The Benefits of Prioritizing Continuous Improvement

Manufacturers who have already achieved success through the implementation of various lean manufacturing principles will often point to their new dedication to continuous improvement as one of its greatest benefits. Lean will deliver these benefits to any organization that successfully adopts it, but it is the results of continuous improvement that gets most people talking.

In the early stages of an organization's adoption of lean, many will note the elimination of wastes to be a prime goal, with continuous improvement only a distant objective. However, most will come to recognize that continuous improvement is a welcome result of the overall process. In the manufacturing world that result can be the difference between the life and death of any organization. Certainly such organizations will find initial success with the proper adoption of certain lean concepts and principles, but it's entirely possible that afterwards they will disregard the necessity for continuous improvement and soon find themselves left in the dust as their opposition pulls ahead.

This remains a simple, yet oft forgotten rule among early adopters of lean. With the first rush of success that they encounter, distant goals like continuous improvement can be completely forgotten. It doesn't help matters that the concepts and tools that must be learned are rather complicated and require the complete dedication of participants in order for it to deliver results. Any manufacturing organization can adopt a few of these tools and concepts and experience quick success. However, it takes a truly successful manufacturing organization to prioritize continuous improvement.

Lean Success through Process Improvement

Undergoing process improvement through the use of lean will offer participants a wealth of options for bettering their manufacturing organization. Lean is an extensive collection of flexible strategies and techniques that can be applied to a diverse number of organizations, and it is this flexibility that has given lean such a positive and well-respected reputation.

While the fundamentals of lean thinking were derived from the Toyota Production System, modern lean philosophy has, over the years, incorporated a much more extensive collection of tools and philosophies in order to further diversify its applications. Today, it's possible to focus only on improving the product development process with the appropriate lean-centric tools. Generally, production systems that lean encourage followers to utilize focus on the reduction of waste and the emphasis of customer value. Because that focus has such utilitarian functionality, it can be applied to any area of concern in a manufacturing organization.

Lean values and tools constantly prove their worth throughout the product development cycle. The core principles of lean were originally developed for process improvement in product development, for one, and it's a relatively easy process to track results in this environment, for another. The tools you'll use in this situation will help you identify key waste areas in your organization--those that both diminish value for the end consumer and cost you funds. By targeting fundamental flaws in your manufacturing line, lean reveals and removes the threat of repeated problems that would otherwise plague your operation for years to come.