Process Improvement projects represent the core activities of Amica Consulting. Our approach draws from the best consulting practice of the last 20 years. The core of the approach is Lean Six Sigma, and incorporates the process rigour of Business Process Re-engineering, and the people centricity of Total Quality Management.
We make change happen, and we make it stick. We recognise that it is staff commitment rather than consultants’ analysis which makes the difference, and so we fully engage client staff at all points of the process. A typical Process Improvement project has the following stages: 
- Establish the baseline. Working closely with client staff, the consultants create a comprehensive, evidence-based picture of process performance over the previous six months. This is used as the start point for routine and regular management of process performance
- Elicit the root causes. The team quickly maps key process steps, and then secures the input of client staff at all levels to identify process steps in need of improvement. This step is the key to staff engagement
- Generate solutions. Working closely with client staff, the team develops a long list of solutions. These are evaluated for impact, risk, cost-benefit, timescale and difficulty, and a comprehensive improvement programme is developed. In general, most solutions become the responsibility of Quality Improvement Teams from within the client organisation, which we train in DMAIC (see diagram) techniques, and mentor though their initial steps
- Implement solutions. Multi-function solutions, such as system or process redesign are typically implemented by the project team
- Monitor results. Using the management process established in Stage 1, the impact of all solutions is monitored