TWO APPROACHES TO ACHIEVE GOALS

Today, we will look at two different approaches in problem solving.

1.     The Bottoms Up Approach

2.     The Top Down Approach

Bottoms up approach:

The bottoms-up approach is where production managers make suggestions for projects on their needs to achieve cost reductions, resolve specific quality problems, or improve the process flow. In fact, in a true Bottoms Up Approach, the shop floor supervisors and operator are also often involved to get the advantage of their firsthand experience with challenges faced.

Top Down approach:

In Top-Down approach, the senior management considers a company’s major business issues and objectives and proposes a series of strategic improvement steps. They then nominate a Six Sigma Champion who then absorbs this strategic vision and identifies processes, Critical-to-Quality Characteristics (CTQs), and specific opportunities for improvement.

Usually, when there is a crisis and emergency action is called for, the Top Down Approach becomes necessary and speedy action in needed more than leisurely analysis. Putting down a fire is more urgent than researching on the causes of the fire. This is a very common approach in most companies that crises are quite routine and some professionals even take pride in their ability to handle such crises on a regular basis!

However, like in a river, laminar flow is much better to navigate than turbulent flow. So too in businesses. The greater the stability of operations, the better would be the results. Hence, if the company is able to spot the causes that trigger a crisis, attending to the crisis and finding a permanent solution will ensure smooth and efficient operations. This is where the Bottoms Up Approach comes in. Through a series of interactions at the operating levels, the company digs deep and discovers the root causes for the problems rather than merely ameliorating the symptoms. By involving everyone from the very bottom, many simple, creative and practical solutions are discovered or innovated. When acted upon, we derive lasting benefits and crisis in those areas are ended.

As we move along, we will delve deeper into these approaches and see how Lean tools can be used to achieve our objectives with great precision.

Here is the link to last week's article: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/common-terms-used-series-sridhar-j/

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