A Hollisitc Point of View: Continuous Improvement

The continuous improvement process describes a way of thinking that aims to continuously increase value creation with small but constant improvements and thus strengthen the competitiveness of the organization. The constantly repeating PDCA cycle is a procedure in the continuous improvement process and describes the four-stage control loop: Plan, Do, Check, Act.

Separated - Interacting - Integrated

The focus of the continuous improvement process is primarily the continuous improvement of the effectiveness and efficiency of the processes and procedures. The transition from a department centric and therefore separated continuous improvement process to a department interacting and ultimately leading to a department or even organization integrated continuous improvement process, is the main objective to achieve continuous increase of value creation. If manufacturing for instance repeatedly adheres to highly standardized processes and procedures, the resulting consistency of product quality is probably high. To check product quality consistency, newly generated products are compared with previous. A stringent quality control and quality assurance process is required. Therefore, it is obvious that decisions regarding the production process are helpful to be considered very early in the product development process. The avoidance of waste and thus continuous cost savings go hand in hand with a constant increase in efficiency through process innovations.

The constant implementation of improvement ideas and the step-by-step optimization through targeted and systematic promotion of innovation in the product development process, the so-called incremental innovation, is crucial. Many ideas for improvement are certainly not disruptive innovations, but rather suggestions for small improvements. But there are very many whose effect goes far beyond that of a single small improvement.