Continuous Improvement in Organizations

This book presents what you need to know to really implement continuous improvement in companies or other organizations. In addition to all the support needed for this to make sense, the importance of the right direction to guide it is unveiled. The reader will find in this book the origins of continuous improvement and all the framing that justifies and demystifies it in the aspects that characterize the socio-technical nature of organizations. This work also explores the need for effective coexistence between technical aspects and behavioral and cultural aspects, so that continuous improvement and excellence are achieved in organizations.

Topics discussed in the book include:

• The origins of continuous improvement
• The main operational excellence models
• The invisible side of organizations
• The visible side of organizations
• Decoding continuous improvement
• The maturity levels of continuous improvement
• Some models and tips for the implementation of continuous improvement
• Main tools associated to excellence in organizations

This book was written with the aim of helping engineering students in courses related to operations management to develop skills in this area, as well as businessmen with curiosity about this subject, production directors, people responsible for continuous improvement and all professionals working in companies or other organizations with responsibility for their performance and their future.

Professor José Dinis Carvalho is Associate Professor at the Department of Production and Systems at the School of Engineering in the University of Minho, with a research focus on continuous improvement and excellence in organizations. He dedicates himself to the study and application of concepts and principles of Lean philosophy in companies, through projects with students and with colleagues.