ABSTRACT
The long-term health of any organization depends on their commitment to continuous improvement. The principles, practices, and techniques embodied within continuous improvement form a comprehensive organizational philosophy that strives to effectively fulfill customers’ needs. Within continuous improvement efforts, learning is driven by the use of scientific methods (i.e., tools to monitor and analyze work processes such as control charts and Pareto charts). Within continuous improvement projects, various techniques (e.g., flowcharts, brainstorming, causeand-effect diagrams, etc.) are used to help teams effectively utilize their collective knowledge to develop shared understandings and solve problems. Today, organizations often use Lean philosophies to improve operational performance and quality, which has been well documented across a variety of industries. This paper addresses the effectiveness of specific Lean techniques and tools based on the experiences and insights obtained through a survey administered to practitioners working in a variety of industries. The objective of this research is to assess and understand the performance of continuous improvement philosophies based on the specific techniques used, as well as the methods used to implement these techniques, and to evaluate the reasons they have or have not been effective. The results of this survey were analyzed using a variety of statistical techniques.
