Previous studies have indicated a large number of benefits resulting from the successful application of continuous improvement, including the following:
-Improve resource management: Implementing continuous improvement tools can help in using limited resources more effectively.
-Increase customer satisfaction: Continuous improvement tools help in identifying key processes that cause customer dissatisfaction, and then seek to improve products.
-Reduce costs: By eliminating faulty processes and workflows.
-Reduce lead time, improve employee engagement, and enhance employee empowerment.
-Improve communication: Here, using visual management boards or Kaizen boards helps in obtaining constructive and transparent feedback.
-Improve safety, improve the quality of services and products, increase employee satisfaction, improve returns by using specific resources more effectively and reducing non-value-adding activities, improve productivity.[i]
The continuous improvement strategy (Kaizen) also focuses on directing senior management and enhancing the roles of individuals within the organization, considering that continuous improvement is the driving force of the operating process [ii]. Continuous improvement also has a positive and direct impact on innovative performance; results have shown that continuous improvement practices help create a culture of risk and experimentation that encourages innovation. The culture of continuous improvement helps engage employees in projects based on pre-planned methods that are aligned with the organization’s strategic goals and supported by senior management [iii]. Continuous improvement emphasizes the participation of all employees to improve the availability of production equipment, performance, quality, reliability and safety. Continuous improvement also seeks to benefit from the hidden potential of unreliable and ineffective improvement methods. Continuous improvement benefits from proactive and incremental improvement methodologies and calls for knowledge and cooperation between operators, equipment suppliers, engineering, and supporting individuals to improve the performance of machines, which leads to eliminating breakdowns, reducing planned and unplanned stoppages, improving equipment and improving product quality. Also the fundamental goal of continuous improvement is to strive for economic efficiency or profitability, preventive maintenance, improved maintainability, use of improvement programs and full participation of all employees. The minimum that continuous improvement contributions can achieve is an organization with lower operating costs, longer equipment life, and lower costs for improvement [iv].
References
The primary source of the article is: Al-Farhan, Mohannad. (2022). The role of continuous improvement technique on organizational learning process: An applied study on the electrical appliances manufacturing sector. Master’s thesis, Faculty of Commerce – Menoufia University. / The thesis can be obtained by clicking here.
[i] Jevanesan, T. et al .(2021). Ibid, p442.
[ii] Khalil, A. and Hamid, S. (2021). OPCIT, p1493.
[iii] Lizarelli, F. et al. (2019). OPCIT, p17.
[iv] Singh, J. and. Singh, H. (2013). OPCIT, p78.
Subscribe to get the latest blogs
*-please check the spam folder if you didn’t receive the email
Read the full series of Continuous Improvement:
1-Continuous Improvement: Introduction.
2-Continuous Improvement Concept.
3-Determinants of Continuous Improvement.
4-The Benefits of Continuous Improvement. (This Article)
5-Continuous Improvement Tools & Techniques.
مدونة فرحان 