Cornerstones of Cost Management 2nd Edition by Don Hansen ,Maryanne Mowen

تمرين 35

Process Improvement and Innovation
Refer to Exercise 12.8. Suppose that clerical error is the common root cause of the nonvalue- added activities. Paying bills is a subprocess that belongs to the procurement process. The procurement process is made up of three subprocesses: purchasing, receiving, and paying bills.
Required:
1. What is the definition of a process? Identify the common objective for the procurement process. Repeat for each subprocess.
2. Now, suppose that Thayne decides to attack the root cause of the non-value-added activities of the bill-paying process by improving the skills of its purchasing and receiving clerks. As a result, the number of discrepancies found drops by 30 percent. Discuss the potential effect this initiative might have on the bill-paying process. Does this initiative represent process improvement or process innovation? Explain.