this feeling of safety. While leadership may attempt to persuade team members that change will enhance the company’s performance and lead to more secure employment, many reluctantly take a wait-and-see approach.

Health Systems by Peter Woodbridge

Looking in the rearview mirror
Quality by inspection is commonplace. Government agencies and non-government organizations have established overlapping and competing performance measures. Aggravating the problem is a recent emergence of systems (e.g., hospital compare) that rank hospitals on a scale of one to five stars. The result is a pervasive mindset of studying to the test rather than continuous systems improvement.

Supply Chain by Jim Tompkins

Basic data science can fix your supply chain
Our profession can use data science to solve eight problems: Classification, prediction, segmentation, pattern recognition (audio, video, image, etc.), anomaly/outlier detection, scoring and ranking, optimization and time-series forecasts. Of these eight, most companies can identify at least one problem type that directly relates to their core business.