A continuous improvement process at Severn Trent Water

The paper presents the development of a continuous improvement process for the customer relations department at Severn Trent Water in the UK. In‐company research was carried out to identify the main barriers to continuous improvement in the areas of leadership, training, communication, motivation, teamwork, and change management. The study concluded that the company should develop an organisational culture and management style to support continuous improvement of daily working processes, and that change should be managed against the achievement of appropriate quality targets. A continuous improvement process was developed based on a structured problem‐solving model incorporating the application of established quality tools, to be applied by problem solving teams from the customer relations department. It was recommended that the team members should be trained in the problem solving process, and the related quality tools and techniques. Also, management should lead and support this approach by concentrating on team (rather than individual) performance achievement.