Last updated: March 29, 2008
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Overview of Services
Associates in Process Improvement (API) helps organizations improve their products and services and build their capability for on-going improvement by providing the following services:

Guidance for Senior Leaders
If the continuous improvement of quality is to be a significant part of an organization's business strategy, top management must assume a role of leadership. API can assist top managers in assuming that role by offering guidance on:
  • Management theories that support leadership – systems theory, theory of variation, theory of knowledge, and psychology (collectively referred to as "Knowledge for Improvement"). Through integrated study of these four areas, managers develop insights for optimization of the organization. Efforts to improve become more focused and more effective.
  • Recognizing and eliminating barriers to improvement and forces of sub-optimization
  • Philosophy and methods of quality improvement through participation in teams and guidance of others
  • Integration of three categories of improvement in business planning.
  • Building a system of improvement

Many things must happen if an organization is to continually make changes that lead to improvement from the viewpoint of the customer. Establishing a system of improvement to provide a framework for leading change is a high priority. Five key activities can be used by leaders to drive, manage, and support the organization toward this aim.

Developing Methods
Since the inception of API in 1984, its members have been leaders in advancing state-of-the-art of improvement. This work has been published in two books (The Improvement Guide: A Practical Approach to Enhancing Organizational Performance and Quality Improvement Through Planned Experimentation) and in numerous articles. API continues to work with clients to adapt current methods and develop new ones to increase the rate and impact of improvement. Examples include the Model for Improvement, the Breakthrough Series, and planned experimentation.

API emphasizes a comprehensive framework for learning and making change within an organization known as the Model for Improvement. Click the graphic for more information about the model.

The Breakthrough Series, developed in conjunction with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (Boston, MA), demonstrates API’s innovative work in accelerating rate of improvement. Although developed for the health care industry, this method has the potential to accelerate the rate of improvement for many industries. It relies on spreading and adapting existing knowledge to multiple similar sites to accomplish a common aim – for example, to reduce employee turnover, reduce cycle times, reduce workers compensation costs, increase voter turnout, or to improve the management of part-time, temporary, and contract employees.

Components of the method can be divided into two segments: pre-work and project work. API’s unique capabilities are important in both segments but are critical in the pre-work segment, when the problem is formulated and the changes are identified and packaged to facilitate adaptation and spread. API works closely with the Chair and Advisory Group, who are the experts in the subject matter, during the pre-work segment.

Planned experimentation can be used to quantify cause-and-effect relationships in complex systems and to test whether changes to products, processes, and services are improvements. The book Quality Improvement Through Planned Experimentation (1991, 2nd edition) provides the information that methodology engineers, as well as those in industry, education, or government need to plan and conduct experiments. As an alternative to the fairly common statistical methods such as standard errors, confidence intervals, and analysis of variance, this book relies on graphical methods to help experimenters ascertain how much the planned changes in the factors are contributing to the variation in the data.
Teaching Philosophy and Methods
API offers instruction in improvement for all levels of the organization. The education and training range from seminars for managers on theories and methods for quality management to classes for engineers, technicians, clerks, etc. on the use of the basic concepts and methods of improvement in their jobs.

Classes are also available on statistical methods such as statistical process control (SPC) and planned experimentation.

API believes that:

  • Classes should be integrated into a strategy of change for the organization, instead of mass training in methods
  • Classes should be focused on activities performed by participants to increase their understanding of concepts, instead of on lectures
  • Training should be done in small segments, followed by consultation to help participants apply concepts and methods to their work situations

Guidance to Teams and Individuals
When working with long-term clients, API divides its time equally between teaching and guidance to teams and individuals. API maintains long-term relationships with almost all clients. The frequency and context of visits by API members change as the leadership for improvement becomes more self-sustaining in the organization.

API guidance reaches into all areas of the organization, ensuring that concepts and methods are adapted to specific needs. Click here to view areas of guidance offered.

API has a variety of clients engaged in both manufacturing and service related industries: Health Care, Chemical Manufacturing, Electronics, Instrumentation, Distribution, Engineering and Construction, Energy Production, Pharmaceutical, Trade Associations, Construction, and Consumer Products. Client companies range from small, privately owned businesses to large Fortune 500 corporations and include a Baldridge Award winner.

© 2004 Associates in Process Improvement