Process Improvement Paper

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review A Learning Process Model to Achieve Continuous Improvement and Innovation. Select a company with which you are familiar, preferably one where you have been employed, and consider a process within that company that could be improved. This could be a business process, a manufacturing process, a distribution process, or a service process that you have observed or been involved with during your career. 

Using your course textbook and Ashford University Library research, prepare a recommended process improvement proposal that incorporates tools and methods learned in this course.

Your paper should

• Describe the company and how the selected process fits into the overall framework of the company.


• Create a step-by-step description of the current process incorporating a process flow chart.


• Analyze the current process for inefficiencies.


• Develop a process improvement recommendation including a detailed plan incorporating business process engineering theory and including benchmarking the reengineered process to a close business competitor. The process should be designed to be more efficient, using appropriate tools and methods learned throughout the course, including capacity utilization improvements and statistical quality control models.


• Explain possible challenges in implementing the process changes.


• Assess the expected benefits of the improved process and the potential benefits.

The Process Improvement paper

• Must be 5 to 7 double-spaced pages in length (not including the title and references page and formatted according to APA as outlined in the Ashford University writing Center [APA Style resource] (Links to an external site.)).


• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  
  
  
  • Title of paper
  
  
  • Student’s name
  
  
  • Course name and number
  
  
  • Instructor’s name
  
  
  • Date submitted
  
  
  
  


• For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).


• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.


• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  
  
  
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
  
  
  
  


• Must use at least five scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
  
  
  
  • The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
  
  
  
  


• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper guide (Links to an external site.).


• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.