Anything that you do well is worth doing better over time. The term "continuous improvement" describes a process practiced by quality engineers but it speaks to something that every conscientious ...

We often like to think of life—and of progress—as a straightforward path, but we know there’s peaks and valleys or times when we take one step forward and two steps back. That’s why Dick Flynt, senior ...

IndustryWeek’s coverage of lean and continuous improvement over the past year presents a wealth of wisdom to help advance your 2026 pursuit of manufacturing excellence. If you are looking for a finish ...

Is it possible to suggest that Six Sigma, Kaizen, Lean, and other variations on continuous improvement can be hazardous to your organization's health? While it may be heresy to say this, recent ...

Imagine you are on a road trip where each time you think you have arrived the destination gets better. Lean Six Sigma's constant improvement is essentially based on this. Perfection, dear reader, is a ...

Building agility into your team’s approaches can help your organization adapt to fast-changing conditions from within or even external ones. A key part of this that has benefited many of my consulting ...

Your goal is to acquire and sustain customers by delivering products and services at cost and on time without sacrificing quality. How do you do it? By developing efficient processes with a supportive ...

With the right approach to continuous improvement, printing companies can thrive if they’re willing to make the investment. To be successful, a company must recognize that processes are the central ...

In the parable of the bricklayers, a traveler encounters three workers mortaring rows of bricks onto other bricks. “What are you doing?” inquires the traveler. The first worker answers, “What does it ...

I was educated and trained that continuous improvement is a philosophy centered in service -- so much so, that if a process failed, you (as leadership) were to apologize to the employee and solicit ...