Key Steps to Continuous Improvement

The right way to achieve process improvement is through the core activity of identifying, quantifying, and eliminating waste. This activity, when done on a continuous basis by people educated in the use of the tools of process improvement, will bring higher and higher quality at lower and lower costs and can result in a world-class operation.

Success, therefore, involves getting people to develop the right mindset and use the right language and tools every day, in all their activities, as part of the culture-change required in moving to a system of ongoing Continuous Improvement. A series of related steps must then be taken so people can identify problems, causes and fundamental solutions, and prioritize to work on the right things. To ensure success, a follow-up system to assure that processes stay fixed is also required.

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