Continuous Improvement: Methods and Madness

Summary: Employee involvement, daily and evolutionary improvement, and focusing on product features are all characteristics of continuous improvement. The concept of continuous improvement should be differentiated from corrective action and innovation. Corrective action focuses on solving problems of nonconformance and defect. Innovation is revolutionary and sporadic. These and other distinguishing characteristics are important to keep in mind because continuous improvement is the most cost effective of these three processes, though all three are needed for quality improvement.