Leading Continuous Improvement Projects: Lessons from Successful, Less Successful, and Unsuccessful Continuous Improvement Case Studies

This book is a reference for continuous improvement project (CIP) leaders/facilitators in manufacturing and service organizations, students (undergraduate and graduate), academics responsible for managing senior projects (Capstone Projects) and teaching quality courses, and researchers interested in how organizations could produce more effective and efficient continuous improvement initiatives and projects.

The authors collected and analyzed information and results from CIPs they facilitated or co-advised, such as the improvement of the service level in a bottle manufacturing organization, reduction of changeover in a brewery manufacturing organization, reduction of ambulance response time, and reduction of scrap in a steel transformation manufacturing organization. Many of the CIPs were previously part of award-winning white papers documenting critical improvements.

Throughout this book, readers will learn:

• different types of CIPs
• metrics to identify successful CIPs
• the 53 factors related to CIPs success
• how to manage CIPs
• behaviors to achieve outstanding results from CIPs.

Three of the chapters are supplemented with three or more case studies. In addition, the final chapter includes a list of behaviors expected from directors, continuous improvement managers, CIP leaders/facilitators, and CIP team members to obtain the major benefits from CIPs.

Fernando Gonzalez Aleu, Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes