process excellence

Process excellence is when a process's output is what is intended by the process, i.e. the process is effective, and it produces its output with as close to zero waste as possible, i.e. the process is efficient.

There are many approaches to achieving process excellence. They largely exist under the banner of lean or quality. These efforts include lean, lean-sigma, six-sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM), ISO9000, etc.

Process excellence and innovation --
While process excellence demands --

• precision,
• consistency, and
• repetition,

• variation,
• failure, and
• serendipity.

Design for six-sigma (DFSS) not withstanding, their appears to be an inherent left-brained right-brained disconnect between a culture of process excellence and innovation.

A solution to the inherent conflict is a sort of bi-modal culture incorporating both process excellence and innovation in one organization. This is described as the ambidextrous organization.