A SUPER methodology for business process improvement ‐ An industrial case study in Hong Kong/China

In recent years, three key topics under the big umbrella of business process improvement (BPI) have been continuous process improvement (CPI), business process reengineering (BPR), and business process benchmarking (BPB). Each has received much attention and has been supported by a considerable amount of literature and empirical research and findings from business consultants and academics. Within the manufacturing domain, these three topics have been accepted by many manufacturing process analysts striving to improve productivity and efficiency of companies. However, organization structures in manufacturing enterprises are complex and involve many different processes. Their needs may be quite different. One process may require an incremental improvement in critical areas or technology updating in its existing operation while others may need a total enterprise‐wide process revamp. In other words, CPI, BPR, and BPB’s usefulness and applicability may not be universal; one or a combination of the two or three may be more appropriate, depending on the process, organization and its environment. An improvement framework which incorporates the characteristics of the three approaches has been developed. This paper describes the methodology, SUPER, and its use in a real case study.